When He Leaves - R. Cameron

6 𝑙𝑒𝑡 𝑖𝑡 ℎ𝑢𝑟𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑛 𝑙𝑒𝑡 𝑖𝑡 𝑔𝑜

𝑙𝑒𝑡 𝑖𝑡 ℎ𝑢𝑟𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑛
𝑙𝑒𝑡 𝑖𝑡 𝑔𝑜

summer of '19

Rory did not see Rafe for awhile, but she did work at the Wreck on the day he graduated. There were no texts, or calls. She had even texted him can we talk? two weeks ago and he had not responded. She blinked at that text for a few minutes, leaned over the bar. It was not busy at this time of the day, so she looked on her phone most of the time.

          She looked over and Kiara was coming from the back. She smiled at her, keys dangling from her hand. The door opened and JJ and Pope appeared. "Let's go, Kie. We have to steal John B without his dad noticing." The blonde boy spoke, giving no time for Kiara to stop and talk to her. But she did anyways.

          "Hey, Kie. Ready for the summer?" Rory asked and leaned her back against the bar with a wide smile. Kiara was always nice to her, and she did not discriminate against anyone. She was also all for protecting the environment and sea life, and it was something they had in common. "Oh, yeah. Just dreading the heat and babysitting all summer." She shot a pointed look at JJ who winked at her.

          "Whatever, Kie. You know you love spending time with me." He fired back while Pope looked between the two of them and shook his head. "Well, see ya, Aurora. We really have to get going. I'm talking to you." He looked right at Kiara and turned to where he just came in, but before he could open the door, it was being opened from the outside.

          Rory frowned, now that she had to actually do something. "What the hell are you doing here?" She heard JJ say and turned to see Rafe Cameron coming through the doors, looking directly at her before glaring at the boy in front of him. "It's a public place, dick." He said it with no emotion and walked past him, purposely bumping his shoulder with his own.

          She watched him walk toward her with wide eyes, waving at the others who were leaving, while staring curiously at him. He stood in front of the bar and looked over his shoulder to see the door close behind them before he talked. "Hey." He offered her a thinned lip smile and sat on a barstool. She turned to get a menu for him, but he shook his head. "I'm not here to eat, or anything."

Rory watched him cautiously and looked toward the door. "Are your friends coming soon?" She asked and he shook his hand again, his eyes nervously flicking between hers. "No, I'm not here for them. I'm here for you." He explained and cleared his throat.

She stared at him without blinking for a minute and nodded. "Why?" She asked in a strained voice and tapped her fingers against the bar counter. He watched her do it for a second and then returned his blue eyes to her. "You asked if we could talk. So I came to talk." Rafe answered and rubbed this side of his neck with his hand, threading his fingers through the hair on the back of his head.

Rory glanced at her hand on the bar and looked back through her eyelashes at him. "That was two weeks ago. I wanted to talk two weeks ago." She said, a little irritated at him. She just assumed he was never going to talk to her, because she kind of was the reason everyone was talking about them. He nodded. "I know. I've been busy, but I was eventually gonna come see you."

"You could have texted me and said that." She murmured. Her face was feeling flushed now. Why would he have any need to text her? Sure, they were "friends" for a couple weeks, and he hung out with her at her house, but that was all. And again, the drama at school. She could understand why he wouldn't want to be seen with her again.

"So, what did you want to talk about?" Rafe asked while she was contemplating all her life choices from the past couple months. She looked over her shoulder at the older woman that passed behind her, who was getting an order from a couple that just walked in. She made sure she did not need help before she looked at him. "Nothing too important. I just wanted to say sorry about the other day and how I acted in front of you. You did nothing wrong, and I took it out on you because you were the only one there for me. I'm not saying that's an excuse—"