The next morning, Mrs. Thornton noticed the boat was missing. She grilled Topper about it, who had no clue where it went, even though he used it last. They searched the water, only to find it at the bottom, filled with water. And she was furious, blaming it all on Topper, who for once, did nothing.
This came down to the Pogues, specifically JJ and Pope, just to get back on what they did to Pope. Would it backfire? Yeah, it was likely. But in the meantime, they didn't care.
Topper filled in Rafe and Kelce on what had went down during their gym session later that afternoon.
"It's always my fault, no matter what. She just wants me to be this little robot that checks her boxes." Topper shook his head, frustratedly, "You know what I mean? SAT prep, check! Serving food at the shelter, check! I mean, I do, I literally do everything she wants and I'm fucking sick of it."
"Well, we all know who did it, right?" Rafe panted as he put down the barbell.
"It was that little geek, Pope." Kelce turned to face Topper.
"Pope, yeah." Topper nodded, "Rafe, if you wouldn't have jumped him on the golf course, I'd still have a boat, right?"
"Sorry if I, uh, had your back after some Pogue put a, put a gun to your head." Rafe said, walking over to Topper and Kelce, "Listen man, I am not the enemy here. Am I the enemy here? I'm not the enemy."
Rafe looked to Kelce for reassurance and got a quick response from him, "No."
"I didn't sink the boat, Pope did." Rafe put a hand on Topper's shoulder.
"Okay, all right."
"And you need to force him to take some personal responsibility, bro." Rafe tapped the sides of his temple.
"Bro, he sank the boat, all right? That shit can't stand." Kelce chimed in.
"So, what are you gonna do about it?" Rafe asked as he chewed his gum.
Topper looked off to the side. He had a few ideas, but he wasn't sure they were worthy enough yet. And Rafe had ideas, way worse than Topper's, but he would wait before sharing them.
The two of them sat outside of Heyward's in Topper's jeep, taunting Pope. It was creepy actually, the way they were both just staring at him, watching his every move. Pope finally noticed, glancing up as he saw Topper wearing a stone cold expression and Rafe kissed the air, making Pope begin to worry. In turn, Rafe laughed to himself over how weak someone could be, and he and Topper shared a look, knowing they got in his head.
Iris was still laying in bed when Rafe came around after taunting Pope. He wouldn't let her know what was going on there, he wanted to keep her as safe as possible. Plus, he knew she wouldn't like it. She had some sort of weird relationship with the Pogues recently. Rafe climbed into her bed beside her and pulled her into his arms.
"You're back." She muttered as he kicked off the blankets, "Hey, that's mean."
Rafe laughed, "I don't know how you're not sweating."
"I was so cozy."
Her eyes were still closed and he caressed her cheek, taking in every aspect of her perfect face.
He wanted her to open her eyes. He loved her eyes. Ocean eyes. The prettiest shade of blue, with a dash of green and even yellow, but the blue, it was his favourite colour. It was the one thing he would never get sick of seeing. It made him feel calm, for once in his life.
It made him feel at home.
She was his home.
"What do you need today?"
"I should probably eat something." Iris tried to open her eyes, but they were heavy and swollen from sobbing hysterically the night before, finally she batted them open, "The summer movie series is tonight, yeah?"
Rafe finally met her eyes.
They were red, with a hint of the ocean hidden behind.
"Yeah, do you want, do you want to go? Like, I can stay here-"
"No, Rafe, I mean, yeah, I wanna go. I just, should I ask Tatum or Sarah?"
"Sure, yeah, of course. Obviously Top and Kelce are going."
"I don't want to be surrounded by only testosterone all night."
Rafe laughed, "Oh, come on. Sometimes you love just hanging out with us."
"You're right, but tonight, I don't know about that." Iris giggled, which made Rafe smile.
"If you do want to go home at any time, I will bring you back."
"I know, I know."
It took awhile for Iris to finally get out of bed, but she did. And Rafe let out a sigh of relief as the two of them made something to eat in her kitchen. She called Tatum and basically just told her she has to come to the movie series, and Tatum agreed. Thankfully, Jack wasn't attending with her.
Iris dug out cozy campfire chairs from the closet and put them outside for later, just incase she forgot. And it was muggy today, so shorts and a tank top it was.
She still didn't know about Top's boat.
"Okay, are you good? Uh, you're gonna come with Tatum soon, right?"
"Yes, Rafe. Go meet up with the guys and get us a decent spot!"
Rafe cradled her face in his hands and planted a soft kiss on her lips.
"Come on, Rafe. I'm not going to break that easily. Give me a better kiss."
Rafe jokingly rolled his eyes and kissed her deeply before pulling away, "I'll see you soon."
Shortly after, Iris walked over to Tatums with the chairs in hand. It was a bit of a struggle, but she managed.
"I have no idea how the hell you carried both of those all the way over here." Tatum said as she met her at the door.
"I'm sweating." Iris panted as she dropped the chairs in the middle of the driveway.
"You couldn't have put them in the car?" Tatum teased as Iris shot her a glare.
"They're heavy."
Tatum opened the trunk of her car and put the chairs in, also realizing that Iris was not lying, the chairs were heavy.
"What is this shit made of? Solid gold or something?"
"Feels like it, yeah?"
"Yeah, almost threw my back out."
Iris laughed as they got into the car and drove down to the movie series night. She was excited. This felt normal. Things felt more normal again.
Meanwhile, Rafe, Topper and Kelce got a spot near the back. And they found the Pogues right away, except they were missing one. There was only JJ, Pope and Kie. So, where was John B, their ring leader?
"I think we should say something to Kiara because then she tells them, then they're on edge and we wait until later to confront them, how's that sound?" Topper said as Kelce agreed.
"I'll talk to Kie." Rafe said, taking a sip of his drink, "She was Sarah's best friend. She knows me a bit better, okay?"
"Was she friends with Iris?" Kelce asked, trying to think, "I don't remember."
Rafe laughed, "Yeah, that was, that was something. They were normally at each other's throats all the time though, so not really. They were mainly friends through Sarah."
Ah, yes. Kie and Iris' internal and infinite hate for each other.
Correction, it was definitely external hate.
Kiara got up and began to walk to the concession stand when Rafe left his drink with the guys and walked over to meet her.
"Hey Kie."
Kiara rolled her eyes when she saw who was talking to her.
"Hey, what's up? How are you?" Rafe asked, trying his hardest to be friendly.
"I'm fine."
"Good, good, um." Rafe looked around for a minute before locking eyes with her, "Tell your boy that we know what he did."
"Sorry, what boy are you talking about?"
"Uh, he'll know." Rafe nodded as Kie got her drinks and walked away, "Bye."
"Douche." She muttered under her breath, wondering what the fuck he was talking about.
So, she asked Pope and JJ, who seemingly looked a bit alarmed. They turned around to see the 3 Kooks staring right at them. Great. Just what they needed. JJ wondered where Iris was. Was she was okay after the events that occurred last night?
But he heard her laugh a few minutes later and when he turned around, he saw Rafe wrapping his arm around her, planting a kiss on her cheek. She smiled and was looking ahead when she met eyes with JJ and gave him a small nod, to which his cheeks turned pink.
"Could you stare any harder at the Kook Queen? God, JJ." Kiara scoffed, rolling her eyes.
JJ turned back around, "Shut up, Kie."
And everyone focused on the movie.
Mainly.
~