When He Leaves - R. Cameron

9 𝑙𝑖𝑘𝑒 𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑟𝑠 𝑜𝑛 𝑎 𝑐𝑙𝑜𝑢𝑑𝑦 𝑛𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡

𝑙𝑖𝑘𝑒 𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑟𝑠 𝑜𝑛
𝑎 𝑐𝑙𝑜𝑢𝑑𝑦 𝑛𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡

summer of '19

Rory laid on her back, the damp sand making her clothes wet. It was grainy under her legs and in between her toes. It should have been uncomfortable but it wasn't. Especially with the weather cooler near the water. It was late in the night and Rafe and her snuck past her passed out dad, and out the back sliding doors.

          Rafe was pacing a few feet in front of her, talking quietly on the phone now. It was in the middle of the night and she wondered who he would be on the phone with this late— maybe it was Ward. She doubted it. But he did seem a little irritated. She looked away from him and looked up at the sky, her eyes flickering over the patterns of the stars until she could hear him walking toward her in the mush of the sand. He laid right beside her, his arm touching hers.

"Is everything okay?" She asked and looked over at him. He nodded quickly and breathed out a sigh. "Yeah." She turned on her side and put her arm under her head so it wouldn't get sandy, now facing him. She inhaled and closed her eyes, feeling sleepy and comfortable beside him. She could not remember feeling like this with anyone.

"Are you tired?" He murmured and turned to face her on his side too. She opened her eyes and studied him for moment before answering.

          His eyes were shining and he looked vulnerable with his hair hanging over his forehead, and his arm under his head also. "A little. I should probably take you home soon." She mumbled, frowning at the thought of having to get up and him having to go.

Rafe hummed and looked over her face with an appreciative look. His lips were tilted up in a soft smile. "I have an idea." He said and his smile became suggestive. "I can just stay the night. I can tell you're really tired. It is after one in the morning."

Rory shrugged and closed her eyes again. "It's whatever you want to do. When do you have to leave for Durham?" She heard him groan beside her and peeked at him to see him running a hand down his face.

          He looked stressed out now, and she felt bad for even bringing it up. "Tomorrow night." He said with an edge in his voice.

          She pressed her lips together before asking him anymore questions. "Do you want to go to college there?" He looked down at her, a frown on his lips. He looked to be contemplating it. "I have no fucking clue what I want to do yet. But it's not my choice. I have to do what my dad thinks is best." He explained and blinked, looking up at the sky. He folded his hands over his stomach and sighed.

          Rory nodded. "It's okay to not know what you want to do, and it is your choice, Rafe. And what your dad thinks is best can be totally different from what you think is best. But it's okay." His adam's apple bobbed up and down, and he looked deep in thought again. And almost overwhelmed. "Yeah, but I would rather have him tell me what to do than do it myself. Because I am known to screw things up." He glanced over at her. "A lot."

          She scoffed. "So? We're young. We don't have to have everything planned out already, and we are allowed to mess up. That's all part of growing up, Rafe." She put her hand on his arm, rubbing her thumb over it. "And whoever told you that you do mess up all the time is an idiot. Don't believe them." She had a feeling it was Ward, and it made her angry to think what he thought of himself rooted from his dad's thoughts and words.

          "I know, Rory." It came out muffled and he stood up, holding his hands out towards her. She looked at him weird, raising her eyebrows at him. "Come on. Let's go to bed." He said and leaned down farther. Like the conversation they had, had not happened. She let him go in like that because she not want him to feel uncomfortable.