ONE FOR THE MONEY - rafe cameron

chapter eleven

gina wakes up, she sees rafe next to her and it made her smile to herself.

"what are you lookin' at?" rafe squints.
"i'm lookin' at you." she giggles.

this was the morning after rafe had knocked on gina's window.

after they argued, then made up, they had a long talk. they both decided they were gonna wait for each other to fully be ready to commit to a relationship, and in the meantime they were gonna act like a couple but not have the labels or commitment.

"okay, now that you're up you're gonna have to leave."
"what, why?" rafe sits up.
"my parents can't see you in my bed. or topper."
"you're right, whatever." he smirks.
"i'll see you later."
"see ya." he gives gina a small peck on the lips, and exits from the window.

once gina sees him leave she jumps around and squeals. she knew exactly what she had to do.

-

"me and rafe are in kinda a relationship, but without the label of a relationship."
sarah gasps.
"whattt? i thought yous hated each other."
"trust me, it happened so fast."
"i bet it did, because yesterday you hated his name being mentioned." she laughs.
"i know."
"how'd it happen?"
"he showed up at my window at like two in the morning or some shit."
"damn, i didn't know he was a cliche romantic."
gina smiles.
"i like it."
"i'm so happy for you gin, hold on." gina hears some background noise.
"i'll call you later, my dad needs me right now."
"okay, by-" sarah hangs up.

gina furrows her eyebrows and looks at her phone.
"she didn't need to hang up that fast." she mumbles to herself.

-

rafe was getting ready to see gina, he needed to be distracted from a few things that went on earlier when he arrived home.

ward barges in, and sees rafe standing in front of his mirror.
"where do you think you're going?"
"to see gina."
"rafe, do you not understand? we could lose everything, and you choose to see some girl!" he yells, rafe turns his way.
"gina's not some girl."
"well she certainly isn't worth all that we are!"
"can you not talk about her like that, please?"
"rafe we are going to lose all of our money, i need your help."
"i'll help when i get back."
"i am your father, you listen to me!" ward slams rafe into the wall.

ward had a look in his eyes, full of anger that he had managed to take out on rafe.
it was as if ward had been possessed.

back at gina's house, she was patiently waiting for rafe to pick her up. sitting on the small bench outside of her house for thirty minutes, she decided she had enough.

she grabs her car keys and drives to the cameron's house. she ties up her hair since it had felt like she was being cooked.

the door opens and gina sees ward.
"hey mr. cameron, i'm here to see rafe."
"he's busy right now, sorry gina." ward tries to shut the door on gina but she stops it.
"when will he not be busy?"
"i'm not sure."
gina saw something was up with ward.
"is sarah available?" she questions.
"she's not, come back another day." he gives a small smile, and gina reciprocates.

the second the door shuts, gina heads back to her car. "what the fuck was up with him?"
she reverses out of the cameron's parking lot and starts driving home.

she walks back in to her house when she sees topper with suitcases, and stops in her tracks.

"where are you going?" gina asks.
"my mom won custody of me, and wants me to move back in with her." topper looks down.
"are you kidding?"
"i told your parents about mine by the way."
"do you want to go?"
"i mean, i want to see my mom, but things are gonna be so messy. she's going to be crushed, and things are going to be so different.. i don't know if i can deal with that." his eyes turn misty.

"just know there'll always be a room here for you." gina sadly smiles. she had gotten used to the company of topper, having him at their family dinners, having someone to always talk to, ect. it had felt like she finally had a sibling.

"i'll still come over whenever, you need me, or whenever i need you."
"it's not gonna be the same. when you lived with your parents i barley ever saw you." gina started getting emotional, she got attached easily and suffered from a certain loneliness that she was longing for to be filled from the love and company of a sibling.

growing up as an only child she was often by herself, she was jealous of all the kids at her school who had that forever friend.

"trust me, you'll see me more often than you used to." the two hug.
"i know this island isn't that big, so why did i never see you?"
"they've been leading up to a divorce for years, everytime i wanted to go somewhere they'd argue on who would take me til they both decided i wasn't going."
"oh."
"i wanted to go to your birthdays and everything else your family would invite me to, but my parents made it so complicated."
"i'm sorry."
"it's okay."
"see you soon?" they separate.
"of course." he smiles and walks off with his suit cases, leaving gina by herself.

once again.