When He Leaves - R. Cameron

19 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑡𝑜𝑜𝑘 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑠𝑢𝑛 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑤ℎ𝑒𝑛 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑙𝑒𝑓𝑡

𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑡𝑜𝑜𝑘 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑠𝑢𝑛 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ
𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑤ℎ𝑒𝑛 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑙𝑒𝑓𝑡

☼

                It was a Saturday night, the air was cool and she had opened her window while she studied her Chemistry book. There was a test on chapter twelve on Monday, and Lily was currently face timing her on her computer. They had spent the entire day tanning, considering this was the first Saturday in forever that she had been able to hang out. She had recently asked for Saturdays off at the Wreck and took up dog walking, mostly for the Kooks in town. Pogues didn't really have dogs, and if they did, they sure didn't pay people to do something they could do on their own.

             Lily had walked with her that day, helping her and making the time more pleasing. It was good activity to be able to get out in the sun, especially on the cooler days where it wasn't so hot that it was miserable. "It's getting late. We should call it quits after this." Lily said from the screen, flipping the page and sighing. She agreed with her and looked up when she heard something from her window.

              Her friend looked up at her, her eyes going wide when she saw that Rory was staring at the window in silent fear. "Rory. What is it?" She whispered, which done nothing to quieten her voice.

                She put a finger to her lips and stared at her, speaking through her eyes that she needed to be quiet. She slowly crawled off her bed and backed towards the door with the computer in her arms, holding it against her body as a shield. Her dad was downstairs, and she really didn't want to have to go bother him about something if it was just the wind.

                 It was not— she found this out when she saw an muscled arm grip the windowsill and pull the body inside. She went for the doorknob and slammed her computer shut, letting it fall to the ground in an escape. She cried out when she felt an arm slip around her waist. "Ror, it's just me. Who else would be crawling through your window?" Rafe's familiar, deep voice said into her ear before turning her to face him.

             "Oh, I don't know. Maybe a killer." She glared up at him and crossed her arms over her chest, very aware that she was only in a thin tank top with nothing underneath it. She flushed head to toe when she saw that he in fact had already noticed, his eyes drifting down to the cotton of her top. "What are you doing here, anyway? I haven't heard from you in a week." She said this while reaching down for her computer and setting it on the desk close before them, aware that he still had her trapped against the door.

              He leaned down until they were eye level, a crooked grin on his lips. "I've been everywhere this week. It's fall break, and I was planning on coming here for the week. But fuck Ward, he had to make it a week about the business. How I was going to run it. What I was learning in my classes that helped me. All that shit." He was shaking his head, the grin now replaced with a grimace. An expression of hatred that she could not quite place in the moment.

               She rolled her lips together and nodded. "I'm sorry. And it's good to see you." Her heart was now beating faster, and not for the fear he had caused her by sneaking in the window. She was nervous and very away of what happened the night before he left for college. "How has it been?" She briefly looked into his eyes, tucking the loose strand that fell out of her claw clip behind her ear.

              He was running his tongue along the inside of his cheek and not-so-subtly checking her out. His eyes were skimming over the length of her body, almost as if he was checking if it was the same as he last remembered. "There's a lot of parties, drinking, all that. I'm in a frat I can't pronounce the name of. I would love to tell you how smart I am, and how great I'm doing in my classes but I'm not. I'm actually struggling really bad, but since there's a fucking party in our house every night, I don't really have time to study." He told her this while staring her lips, not at all interested in what he was telling her.