Country Club Living - Rafe Cameron

Chapter Thirty-Eight - Rain

Alexis and Isiah had just left Ivy in her dorm with her boxes and a lot to think about. Her mother gave her a hug and bit back a proud sob. Her daughter was about to embark on a new journey and so was she, she prayed that the next time they saw each other, things would be different, that they would be better.

Ivy's roommates had not yet arrived which she knew was a given seeing as she was pretty early herself and the campus was not nearly as busy as it would become in the coming days. Looking around the room she smiled gently to herself, she had never shared a room before and hoped her roommates were nice enough to get along with.

There was a common area that led off to a bathroom and two shared bedrooms, everything was pretty bare at the moment, but this would soon be changing so she didn't mind too much, she was used to her room in Kildare looking basic anyway. This room, however, was much smaller than what she was used to. Next to each of the walls, there were 4 desks, one for every person that would be living there, in the rooms there were a set of bunk beds, some wooden drawers and two bookcases. Ivy picked her bedroom, the one with the best view and slightly more space than the other and got to work unpacking her things.

She hadn't brought a lot with her, leaving her clothes had made her want to cry but there would be no need for fancy dresses and designer handbags here. Taking out the storage boxes her mother had made her bring she folded the items of clothing that she had brought with her neatly and pushed the box under the bed, she then got her sheets and made her bed. As she was pulling out the last remaining shirts and pyjamas, she felt something hard in the leg of her pyjama pants, she shook them to hear a thump on the ground, Upon closer inspection, Ivy saw that the noise had come from none other than Rafe's gold ring, picking it up she twirled it in her fingers and thought of him and what he was doing before taking off the chain she was wearing and sliding it onto it before sitting down on her freshly made bed, looking around and feeling hopeful for the coming months.

Back in Kildare, Rafe was feeling the opposite of hopeful, he had frantically been texting Barry and when he hadn't answered Rafe searched his drawers for a beat-up old Nokia phone that he had often used to call Barry when he was in need of some party favours and didn't want the call records showing up on his cell phone bill that his father paid for. He dialled the number and heard it ring twice before he heard the familiar voice of his drug dealer.

"What up country club, you buying?" he drawled

"Barry. The cops are coming to you right now –"Rafe blurted out

"Man what the fuck, did your punk ass snitch on me" Barry interjected

"Listen to me! They're gonna ask you about August 28th and you need to say I was with you okay? Say there was a party on the cut, and we were there" the Cameron boy said while running a distressed hand through his hair

"And why should I? Sending the cops to me, getting me all tangled up in your shit" Barry scoffed

"Because if you don't" Rafe started, his voice lowering slightly "My dad will make sure you're put away for a long time"

The other side of the line was silent for a while before Barry clicked his tongue "You owe me big time for this one country club" he growled before ending the call.

Rafe sat down on his bed and bit at what was left of his ragged nails. The skin around the nail was inflamed and sore to touch, but he continued to bite down on it anyway. It was something that he had always done when he got agitated and stressed so it was a common occurrence at this point. Usually, he would play with his gold ring but that was somewhere in a pile of Ivy's things that she probably hadn't even unpacked yet. Thinking of the ring made him think of her and this then made the empty feeling in his chest even heavier. He tried to conjure up good memories of them but to tell the truth, there weren't many that didn't involve missing clothing, but when things were good. The feeling she gave him was unmatched, like the purest drug he could have ever tried but while his feelings were strong, so were his words and he cringed internally when he remembered the way they would fight sometimes.

The dark sandy-haired boy recalled a time when they had gone for ice cream on a particularly hot day when their meetings were still to be kept a secret. It was always a hot summer in Kildare but on this day the air was humid and heavy, like the way it was before a storm came like the clouds were just begging to tear open and soak the earth below in a torrential downpour. Ivy was not a fan of humid days, her curls stuck to the back of her neck and her thighs would rub uncomfortably on the denim material of her shorts. The teenagers had taken a walk to the further north area of the town, there wouldn't be many prying eyes other than tourists looking to play golf or shop in the gift shops. No sign of Sarah or the rest of the pogues to bother them and any kooks would be at the country club or basking in their own pools due to the nature of the weather.

"Would you stop fidgeting?" Rafe said raising an eyebrow at the frustrated girl

"I can't help it, it's so goddamn hot today" Ivy grumbled lifting her mass of curls from the back of her neck in an attempt to release some of the trapped heat

"Yeah. It's summer" Rafe said smugly

"I know what time of year it is jackass" she huffed, her ice cream beginning to drip down her hands

"Look if you're going to be a bitch then I shouldn't have even bothered coming" Rafe rolled his eyes

This set off the ticking timebomb that was Ivy and just like the clouds above them threatened she began raining thunderous insults at Rafe, in all fairness he knew that he had opened the flood gates by calling her a bitch, but he knew that's what he wanted, to push her buttons and irritate her because he knew that nobody else could do that like him and that made him happy in a strange sadistic way.

When Ivy had stopped, and the fury had subsided she looked at the boy who was smirking and holding in a laugh.

"What's so funny!" she growled

"You crushed your ice cream" Rafe bit back a laugh, looking up at the darkening clouds so as to avoid her lethal gaze

Ivy looked down at her balled fists and noticed that she had in fact crushed the remainder of her cone and looked at the crushed remnants on the wooded path below her beginning to feel a smile creeping up on her face just at how stupid the outburst had been. She didn't dare look at Rafe because she knew he was about to burst into a fit of laughter and it would send her into one too.

"Is someone a little angry because it's so hot outside?" Rafe laughed sending an embarrassed blush over Ivy's face before she joined him in his laughter. He smiled when she saw she had taken the embarrassment on the chin and continued walking before offering the rest of his ice cream to her "Take mine I don't want it anyway"

"Then why did we go for ice cream?" she asked taking the cone from him

He shrugged and continued walking. He had just wanted to see her, but he would have never let her know that.

As they entered a clearing from the trees to a small, secluded beach area the clouds really did open up and down came the rain. It had appeared from nowhere and lashed down on top of the two, a welcome cool down from the muggy afternoon. They laughed as though Ivy's prayers had been answered and let the rain soak them. Watched it bounce off of the water before them as fishing vessels in the distance swayed and bobbed.

Rafe pulled his shirt off and picked the laughing girl up, slinging her over one shoulder and carrying her to the water in front of them, as she protested and smacked the back of his legs, dropping her as they got deeper but still shallow enough to stand. She wiped her eyes and splashed him.

"Rafe! Why!" she giggled

"We were already wet" he smirked raking a hand through his wet hair and moving closer to her, cupping her face in his hands, and leaning down to kiss her as the rain battered down around them, with nobody near or knowing where they were or what was to come.

As Rafe came back from his thoughts, he noticed that it was raining outside, not like the rain in the memory. It was colder as the summer was drawing to a close and there was nothing special or rom-com like about this one, this rain was a dull wet blanket coming over Kildare. Reminding him that summer was over and Ivy was gone, and he had much bigger problems afoot than trying to irritate a girl he liked. 

A/N Hi guys I'm back! Long time no see. I am currently isolating with covid so the plan is to get these next few chapters out the way and then the story is done! Sorry to keep you all waiting for so long. As always, thanks for the love and support <33