Don't kill me but I wrote most of this before I published the last chapter!! However I edited it and made it more tame than I originally anticipated....ENJOY! 🫶🏻
"Marry me, Iris."
Iris' heart stopped.
She always wanted to hear him say those words to her.
When she said that she would do anything to prove to Rafe that she loved him, she didn't except this from him.
She had a billion thought running through her head.
Does marriage show how much you love someone? Or was it just a piece of paper that signified that you two were formally tied to each other?
She didn't know.
She knew her parents marriage was solid. It was good. She had good exposure to marriage growing up. Like every other girl, she dreamt of getting married.
But not at eighteen years old.
Even if it was Rafe, the one person she pictured having a future with.
"Rafe-"
He stepped forward, cradling her face, "I'm serious, Iris. Marry me."
He saw the mixed emotion on her face. He confused a girl who was already confused as hell, and maybe, just maybe he should've thought this through a little further.
The longer she stared up at him, the more he regretted his words.
"Rafe, I want to marry you, I do-"
"Just not right now, right?" He whispered, finishing her sentence as she looked up at him with tears in her eyes, "You said you'd do anything to prove it."
"And I still will." She replied, "But we're so young-"
"If you loved me like you say you do, then our age shouldn't matter."
Slight manipulation on Rafe's part, but it was also the truth, right?
"I know, but I'm sorry." She sniffled, breaking their eye contact, "Ask me again in a few years."
She went to go wrap her arms around him and he backed away from her, as she looked up at him confused.
"Rafe?"
"I, uh, I just-" he paused slightly, trying to get the words out without crying as he gulped to push down the horrible feeling he had, "I just need some space."
He met her eye and he swore she looked even more heart broken than she did the day on the tarmac with Sheriff Peterkin.
"What?" She asked in disbelief.
"I need you to go."
"Rafe-"
"Iris, please, okay?"
"Rafe, I'm sorry." She pleaded with him, "I didn't mean to hurt your feelings. You know I want to marry you, don't you? You know I love you-"
"Go, Iris."
She sniffled, grabbing her things as her lower lip quivered, "I love you."
"Me too."
Me too.
She gave him one last look before she fled out the door, practically running to the one place she needed to be.
The middle of the water on a calm night.
Except it wasn't calm, it was raining.
So, she climbed on her family boat and sat there in the rain, crying as heavily as the rain was falling down around her.
He thought she was dead until a few days ago, so of course he'd want her in his grasp.
So why didn't she just say yes?
She didn't exactly say no, but it was implied that now wasn't a good time.
How could she be so stupid as to mess this up?
Rafe took ten minutes to let out his frustrations before re-joining the party. His eyes were immediately drawn to the table covered in coke as person after person took lines. He shook it off, pretending that was something he didn't see before he finally found Topper and Jack outside.
"Where you been?"
"Inside." Rafe muttered, taking a drink.
"Okay, what is up with everyone tonight?" Topper chuckled, "You good?"
"I'm fine, Top."
Yikes, Jack thought, something happened. Jack's eyes scanned the inside for the brunette as Rafe read his mind.
"She's not here, Jack."
Jack snapped his head towards Rafe, whose eyes were now focused on him, "How did you know?"
"You're not the first one to be on the lookout for her tonight." He muttered in response.
"I don't know what's going on, but I'm assuming something happened between you and-"
"Topper, don't." Rafe spat, "I don't want to talk about her."
"That's a first."
Both Jack and Topper were curious to know what went down between the Kook power couple, but they were not going to find anything out from Rafe, that's for damn sure.
"Pogues still here?" Rafe muttered a few seconds later and Topper shook his head.
"They're long gone, bro. I took care of it." Topper replied, "Hey, you know what's funny? I didn't see a John B with them at all tonight. Did he even make it back alive? I know that they said he did on the news."
"Who fucking knows." Jack muttered back.
"Did you see that his dad is alive too?"
"Yeah, what the fuck? So where has he been this entire time?" Jack chuckled.
"Not wanting to be associated with his treasure hunting freak of a son."
"Like father like son." Rafe spoke up, taking a drink.
"Yeah, you can say that." Jack replied smugly, as Rafe briefly met his eyes before glancing away.
