ONE FOR THE MONEY - rafe cameron

chapter thirteen

gina sat on the cool sand, the sun was setting as she leaned onto her best friend's shoulder.

"you want one?" a pack of cigarettes enters her vision.
"yeah," she gets handed one, it gets lit as it was being held in her mouth.
"thank you." she mumbles as she puts the cigarette in between her fingers and blows the smoke out of her mouth.

she was hanging out with the pogues, and they had spent all day running around, surfing, and pranking random people on the beach.

before gina knew it, she was getting closer with them. only problem was it had to be a secret.
she wanted to tell rafe so badly about her new group of friends, but knew how crazy he'd act if he found out it was pogues.

.. and she knew how much more crazier he'd act if he knew her ex was apart of said group.

yes, he did know about the group and everyone in it, and knew gina had hung out with them before, but he thought she stopped.

gina felt guilty about keeping it from rafe, but she was young and wanted to live out her summer before college.

"so i'm sleeping over at your house, right sarah?"
"actually, i was thinking about all of us sleeping over at john b's.." she looks down at gina.
"alright, sounds cool."
"besides, we can't go home smelling like cigarettes, our parents would kill us." the two girls share a laugh.

"your parents care about that sort of thing?" jj asks. when gina rejected him, jj was and still is hurt about it, but didn't want to make it known. so he decided to stay friends with her and see where fate leads them.

"jj, we've dated. you know how my parents would react to that shit."
"i know, i know." he chuckles.
"wait what?" pope raises his eyebrow.
"what?" gina taps the ashes off her cigarette.
"you guys dated?" he questions.
"oh yeah, we broke up like a year ago i'd say." gina looks over at jj for confirmation and he nods his head.
"yeah, about a year ago."
"how long did yous date before that?"
"like two years." jj answers.
"how come we haven't met you earlier?"
"because we kinda just let one another have their own things." gina shrugs.

"damn, why'd you break up?"
"uhh.." gina gets stumped by the question.
"i wasn't the best boyfriend." jj looks at gina, sharing a somewhat saddened face.
"sorry for asking." pope leans his head back.

"what are you smoking dude?" john b asks him.
"weed." he giggles.
"makes sense."
"is that supposed to be rude?"
"forget about it."

-

the group walks back to john b's house, their shoes were in their hands, and they were carrying their regular clothes.

"guess who i saw before i met up with you guys."
pope blurts out.
"who?" kiara asks.
"rafe, and believe it or not he was in pogue area."
"why would he be here?"
"he was with some sketchy looking dude." gina and sarah share a look.

gina didn't know how or if she would tell the group about her and rafe, especially with jj around.

pope shrugs it off and they enter john b's house.

"so what's the sleeping situation gonna be?" jj looks at the small living room.
"don't know." john b replies.
"that helps.." kiara sarcastically says.

"okay, how about the girls sleep together, and the guys sleep together."
"i don't want to sleep with them." pope gives jj and john b a nasty look.
"you just have no filter today." jj tells him.
"that's coming from you."
"how about pope and kiara, john b and jj, and me and gina?" sarah says, ignoring the guys.
"sounds good to me."
"alright, we are settled. wasn't even a big deal in the first place." sarah mumbles the last part.

gina opens the fridge and takes a beer.

"gin, can you get me one?" jj asks.
"sure." she hands one to him and shuts the fridge door. it was just them in the kitchen, and the others were in the living room arguing about something dumb.

"thanks." he smiles.
"no problem." gina twists the cap off and takes a sip. this was an awkward situation for her so she tapped the beer bottle and acted like she was interested in whatever she was looking at.

"so, anything new lately?"
"not really.. you?"
"nope, nothing.."
they stay quiet for a few seconds and gina looks at jj, who's already looking at her.

"have you thought about college? i know you mentioned you didn't want to go, but maybe you changed your mind."
"i don't think i'm worth college, shit, i don't even have enough money to live at my own house, how am i gonna afford college?"
"i think any college would be lucky to have you attend it."
"no, my grades sucked, and not only that i have a bad reputation."
"someone's reputation doesn't always define them." jj looks down.
"mine defines me."

"it really doesn't, you're an amazing person."
"if i'm really an amazing person, then how come we aren't together anymore?" gina gets quiet.
"see." he walks back out to the living room and gina stays in the kitchen, thinking about what just happened.