When He Leaves - R. Cameron

13 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑠𝑚𝑒𝑙𝑙 𝑙𝑖𝑘𝑒 𝑙𝑜𝑣𝑒

𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑠𝑚𝑒𝑙𝑙
𝑙𝑖𝑘𝑒 𝑙𝑜𝑣𝑒

summer of '19

          Rafe  pushed open a bathroom door, getting them inside and locking it behind him. He released her hand and dug the palms of his hands into his eyes.

          Rory looked in the mirror, wincing at the dark makeup under her eyes. Her hair was sticking to her cheeks and she fixed that, tucking it behind her ears. "I'm sorry I let her talk to you. I had no idea she was going to fucking do that." He finally said, his eyes still wide and frantic.

           "It's not you're fault." Rory assured him, grabbing his arms. "Why are you so upset?"

          He exhaled, closing his eyes and shaking his head. "I'm just worried. Did something happen with your dad?" She had no intentions to talk about anything that had happened at school, so she faced the mirror again, using the bottom of her shirt to wipe under her eyes. He watched where it showed off her stomach, swallowing and looking away.

          She dropped it and turned back around, her eyes  on him as he stared back down at her with a hard look. "Why haven't you talked to me in two weeks?" She asked, changing the subject. This was hard to talk about too, but it was better than her traumatic experiences and internal issues. And her brain was still fuzzy— she did not want to be put in a vulnerable position again and cry about her dad.

          Rafe scoffed. "We're not talking about that right now. I asked you something." He said.

          She looked at his hair and how it was dangling in his forehead, and the way his his shirt stuck to his stomach. She had no idea why was was noticing that, but it was better than answering him. "Rory." He muttered, annoyed at her.

          "I really don't want to talk about it. But we can talk about you not talking to me in two weeks." She smiled up at him.

           He stepped toward her, and the smile dropped from her face. "You left without telling me, so I waited for you to text me why. You never did, so I got mad." He pointed out, "And no one ever stopped you from talking to me."

          She blinked up at him and nodded. "I'm stupid. Sorry." He rolled his eyes at her and turned toward the closet in the bathroom, pulling out some towels. But then she realized why she left. Her brain wasn't working right either, so nothing stopped her from talking about things she would never say if she were sober. "Sarah told me what happened with you and Kiara."

          Rafe slowly turned around, his eyes narrowing in on her. "And?" He grumbled, handing her the towel. She sighed and began to towel off her hair. "Do you like her?" She asked that too. She was going to completely regret all of this in the morning.

          "Is that why you left the other day? Because of that?" He glared at her, sounding angry now. "I mean, hell. Are you jealous or something?"

          Rory stepped away from him and stared at him in surprise. Jealous? She never said that, and even if she was, why would he undermine her feelings like that. "No, Rafe. I just heard how you treated her, and other girls. Usually how you treat other people affects how you treat your other relationships with people. I just didn't want to get involved with you if you were going to treat me like everyone else."

          He stared at her for several moments, and then shook his head like he was stressed out about all of this. "Well, half the time, everyone treats me like shit. And I screw around with girls, but that's my business. Hell, they treat me like shit too. And Kiara fucked around with my head the entire time, she was doing it to get back at "us kooks" to get her revenge on social justice."