Be With Me

Chapter 4

"You don't have to take me home, really..." Rafaela told him. "I can take a cab or something."

"No..." James shook his head and grabbed his wallet, putting it on his back pocket. "I'll take you home. Kelly is sleeping in my bed, I wasn't even able to wake her up, so I will take you home." He said. Kelly had fallen asleep during the movie and when it was over James tried, unsuccessfully to wake her up, so he took her to his bed. Rafaela ended up nodding.

James drove slowly, after all, he was drunk, just as much as she was. Their conversation on the porch was long enough for them to swallow a few beers and get drunk, though Rafaela was not as drunk as the night before. Her head was a bit dizzy, but not numb, nor were her members. She didn't stumble, she didn't stutter and the joints she had smoke made her somehow sober, fake soberness made her feel conscious.

After more or less 20 minutes he parked his truck in front of her building and Rafaela turned to him to thank him for the ride.

"Thank you James." She said, but neither did she open the door to leave and neither did he look like he wanted the night to end there. They just stared at each other for a moment.

"We could have another beer." He suggested. Rafaela studied him for a while and then he nodded slowly to convince her.

"But at the apartment. I want to be quiet now."

"Fine for me." He said turning the engine off and opening his door promptly. She looked at him a bit puzzled and then opened the door to get out too. They went upstairs.

Rafaela felt a bit uneasy she was alone with Kelly's boyfriend, she felt like she was doing something wrong, really wrong, but she had enjoyed their conversation and she also didn't want the night to end there. Talking wouldn't hurt right?

As she opened the door James got in and threw himself on the couch, kicking his shoes off as if he was home. Well, actually, he had been in that apartment more times than Rafaela herself, so she was sure it felt, somehow, like home to him. She opened the fridge and brought two Coors.

"Wanna go outside?" She said tilting her head towards the terrace and so they did.

Like the night before they sat on the ground with their back against the wall, side by side. An awkward silence was caught between them, like all of a sudden there was nothing to talk about, and Rafaela looked at him by the corner of her eye. His left hand resting between his crossed legs while the other took the bottle to his lips. There she looked up at him catching him scrutinizing her the same way. They smiled and Rafaela felt like running her fingers over his wet lips with beer, or even taste them. She shook her evil thoughts away.

"So, no boyfriend? Why is that?" He asked out of the blue.

She shrugged. "I used to have a boyfriend, but things cold out and he broke up with me. I wanted to break up with him too, but I didn't have the courage you know?"

"Why?" He asked again.

"Why I didn't have the courage?" She asked to be certain. He nodded. "Well...he was my first rather serious boyfriend. His parents were and are my parents' friends, they like him a lot. You know the deal, he belonged to our world, so we would make a perfect couple. That's why...I was afraid to let my parents down."

"And did you? How did they react?"

"Not bad, after all...he broke up with me. I got out of it as the good girl, but we are just too young. He's an year older but well...I didn't want to stick with my "first" boyfriend nor did he. We're cool." Rafaela smiled and James stared at her with a special glare in his eyes. Like his gaze was piercing on her soul and her smile vanished right after.