Carolina Blue [ Outer Banks ]

XXIX

The thirty minute argument consisted of me yelling and Rafe, Ward yelling at me, Greer nearly throwing Rafe' s iron in the marsh, Rose cussing at mom, and dad holding mom back before she could grab a handful of bleach blond hair. Sarah was arguing with Ward and Rafe while Louise just stayed out of it. Smart choice.

"He fucking attacked me!" Rafe yells at Greer.

"You started it and I'm regretting jumping in the water for you! After everything you've done to Magnolia this past week." Greer yells back causing the other side arguments to ceased.

"Wait what?" Rose asks cutting in.

"Rafe got his ass knocked out because he didn't fucking listen to Magnia! Your idiotic stepson was too drunk to fucking listen to her." Greer admits in a loud tone causing everyone look at Rafe.

"It was just a joke damn. You're so uptight Magnolia, I was just trying to give you a little fun. Then that Routledge kid that dad just fired started to yell at me, I was just defending myself." He replies back looking at everyone. 

"Oh really? Just defending yourself. You threw me in the water when I was telling you to stop." I cut in.

"I didn't start the fight actually, He punched me first. Ask Sarah, she was there when it happened." Rafe points at Sarah.

I look at her blankly as she looks at Rafe in confusion as the attention is now on her. "Rafe is right Magnolia, John B did throw the first punch. But Rafe egged him on I remember that." 

"What did Rafe say?" My dad asks looking at Sarah then at Rafe.

"Saying that the water reminded him of his dad. Then that's when John B lost it." She admits looking at Rafe.

"See," Ward states looking at me then at my parents. "He hit Rafe first. Rafe was only defending himself at the party. There are now two defeasance as to why we are pressing charges on John Routledge Jr." 

I cut in as I get closer to Ward. Looking at him, I start to point my finger towards his chest. "Listen here Ward Cameron. You're pressing charges on a teenage boy for knocking some sense into your son that comes home high and drunk most nights and starts fights with people of lower income. Your son deserved to be knocked out, hell he's the one that started it all with him throwing me into the pool when I was yelling and kicking for him to put me down. If anyone should be held accountable for any charges it's Rafe. Underage drinking and if I remember correctly your son decided it was a good idea to get me high one night and almost assulted me in his room! He's using and selling drugs at nineteen, if I know the laws in North Carolina, he's selling and abusing drugs which, depending on how much they all weigh can list as a Class 3." 

Everything comes back from that night. Rafe groped me and the thing I felt against my shorts was his jeans. The night I was high Rafe Cameron tried to take advantage of me. 

Ward and Rose look at Rafe with shock as Rafe looks at them dumbfounded. Rafe looking back at me with his eyes wide and mouth partly open. Speachless, he fumbles his words before looking at Greer who's knuckles are turning white. 

"You got our daughter high," My mom yells causing everyone's eyes to go to Rafe. "And you almost rapped her too!" Her words feel like knifes cutting into my skin. 

Greer's face looks like he's about kill Rafe. I wouldn't blame him, I would too. Sarah's shocked as she shakes her head before moving next to Ward and Rose. 

"Leave." Ward spats at Rafe.

"What?" Rafe replies looking at his dad in shock. 

"Leave."

Rafe quickly grabs his keys and walks out of the house, I'm still shocked and I have had the right to be mad at him all week. Greer looks at him while he leaves and once the front door slams shut a sharp breath releases from his lungs. 

"If anyone deserves to be charged, It's your son. Not John B. I have yet to talk to Mrs. Thornton about what Topper has done to John B, nearly killing him in the act. Sarah can back me up on this one. She was pulling on Topper while I was pulling on John B." I announce to Ward. 

Sarah looks at me and nods along. "She's right. While Rafe was in the water, Topper grabbed John B's bandana and started choking him. You should of seen his face dad, John B was choking to death." 

Ward looks at Sarah while she talks. Mentioning what happened, Rafe it the one to blame. 

"Please lift the charges on John B. He was protecting me. Even at the banquet he was protecting me from Rafe on the deck. John B stood up for me and that's when Rafe started to hit him. I saw all of it, John B never hit him that night." I inform them. 

Ward's features change as he looks over to Rose, who's holding onto his bicep, then back to me and my family. It must hurt him knowing that his son is capable of doing all this in just a week. It must hurt Sarah knowing what Topper did to John B. 

"I understand where you are coming from Magnolia, and I appreciate all you've done to come from Brunswick County up to Figure Eight. It hurts me seeing your family and my family argue over this battle of John B and to know that my son has caused more harm to you than anyone else pains me. I've seen you run around the house when you were younger with my kids and now seeing this happen in just seven days...please forgive me of my decision about the charges. I'll drop mine, but you have to know that your grandparents are still holding their charges as well. I'll do my best to talk to Topper's mom about this too. Please forgive us." Ward pleads looking at my parents, Greer an I. My dad and my mom both look at each other then back to Ward nodding. 

Sarah soon gives me a hug after all the arguing. Telling me how smart I was for taking matters in my own hands. She also told me what happened the other day with her dad. Firing John B because of the charges Ward had against him. Mom and dad go over to Nanni and Pawpaw's while I to the dock with Sarah while she asks about what happened at the banquet. Her and Topper were out on the dance floor and with friends from the club. 

_ 

It was about one when we got back to Holden Beach. It took a bit to have Nanni calm donwn about lifting the charges, having to explain why he stole food from the yacht in the first place. I told her about his dad and how he was working on their yacht during his disapearance. Living on his own relying on tips and checks for income to keep him fed. While Nanni bickered, Pawpaw cut in telling her to shut up. He always liked John B and he knew 'Big John' for years since he would by tackle and boat applyances for years. Pawpaw was always nice to him and even gave him water bottles and caned food sometimes. When Nanni heard this she was shocked and appoligized to Pawpaw about firing him. Nanni thought he was a good guy, great in school and always kept the boat cleaned. Nanni never filed any charges on him in the first place, she was thinking of it when she got word that Ward Cameron was. 

Like Ward said, he called Topper's mom and explained everything that happened at his hours prior to his phone call. Topper's mom was understanding and even called me for my side. As a mom, she felt sorry for how the week treated me and what went donw in just one day. Until she got the whole story, Mrs. Thornton wasn't going to file anything on John B. With everything now settled, mom and dad were both proud of me for standing up and even asked if I wanted to do anything with the incident of Rafe. As much as I dispised Rafe for everything he's done, I couldn't snoop to his level and press charges of assult, posession of drugs, selling of drugs, and undersaged drinking. Right now, he's gulity and his family is disapointed in him too and that's all that he needs. His family not paying attention to him anymore. 

At home we all relax. It's been a long day with everything that went down. For the next two hours, I spent my time at the beach tanning while I read. Looking up occassonally from my book I could see boats go up the island to the inlet. looking at them, I could of sworn I saw one that looked like John B's but with the distance between me and the boat, it was hard to make out the name.