Rafe lasted a good ten minutes in total with the two of them before he stormed back inside.
"What's his deal tonight?" Topper asked.
"No clue. I asked him about Iris earlier and he got super defensive and told me not to ask or think about her."
"Well, what the hell changed?"
"Well, I mean, she did just come back from the dead and spent 6 weeks on an island with Pogues. I'd be pretty fucked up too to say the least."
Topper chuckled softly, "Yeah, me too, man."
Inside Tatum ran into Rafe, "Oh, Rafe! Have you seen Iris?"
"Nah, no, she's gone."
"Gone? Like home?"
Rafe shrugged, swatting her away, "I don't know, Tatum. She's not here. Go look for her somewhere else, alright?"
"Rafe, what the hell?"
"Tatum, just go, alright?" Rafe replied as Tatum stood there confused as Jack and Topper watched from outside.
"He's acting weird." Topper groaned, "I don't like it."
"You know him better than I do."
"Yeah, but somethings up. I don't usually get involved with their drama, but I think I might need to tonight." Topper said, standing up, "You coming?"
Jack soon followed Topper as the two tried to figure out what was going on.
Rafe was going to head back to his room, but instead he climbed to the top floor, going to sit out on the roof. Something he hadn't done in a long time.
Plus, it was something that he and Iris used to do together.
He furrowed his brow, feeling the breeze as he reached the top of the floor, as if the window was already open. Even though he told Iris to leave, he had a shimmer of hope that she was here, on the roof. As he stepped forward into the den, he saw that the window was indeed open.
"Iris?" He called out as he walked closer.
Sofia popped out instead, "Sorry to disappoint you, but it's me."
Of course she was up here.
His heart sank slightly as he gulped, nodding, "How'd you, uh, how'd you get up here?"
"I was just snooping around your house when I found this place. It seemed like the perfect getaway from all the craziness going on downstairs."
He considered staying, but she was being super flirty towards him earlier.
And he didn't know how to feel about that, especially now in his anger/pissed off/annoyed/vulnerable state.
"Yeah, yeah it is." Rafe paused, "Sorry to interrupt, um, I'll, I'll let you be."
"No, that's okay. It's your house." She replied, "Do you wanna come out? I can move over."
This was his and Iris' thing.
She and JJ did stuff that was their thing.
He asked her to marry him and she said no.
He could do one thing that they used to do. Right?
"Um, sure." He muttered as he pulled himself out of the window, sitting beside Sofia on the roof.
"It's such a pretty view."
"It is." He hummed as he looked out to the water.
"Where's Iris?"
"She's gone."
"Gone?"
"Yeah." He muttered in response.
"In a good way or a bad way?"
He furrowed his brow slightly as he looked down, "Uh, well-"
"So, in a bad way, yeah?"
He looked back up, meeting her eye, "You could say that."
"Care to elaborate this time?"
"No, I'd rather not talk about it."
"I'm fine with not talking." She replied as she placed her hand on his.
His eyes looked down at their hands briefly before he looked away once more, accepting it.
"Okay, if I were Iris, where would I be?" Jack talked out loud as he and Topper roamed the house.
"That is one thing I have no idea about." Topper said as he saw Tatum from afar, "Hey, Tatum!"
"Top, no!" Jack groaned, having avoided her all night.
She turned around and saw the two boys walking towards her and she raised her eyebrows.
"Can I help you two?"
"There's something going on with Iris and Rafe and we're trying to figure it out."
She chuckled, "Really? You two?"
"What's wrong with us?" Jack asked her.
"Hi to you too, Jack."
"I was trying to give you your space, okay Tatum?"
"Mhm. That's fine." She replied with a slight smirk, "Okay, so something is up with Iris and Rafe?"
"Yes. Do you know where Iris would go if she's upset?"
Tatum nodded, "Her parents boat."
Topper and Jack exchanged a look, "Should we go?"
"Yeah."
"Do you wanna come, Tatum?" Topper asked her as she glanced back at all the people.
"I should probably stay. Sofia is here."
"But Iris is out there."
"I know. I'll try to see if I can find Rafe in the meantime."
"It's probably better if we start with Iris then move on to Rafe." Jack spoke up.
