CHANGES 𓇽 R. CAMERON

twenty eight

Hallie's POV:

"Do you think you can do this today Hal?"

I squeezed the Cameron boy's hand at his question, "I think so."

He stopped the car in front of the cemetery, "I'm gonna be right here the whole time, okay? If you need a break or we need to leave, we will in a heartbeat."

I nodded and before I could even speak up, I felt one of my friends hands rub my shoulder from the back seat, "Hal, we are too babe. We're right here, and we love you, so much."

I let a small smile form on my face, "I love you guys too, more than you know."

"I love you too angel."

Maggie and Emma had came up to the Outer Banks two days after my episode at the beach, once they found out about my mom.  Their families were going to come as well, since I was obviously very close to them, but unfortunately they were unable to.  Therefore, my two friends had just been staying with me and Rafe at my house.

The girls absolutely adored Rafe.  Even though they were here on sad circumstances, they tried to cheer me up by constantly making comments about how amazing the dirty blonde was for me.  Thankfully, Rafe got along really well with them too, because they were planning on staying here for the rest of the summer, since my birthday was in a few days.

I was happy that they were visiting, because as of right now, I didn't think I was going to be in Charleston for school this fall.  I wasn't mad about it though.  There was a lot of stuff I needed to work out and school was just gonna have to wait, as much as I didn't want it to.  Hopefully, I could be enrolled by the spring of next year, but I had a lot to get through first.

Currently, it was the day of my mom's funeral, and I couldn't have been more anxious.  I knew there wasn't going to be too many people here, except for some of her close doctor friends and the friends we had made on the island.  Still, I was a wreck, because I was planning to give a speech.

Rafe, Maggie, and Emma all knew how upset I had been all morning, so I could tell they were a little worried about me giving this speech today, but I really wanted to do it.  I felt like this was my way of telling mom goodbye, so there wasn't much they could have said to make me back down.

After they made sure for another few minutes that I was completely okay, we all stepped out of my car and made our way onto the grass.  I felt Rafe's fingers intertwine with my own again, and I gave it a hard squeeze as I kept my feet moving.  When we got up to the crowd, I instantly picked out Rafe's, Kelce's, and Topper's family, along with John B and the others, but the rest I assumed were just friends of my mom.

I watched as a pastor walked in front of my moms casket right after we settled within the crowd, and immediately started talking.  I tried to listen to the best of my ability as he spoke, but I just couldn't.  My mind couldn't stay focused since it was completely overloaded with millions of thoughts and emotions.  Thankfully, no one could hear my distractions, but even if they could, I'm sure they would have understood how hard it was for me to even stand here right now.

After another ten minutes of him talking, he finally gestured for me to come up, and I gave him a light smile as he stepped to the side.  I pulled my thoughts together after that, since I really hadn't written anything down, I was just going to speak from my heart.