His Choice - Rafe Cameron

17. Movie Night

"Now that wasn't so hard, was it?"

"It was the worst experience of my life." He places his hand on my back and nods his head forwards. "Walk with me." We begin walking away from the toilet block and to the opposite end of the field from where the tv screen is. "You want a beer?"

I shake my head. "No."

"I'm going to grab one for the road."

"Rafe, you can't drink and drive."

He laughs at me. "It's just a phrase, Scar. Relax. It means I'm grabbing one for the road - as in, while we walk."

"Oh." 

He continues laughing at me. "You're too uptight. Do you ever feel like you worry about too much and it'll make your head explode?"

"No."

Rafe lets out a small laugh while we continue walking. We pass his group of friends who are sitting in the back row. They're not even paying attention to the film, they're playing drinking games and hooking up. I guess Rafe decided not to grab a beer for the road. 

"I haven't seen you around in a few days." 

"Did you miss me?" He says amusingly, a small smile playing on his lips. 

"Did you go out of town?"

"I went on a business trip."

I look up at him with a raised brow. "What kind of business trip?"

Rafe turns his head and stares down at me. "Why do you ask so many questions?"

I look away from him and choose not to respond to his question. We approach the beach and Rafe leads the way towards the sand. We take off our shoes and walk along the sandy beach with the cool sea breeze blowing my hair back. It's a little cold close to the water. 

"So that's it, you're not going to talk to me now?"

"I can't ask you questions so I'd rather save my breath."

He rolls his eyes while shaking his head at me. "What do you want to ask?" He asks in an annoyed tone. 

"Have you done more research on where the cure could be? Any relations to Mariam's death?"

He shakes his head. 

"So what's next?"

"Nothing."

"Nothing?" I slightly raise my voice. "What do you mean nothing?"

Rafe holds his hand out in front of him, getting annoyed with my attitude. "I'm done with it, Scarlett. I have enough going on right now. The stupid cure probably doesn't exist anyway. That's not important to me anymore."

"So what, you're just going to give up on it?" He is the one who asked me for help. He brought me into this mystery and I want to solve it. I don't know about Rafe, but I don't give up on things easily. 

"Yes Scarlett, would you just drop it?"

"Does this business trip that you went on have anything to do with Ward?" 

"Everything is to do with him." Rafe whispers to himself but it's loud enough for me to hear. Rafe has stopped walking and is staring down at the sand beneath his feet. 

I stop walking too and I place my hand on his shoulder. "Are you okay?" 

"My head hurts so bad. There's just so much going on, so many things that my Dad is making me take care of and it's getting too much." 

When I look up at him, I can see that all of these things are really effecting him. I know that if he was sober, he wouldn't be this open and honest with me. I'll let him vent. Hopefully it'll clear his head a little.