When He Leaves - R. Cameron

3 𝑠𝑜 𝑚𝑢𝑐ℎ 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑠𝑎𝑖𝑑 𝑖𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑢𝑛𝑠𝑎𝑖𝑑

𝑠𝑜 𝑚𝑢𝑐ℎ 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑠𝑎𝑖𝑑
𝑖𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑢𝑛𝑠𝑎𝑖𝑑

spring of '19

           For a few weeks, Rafe showed up everywhere— particularly the places Aurora was at. He showed up at the Wreck, unusually alone, and he was in the halls around her locker, or he sat down with her for a few moments at lunch to see how she was doing that day.

          She wanted to find it annoying, but it was endearing. No boy had paid this much attention to her since middle school, and that was something she tried to forget about. Although, today, he was nowhere to be found. She knew this because right about now he should have been in Mr. Martin's class with her but his seat was empty. But a boy who usually sat beside her in the back took his seat before class began.

          "Mr. Cameron." She heard Mr. Martin acknowledge and looked up to see him entering with a scowl. His hair was a mess and there was a red mark on his cheek that was slowly forming into a purple bruise. "Do you have an excuse for me?"

          Rafe exhaled and looked around, heading toward the empty seat beside her. His angry eyes did not even waver on her. "No, the office took care of my tardy." He explained in a mutter.

          Rory was watching him in concern. What happened to him? Mr. Martin continued talking about a lesson over Marketing, showing something on the board, and she found herself more focused on Rafe. He was rubbing his eyes with the palms of his hands, and she frowned. His hands then ran back and tousled his hair even more.

          "Rafe." She whispered. It looked like he didn't hear her for a moment but his jaw tightened. His head turned toward hers, and his bloodshot eyes advanced over her before he let out a hum. "Hmm?" She watched his eyebrows relax when she made a confused face from how he was acting.

          Rory swallowed and looked to at Mr. Martin to make sure they weren't being obvious of their conversation. "Are you okay?" She asked and subconsciously tucked hair behind her ear.

          He titled his head and ran his tongue over the inside of his red cheek. It made him wince. "I'm great." He muttered and faced forward. He definitely wasn't paying attention to the teacher, so he did it to ignore her. That hurt her feelings.

          She sighed and rubbed her lips together before asking him another question. "Did you get in a fight?" Rafe flinched at the question and his adam's apple bobbed up and down. "Something like that." He whispered with a throaty voice.

          He looked down at his desk and squeezed his eyes shut. His hands were in fists on the desk in front of him. Her frown deepened at his reaction so she turned to the front and decided to forget about the concern building up in her chest. She kept watch over him by side eyeing him a couple times before class was over. After this, she was going home on her day off from the Wreck.

           "Want a ride home?" Rafe asked suddenly after the bell rang, and while she was shoving her MacBook into her backpack. She had rode here with Ginny since her car was in the shop— her breaks had went out. Her lips were parted while she stared at him in surprise, and he stood over her sitting in her desk.

           His eyebrows were raised, expecting an answer minutes ago. "Rory." He said in amusement although it was insincere due to his bad mood. She nodded quickly at her name. "If it doesn't bother you. Just let me go tell Ginny." She said and stood up. He was completely in her personal space, so she had squeeze past him. He followed closely behind her before they got into the hall. "I'll be outside waiting." He said followed with a closed-lip smile and watched her nod before walking away.