Only because you asked // Rafe Cameron

Chapter Eight - Destined to stay pure

Before she decided to head out, she thought a cup of coffee before she left wouldn't hurt.

In the kitchen, she grabbed herself a mug and poured herself some coffee. Lost in her thoughts, she evaluated the night. Bits and pieces flashed in her memory as she struggled to remember most of it, although the violent vomiting was hard to forget.

The relived the moment of being the most appreciated person there, her five seconds of fame and the sense of thrill she felt for the time she was rid of her worries. The music trickling through her spine it seemed as she euphorically lived her best life in absolute glee.

She also remembered her encounters with him.

Crystal Clear.

She remembered how gently he spoke to her, and how for the first time in years he didn't yell or shout at her for merely breathing.

In that moment, as if she had summoned him telepathically, he walked into the kitchen and froze at the sight of her.

The two of them maintained eye contact for a couple seconds before snapping back into reality to realise that the normal thing do in this situation would be to greet each other.

"Morning," she said, bringing the coffee mug to her lip.

His hair was ruffled and almost wavy,
most of it was pushed back except for the few strands that fell on his face in front of his eyes; his eyes were smaller than usual and slightly squinted seeing as he had just woken up. He wore plaid bottoms with a plain white T-Shirt and a gold chain around his neck.

"Morning," he muttered silently and dully, his voice deep and thick with the raspiness of the night.

Clearly he had forgotten that Lana had stayed over because he seemed rather startled. Or maybe he was uncomfortable by he fact that she was seeing him right after he had woken up, a sense of vulnerability.

He grabbed a mug from the cabinet and placed it next to hers on the counter, his warm skin briefly touching hers as he reached past her to grab the coffee.

She wondered profusely about what would be a good thing to say right now. She then thought back to her day ahead, and how she was to go to the mountains tonight. That left her with the remainder of the day to do whatever she wanted, and seeing as she already had to go out eventually, she could get together with JJ for the impoliteness she had served him yesterday.

When she snapped back into reality, she realised that the silence was still echoing between the two of them. It annoyed her a little that she had to be the one to say something first because she truly had no idea what she could've said.

"Was 'nice Rafe' limited addition or will I ever see him again?" she said, speaking into her mug as she took another sip.

Another thing she noticed was that he always left room for silence before he replied, as if he was deeply evaluating his response before he spoke.

"That depends on my mood," he gloomily replied, locking eyes with her once again, as if it was natural instinct to do that now.

"And what depicts your mood?" she asked again.

"Aren't we feeling chatty today," he dejectedly commented.

Lana wasn't quite sure what mood he was in right now, it was hard to tell but she enthusiastically downed the rest of her coffee and set the cup down on the counter.

Instead of saying goodbye, she walked out with the energy she was given by the coffee and turned to her house, stood at the front door. She began to dial her brothers number on her phone and hopes that he would pick up.

"Hello?" he groaned sluggishly.

"Praise the Lord, listen I need you to come open the door for me," she instructed, sighing in relief.

"Don't you have a key?" he whined, indicating that the last thing he wanted right now was to get out of bed on a Sunday at 6AM in the morning.

"No, I forgot it."

"I hate you," and with that he hung up.

A few seconds later, the door unlocked and opened to reveal Cole standing miserably with hatred in his eyes.

"Thank you," she said whilst walking past him and going up the stairs, swiftly into her room.

It was as if her bed was calling out her name, defying gravity to pull her into the warm, soft covers and that she did. She submerged herself under the covers and switched on her phone, pulling up the name 'JJ' in her contacts.

Lana:
Hey, wanna hang out today?

A few moments passed until she had received a text back from him.

JJ:
Sure, want to do anything in particular?

Lana:
Not really, just meet me at mine at 1pm.

Lana wasn't entirely certain on what she was doing. She wasn't too sure what was going on between her and JJ; it's not like he had ever asked her out, but she begged to differ on the fact that they were just friends.

There was only one boy that truly had made her feel something in the past, the reason because she didn't have an exciting love life like Sarah's was because she couldn't infatuate herself with people that well. In her entire life, she had only ever liked one boy and that had merely only lasted a couple months.

She could still remember the nights he would throw rocks at her window, longing for her communication. He used to stay awake at night, troubling himself with her worries and when she would cry he'd stroke her hair and kiss her forehead until she fell asleep.

They were all having fun, enjoying their summer whilst she was sneezing and taking her allergy pills so he stayed indoors with her and watched 90s romance movies until her heart was content.

He had made a slight comment that insulted her favourite song from her favourite band and that made her upset, so he stayed up all night with her, listening to every single song 'The Neighbourhood' had made and released to make up for it.

Thinking back to it, that was probably the last time she had truly been happy. He treated her like a princess, never hurt her but it had to end.

Besides.

What would a girl like Alannah Alexpoulos be doing with Pope Heyward?

She had moved on from him long ago. Her first and only real boyfriend. He was the only person on earth that made her feel like that, yet she still couldn't identify the feeling to it's precise definition.

She was certain it wasn't love, she had never experienced it though she knew to tell the difference.

Love was another area that remained foreign to Lana.

There were times she longed to feel in love, or be loved

She wanted a love that consumed her, a love that would challenge her in all the strangest ways possible.

A love that conquered wealth, greed and power.

A love that was destined to stay pure until the end of time.