Kook King

A Pogue Promise

Last night spins around in my head the second I wake up. For a moment, I wonder if everything that happened with Rafe Cameron actually happened or if it was all some weird fever dream. Then I see the bandaid still on my forehead-- the one Rafe ever-so-carefully put over my cut. Now that I'm completely sober, I still feel butterflies from that interaction, so maybe I didn't find him kind of cute because of the alcohol in my system.

I stop thinking about yesterday and the party the night before when I meet up with my best friends in the afternoon. I won't tell them about Rafe-- I feel like I still need to process it myself. Plus, if they knew I went home with Rafe Cameron, Ava and Deirdre would lose their shit. There would be a million questions, especially from Ava. I can already see her asking me if I hit my head harder than I thought.

I meet them at Ava's house. We sit on the floor of her living room where a wall of windows brings in light from the sun. Her dog walks in, panting, and plops down beside me. As I pet him, Ava and Deirdre smile at each other.

"What?" I say when I notice.

"Well... we kind of think JJ likes you," Ava explains.

My eyes bulge. JJ? One of my closest friends? "What?"

"You know he likes you. Everybody knows that. You guys would be cute together. You should say something to him." Ava smiles.

I shake my head. This is so completely out of nowhere, and they're acting so casual about it. JJ is one of my oldest, closest friends. To even learn that he likes me is too much for me right now. "No. You guys, no. Absolutely not. We're friends. Really, really good friends. He looks out for me."

They look at each other again. Deirdre says, "No, Y/N, we look out for you. He tries to keep you for himself."

That is not true, I tell myself. But... could they be right? A part of me can't help but think back to all those little moments where I actually did wonder if JJ may like me... more than his other friends. He is way more protective over me than anyone else. Anytime I seem sad, he always nudges me and tries to get me to cheer up, and he always gets grumpy whenever I talk about a cute guy. Sometimes I catch him staring at me when I look up at him, like he didn't even know he was staring at me. I never thought twice about it, but now...

I'm still thinking about it later as I meet JJ in his backyard. I see him bent over his motorcycle as I walk up to him in my cut-off shorts and old, fraying sneakers. There's no reason to walk around the pogue side of the island in fancy clothes.

"Hey, Maybank," I say.

He looks up at me, red in the face and sweaty. JJ scrambles to his feet with a wrench in his hand. "Hey," he breathes, running a hand through his hair. "I'm glad you made it. Wanna help me with my bike?"

I don't know a thing about motorcycles, and JJ knows that. "Uh, I'll give you your tools," I say.

He nods. "Perfect!" Then his brow furrows and he reaches up to touch my forehead. "What happened to your head?"

I also touch the cut on my forehead. I completely forgot it was even there. I took the bandaid off just this morning. In the bathroom, I folded it up neatly and tossed it into the waste basket. The whole time, I could remember Rafe's face as he gently smoothed the bandaid out. He was so gentle, like he genuinely cared. With his reputation, it just seems like nothing about him would be so careful. Clearly, there is an unknown side to Rafe Cameron, and some how I got to see a glimpse of it.

"Oh, I just bumped into the corner of a cabinet," I tell JJ. If I said I didn't know, he'd ask me how I don't know, and I don't want to have that conversation.