She sighed, "Fine, I'll come."
The three of them walked over to the Campbell's house and followed their dock until they got to the boat tied at the end. Music was playing quietly as they approached the boat.
"Iris?" Topper called out.
Nothing.
"Iris?" He tried again.
"Topper?" She responded, shooting her head up from where she was hiding in the boat.
She saw Jack and Tatum standing by his side as Topper saw that she was upset and climbed on board as the other two followed.
"What are you going here?"
"What's going on?" Topper replied, ignoring her comment.
"It's nothing, it's nothing." She sniffled, quickly wiping the tears off of her face.
"Clearly it's something. You and Rafe throw this big party and this is how it turns out? This isn't normal." Tatum spoke up, pacing around the boat.
"Does this have anything to do about being gone for six weeks?" Topper asked softly as she nodded.
"Of course it does. It all comes back to that." She paused, "I don't want to get into details, but JJ said some stuff to Rafe and that pissed him off and then I was trying to make it up to him any way that I could-"
"Wait, why are you making it up to him?" Tatum asked, confused.
"JJ and I did a few things that I only did with Rafe." She muttered, "So, it got to his head because he didn't think I was being genuine to him anymore. And clearly, I didn't make it up to him because I'm here."
"I'm shocked he's not chasing you around." Topper said, with a half smile on his face.
"He told me to leave."
Topper's smile faded as he furrowed his brow, "What?"
"You're kidding, right?" Tatum scoffed, "What? He couldn't handle the fact that you and JJ hooked up for a bit while you guys were stranded on an island? He mourned you, Iris. He should be happy to have you back at all, really."
"It was more than hooking up, Tatum, that's what really pissed him off."
"Wait, you really had feelings for, for Maybank?" Jack asked to clarify.
"Yeah, I did."
"This is kind of a mess."
Iris laughed slightly, "I know."
"Okay, anything else we should know?"
"JJ came to apologize to me in Rafe's room and Rafe caught us and yeah, that's where this all started. Then I fucked it up by not doing whatever I could to fix it."
"You and JJ were hooking up in Rafe's bedroom?" Jack asked, shocked.
"No! Oh my god, no!" Iris paused, "Just talking. He came to me, and when he happened to leave, Rafe was coming in since it's his room."
"Oh, god, that makes more sense." Jack chuckled to himself.
"What did he want you to do to fix it?" Tatum asked as Iris looked down.
"I don't think I should tell you guys. That's private between Rafe and I."
"Okay, you don't have to tell us." Topper replied, "But do you know where he might be?"
"Rafe?"
"Yeah."
"My guess?" Iris replied, pausing slightly, "On the roof."
"Like through Sarah's room?"
"No, go to the top floor of the house and out through the den. I'd be shocked if he wasn't there." She responded, sighing, "I'm gonna head back home soon, but if you guys find him, tell him to come see me when he's ready."
Topper nodded, "We will."
Back on the roof, Sofia and Rafe were bonding. At first he was annoyed by this girl and her advances towards him, but now, he was happy that someone was listening to him.
That didn't mean that his girl wasn't still lingering in the back of his mind.
"What were you studying in school?"
"Art." She paused, looking at his reaction, "I know, I know. People always think it's boring, but I've always loved it, but now isn't the right time for me to go to school so maybe it'll work out another time. What about you?"
"Uh, I'm not, I'm not in school."
"Really? I thought you'd be."
"I dropped out last spring after my first year."
"Can I guess your major?"
"Be my guest."
"Business?"
Rafe cracked a smile, "Yeah, um, yeah how'd you know that?"
"You're pretty easy to read."
"Am I?" He asked.
"100%." She paused, "Earlier, I could tell you didn't want talk to me when I was pursuing you and I know it's because of Iris, but now, something, somethings changed and you seem more open and willing to let other people in, like myself."
"I see."
Sofia glanced away before glancing back at Rafe, "Those...those people outside, were they causing trouble?"
As if she didn't know all about the Pogues.
"I guess you could say that."
"What kind of trouble?" Sofia saw him clench his fist as she put her hand over his once again, before softly caressing his arm, "Sorry, we don't have to talk about that."
"Yeah, let's not." He replied, liking the feeling of her rubbing her hand up and down his arm.
