LITTLE SECRET | RAFE CAMERON

03: 𝘉𝘪𝘵𝘤𝘩 𝘢𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥

„What are you doing?" Rafe's voice snapped Alice back to reality.

She jumped in surprise, the birthday box still in her hands as she noticed him standing in the doorway.

His eyes fell down to the box, no reaction showing on his face like he had no memory of it.

„I just wanted to get a toothbrush and then I saw this and I-" She stammered, a blush on her cheeks because she felt caught.

But Rafe clearly didn't care. He cut off her by taking the box away from her, putting it back and throwing the clothes for her - which he had returned with - onto the counter in annoyance.

He reached into the top row of his cabinet, pulling out a newly wrapped toothbrush and she knew that even a blind person would've found it immediately.

Embarrassing.

„Thank you" She forced a smile.

He left her with no words. It was humiliating how open Rafe was with his...hatred towards her. As if she had just crossed the personal line he had drawn between them once again.

With a strange feeling inside, she started brushing her teeth and was more than relieved to wash out that nasty aftertaste of vomit in her mouth.

But as she looked at herself in the reflection of the mirror, she wondered why he had kept it.

He wasn't wearing the ring anymore, which she sort of understood, but she still asked herself if it maybe meant more to him than he wanted to admit.

When she was done brushing her teeth, she set the toothbrush down on the sink, not wanting to take in his space somehow, because this would definitely be the last time she'd be in his bathroom.

Well, at least that's what she thought.

Alice's gaze wandered over to the clothes he had left for her. A navy blue shirt plus a pair of old shorts he most definitely grew out of.

She would never wear that in her life.

„I think I'll just get something from Sarah" She walked back into his room with the stack of clothes in her hands.

Rafe was busy with taking off his watch and placed it down on the dark wooden dresser by the door. His back was facing her, the shallow muscles of his shoulder blades showing against his white shirt as an laugh escaped him, „Yeah, if you wanna walk in on Sarah and Topper fucking, go on"

„I'll just sleep in my clothes then, it's not that-„

„Alice, just put those damn clothes on and don't bitch around" He cut her off harshly.

She looked at him in silence.

Sometimes Alice found it incredibly difficult to believe that they had been friends at some point. Rafe had that captivating smile, with a pair of eyes so deep that any girl would fall for him.

A guy full of charm and yet he made himself so unbelievably ugly with his character.

He walked around Figure Eight like he ruled the whole fucking island. Arrogant, narcissistic and so conceited due to his Kook King title and she hated every little bit about it.

„Bitch arou-you're the one bitching around since fucking last year" She shot right back.

„Yeah alright little miss perfect, change and go to sleep" He rolled his eyes, his voice sounding rougher than it did before.

„No Rafe, you're a fucking asshole, you know that?"

His eyes swung over to her. Dark, narrowed by the sound of her words that tugged at a nerve cord in him that she shouldn't overstress.

She was drunk and he knew and saw that, but he still didn't like the way she talked to him or how she dared to say those words with that...little mouth of hers and yet he stayed quiet when he noticed how her eyes met his trough a watery glimmer.

Emotions - which she had obviously swallowed down for the past few months - were now welling up in her eyes in the form of tears.

It surprised him, especially because he knew how much she hated crying in front of others.

„You just kicked me out of your life like it was nothing" She stepped closer, pointing a finger at him.

„It's not the right time to-„

„Uh-huh, it's never the right time, cause whenever I try to approach you, you just push me away again" She cut him off, her breathing growing heavier with every word, breaking into emotions with no restraint or control, but maybe that was exactly what she needed right now.

He knew that she was quite something, when she was drunk.

But just „drunk" was an understatement.

„We were friends, Rafe" She reminded him, making him shake his head, which she barely even noticed.

Yeah, they were friends if you asked her, but what she was to him, however, was very different.

„And now you-" A sob cut her off. „-and now you keep telling me how I can't take care of myself like I'm nothing but a fucking child"

He had noticed that she was going trough some things. Every time she came over - mostly because of Sarah - he noticed how different she seemed.

So withdrawn, almost unnoticeable, which she usually wasn't.

When he later found out that Maybank boy cheated on her, it all made sense to him.

Rafe wiped his forehead, breathing in and out as her words floated between them. He took a few steps towards her, steps she wanted to stop with a shake of her head, knowing exactly what he was about to do.

„Don't..." She warned and took two steps back.

„God, just stop, okay?" He cleared his throat and took a step closer to her. „I won't watch you cry"

She stood there frozen, feeling his left thumb brush away the burning tear that trickled down her cheek. And for a small moment - when their eyes met - a silence fell between them.

She absorbed his touch. It was the first time she really felt his presence again.

„Don't touch me" She sniffled quietly, pushing his hand away when she realized that she was allowing him far too much.

Maybe they were too different to understand each other, because opposites may attract, but then they drive each other insane. It was as if she was the first ray of sun in the morning and he was midnight rain, which sets in once she disappears. It was like the relationship between the sun and the moon. The sun and the moon aren't meant to collide, deeply connected to each other but yet too different to exist side by side.