By the time they make it from the north side of the island to the Boneyard, the sun has already set and the sky is slowly darkening. Topper and Sarah jog ahead as Kaia struggles to make her way through the thick sand. They walk over to the washed-up driftwood and Rafe, Kelce and Kaia make their way to the keg.
"Treat me to a beer?" She says with a smile, leaning forward and glancing up at John B.
He smiles slightly down at her, but it turns into a scowl when his eyes move to the two boys behind her. The Pogues hated the Kooks, Kaia was a neutral party in their conflict, yet she would side with her friends if it ever came down to it. She swats at Rafe's chest and his set glare on John B shifts down to her.
"One for him too."
Her brown eyes fall on Kiera's parting figure and ignore the fact that she was most likely infuriated with Sarah's appearance tonight. Kiera and Sarah used to be close friends the first year of high school, Kaia along with them, and then Kiera stopped hanging out with them. Now, she's rich and hangs with Pogues. Kaia can understand the appeal, no rules, no parents to demand you to do things they know that you don't want to do, and spending every waking moment with your friends. They considered their friends to be family, which is something that she could say only for the Cameron's.
"Hey!" JJ says, another Pogue, known for doing everything irresponsible. "I didn't know Polo Boy drank anything other than margaritas."
Rafe takes a strong step forward and Kaia extends her arm in front of his chest. She hated feeling as if she had to restrict him from doing something stupid.
"JJ, shut up." She resists the urge to say something snarky about his lack of financing among other things and flip him off, so instead, she grabs the two red solo cups and hands one to Rafe.
"You're good," she says to Rafe, tapping the solo cup against his chest and pulling his gaze away from the Pogues, who he hates the most.
He finally grabs the cup, shooting a glare at JJ over his shoulder and walks beside Kaia. Kelce waits to grab drinks for him, Sarah and Topper, while Kaia leads Rafe towards the bonfire.
Rafe finally exhales a deep breath, the last of many after the interaction with JJ. He tilts his head back and looks at nothing in particular, his chest rising and falling slowly. Her brown eyes trail over his face, watching as he attempts to regain his composure.
He lowers his head, turning his head towards her and lightly clearing his throat. "Sorry... it's just- just those damn Pogues don't know their places."
"Rafe, stop. They're not here right now, alright? Just enjoy the night."
"Yeah," He clears his throat, his eyes gluing to the side of her face as the anger stirred up by the Pogues slowly rolls out of him like the waves crashing onto the shore and rolling back in. "Yeah, we should."
So that's what they did.
They both got drunk, showed off their shitty dance moves as they tripped around in the sand. Kaia didn't even know that Rafe could have fun without the push of coke, and she was glad to see him let loose. He smiled more tonight than she had seen in the last week. She had fun with all of her friends, and Sarah refused to drink, but she danced with her best friend nonetheless. Wasting the night away was by far better use of her time than moping around with the remnants of the hurricane.
Topper drags her off of a piece of large driftwood, placed around the fire as a makeshift seat. "Hey. Hey, Rafe! We're outta here man, let's go."
Kaia looks over her shoulder sluggishly, smiling as Rafe stumbles over broken-off branches before he stands up proudly at her side. He throws his arm around Kaia's shoulders, replacing the spot where Topper's arm was. Rafe chuckles under his breath, finding something random funny as Topper grabs Sarah's hand and they stand to leave.
