baby blue • rafe cameron

twenty four

the following week went by fast, all the kids missing school and staying home, avoiding the rest of their peers. there were rounds of people stopping by the chambers residence, leaving their love and food inside the house.

katie stayed in her room, right in her bay window, staring out at the backyard. she hadn't slept and had only stopped crying when she grew dehydrated. she had kie and the boys stop by, just letting her talk about everything she loved about her sister. she'd been wearing the blue dress, the one that gracelynn loved so much. she didn't want to take it off, it still smelled like her sister's perfect, fruity perfume.

beckett barely budged from his bed. he stared up at the ceiling, his headphone glued to his head, playing his sister's playlist through his ears. he had her blanket spread out on his bed, not letting it out of his reach except to use the bathroom. the boys and kie would make their rounds through his room, letting him sit in silence and stare above. he didn't talk and he didn't want to. he was afraid that if he opened his mouth, he'd scream and he'd never stop.

misses chambers had made all the arrangements for the funeral and burial services. she was talking to the people who passed through her house. she tried to stuff all the food they'd received, but hadn't touched, in the fridge. she'd failed and now it all sat out, going bad, but no one had the appetite for any of it.

mister chambers was drowning in the hospital bills. he sat in his office every night, all night, trying to figure out what the family was going to do. they were wealthy, but no amount of money could fix what they were being dealt with. and all he wanted, was to go get crab cakes with his eldest again.

rafe sat in her room, laying in her bed, reading her books. he looked through her phone, memorizing every single picture she had on it. he read through the texts they'd sent back and forth to each other, which dated back to before she'd left for iowa. the slow decline of annoyance, to ignoring him, to being in love with him. he watched her fall in love with him. he'd neglected his own phone, not answering the constant texts he got from people at school. the girls, claiming they only wanted to send their loves, but ready to seduce him. he didn't want any of that, he wanted to lay in the perfectly made bed, with lynn between his arms as they fought over what movie to watch.

topper had stayed at his own house, going through old photo albums with hailey, reminiscing on the memories he had with gracelynn. they dated all the way back to when they were in kindergarten, only family friends at the times. but by the fifth grade pictures, you could tell the pair were truly friends. they been joined at the hip, doing everything together. they'd eventually made it to the junior high pictures, where rafe, hails, jenna and kelce joined in. birthday parties, family get together, family vacations and late night hang outs.

sarah and noelle kept to themselves, in their rooms at their own houses. they both missed her, they both thought of her as a sister. sarah tried to check on her brother, but rafe was just so beyond detached from his family. noelle tried to lean on hers, but topper was too busy leaning on hailey.

kie relied on the boys and the twins, as her parents only knew the girl in passing. but like sarah and noelle, kie had thought of gracelynn like a sister. she helped kie with her first period back in the sixth grade. she braided her hair anytime she asked. gracelynn let her borrow clothes and always let her talk about her parents.

but today, was the funeral. it was the final goodbye. the last time any of them would see her. they were all nervous, even sick, but they had to do it. and just like gracelynn had requested, jokingly, katie had arranged taylor swift songs and a firework show to end the service. she'd gotten help from her friends and hadn't told her parents, even though she knew they'd be furious, this was what gracelynn wanted. this was who gracelynn was.

the memorial service was long, full of tears of the entire island. mister and misses chambers both spoke, talking about their daughter and their family. katie had spoken about her sister, how much she'd leaned on her for everything. beck talked about gracelynn and how much she'd protected him, from the world and from himself. topper talked about their friendship, the little moments that stood out the most about her. hailey talked about how much gracelynn had helped her, before and after what they'd been through together.

and rafe, he talked about falling in love with her, how easy it was. he talked about the perfection of her. he talked about the safety he felt with her. he recounted every "i love you" they'd said to each other. he told everyone about how she'd been scared and how he'd been too, but how much they'd really cared about each other, even way before they had cared to admit it to each other.

"she was the light of my life," he's said. "and even on her last day, she made sure the people around her were happy, even if that meant she was miserable."

the rest of the service passed in a blue before they went to the graveyard to see her buried. the family stood at the front, rafe apart of them. before they'd lowered the casket, the family each placed something inside.

misses chambers placed the beanie she'd brought her baby home in, the day after she was born. mister chambers placed in her half of the "daddy-daughter" necklace she'd gotten them at an elementary school book fair. beckett had placed in his headphones, because he knew that gracelynn was the only one who understood them. katie put in the dog monopoly piece that they'd always fought about, because now, it would forever be gracelynn's piece.

rafe couldn't decide what he'd wanted to put inside, but he finally decided on a postcard from iceland, which had a corgi on it. and on the back, in his god aweful handwriting, he'd written, "one day i'll take you back, my love." he lingered, looking down at his girlfriend's lifeless body. a perfect tear slid down his face.

"god speed, gracie." he smiled before stepping back as misses chambers placed her hand on his back. they closed the casket, lowering it down as one of the songs chosen by misses chambers played. they each grabbed a handful of dirt, tossing it down below, letting it drop against the perfect wood casket. and as katie, the last one, stepped back, she looked up, seeing her friends behind the church. she smiled and nodded as the sad song suddenly stopped and instead, blaring Long Live by Taylor Swift. this caused everyone to jump as everyone looked around, misses chambers beginning to freak out. katie looked over to her twin, letting his confused face subside.

"what's going on?" misses chambers asked as katie pushed past them, beck following her.

"katie! beck!" their mom called after them. they ran straight over to their friends.

"here," kie pushed party confetti cannons into their hands. "JJ and john b are doing the fireworks."

"holy shit," beck said and looked at katie. "what is this?"

"it's exactly what gracelynn told me to do." she smiled as they ran out to the field behind the church.

"guys!" rafe yelled. "what's going on?"

"just fulfilling her last wish!" katie shouted as the beat dropped.

"long live!" katie yelled as both twins twisted the cannons with kie and pope, the fireworks going off over head.

the twins laughed as the crowd looked up, watching the fireworks go off over their heads.

"oh my god," rafe said to himself.

"what the hell is this?" misses chambers asked him.

"it's exactly what gracelynn wanted." he told her, smiling. "she wanted a party."

"i don't understand."

"in the hospital, lynn told katie she wanted fireworks and taylor swift at her funeral." he shrugged. "let the twins have this."

she nodded slowly before they both looked up, letting the last few fireworks go off. katie laughed, turning to hug her twin.

and wherever gracelynn was, she was laughing her ass off and thanking her little sister.

....
AHHHH GUYS THIS BOOK IS OFFICIALLY AT AN END </3 BUT BUT BUT THERES ANOTHER BOOK!!! its called "Summer Of Love" and i would LOVE if you read it. the intro is up now!