"That feel nice?"
"Yeah." He responded and before he knew it, she pulled her leg over, straddling him as his eyes widened slightly.
"What about this?" She muttered as her lips went to his neck, then to his jaw, then to his ear.
It didn't help that he was letting out small moans as she moved her lips across his face.
"Sofia." He breathed out.
"What?" She asked leaning backwards, away from him.
Iris did this with JJ one hundred times, Rafe.
This one time would be nothing.
It would be like an eye for an eye.
Then they'd be equal.
"Nevermind." He growled as he pulled her closer and the two locked lips.
She didn't feel like Iris. It felt wrong to him.
And yet, he continued on.
His hands worked their way up her skirt as she fumbled with his belt buckle. Just as she was about to pull them down, they were interrupted.
"Jesus, Rafe. Seriously? Are you kidding me?"
Toppers voice startled the two of them as Rafe held onto Sofia so she didn't fall.
Two more heads popped out.
Jack and Tatum.
Fuck.
"Sofia? What the hell!"
"Shit, hey Tatum."
"Fuck." Rafe muttered.
"Get dressed and get back in here." Topper demanded, "Now."
"Okay dad." Rafe joked.
"Rafe, I'm being serious."
Sofia shuffled her way back to the window, climbing back inside as Tatum pulled her aside.
"I thought we agreed for you to stay away from Rafe."
"We did, but, things happen."
"If I would've know you were a home wrecker, I wouldn't have brought you here."
"You thought she was dead."
"And she's not! So why are you still entertaining this?"
"Have you seen him? He's hot."
"Stay away from Rafe, Sofia. Get the hell out of here." Tatum said, pushing her towards the stairs, scowling at Tatum before she descended the stairs.
"So you brought her here to hookup with Rafe?" Jack asked, clarifying.
"I thought they would hit it off and it would distract him from Iris. That's when I thought she was gone."
"Oh, they hit it off alright." Jack snickered as Tatum playfully smacked him.
"Quit it."
"Okay, what the hell are you three up to?" Rafe asked as he climbed back in through the window, shutting it behind him, "I didn't realize Figure 8 had a new security team."
"We were trying to figure out what was going on with you and Iris tonight." Topper admitted.
"You guys can't keep to yourselves, huh?"
"Well, we learned some stuff from Iris." Tatum spoke up, "But I don't think any of us were expecting to see you in this state. Is this because of the JJ stuff? Did you feel like you needed to get even with her?"
"Why do you think that?"
"Guilty." Topper exclaimed, "So you did want to be even?"
"I don't know why I did it, alright?"
"That's not true. You wanted to get even with her because her and JJ together hurt you. And this was the perfect opportunity after she didn't go along with your plan to fix things." Tatum replied as his eyes widened.
"She told you I asked her to marry me?"
"What?" All three asked.
"Shit, she didn't tell you that, did she?"
"You asked her to marry you and now you're out here about to fuck Sofia? Do you realize how crazy that sounds?" Topper asked, scoffing.
"She said no."
"That doesn't mean you pull something like this! You're supposed to work on things, not go cold turkey and move onto the next girl." Tatum exclaimed.
"You're right. That was stupid of me." He muttered, "She can't find out."
"Woah, what?" Jack asked.
"She cannot find out. Iris."
"Dude, seriously? You need to be honest with her." Topper replied.
"No, I told her I needed time."
"That didn't mean to go and fuck-"
"Alright, Tatum, knock it off!"
"She wanted us to tell you to come find her once you're ready! She still wants you, you idiot. All she's ever wanted was you and I'm sure all she'll continue to want is you!" Tatum yelled, "You 100% caught her off guard with the marriage thing and I'm sure if the circumstances had been different and she wasn't presumed dead for six weeks, that she would've said yes. If you still want her in any way, shape, or form, then you need to be brutally honest with her. I know she was honest with you about JJ."
"Yeah and sometimes I wished she hadn't of been honest."
"That's not true." Topper paused, "Plus, it's not like you wouldn't have found out. You don't think she's going to find out?"
"Either we will run our mouths because we all love and care about her or Sofia will and it'll get back to her. So, what would you rather? It come from us, Sofia or you? Hm?" Tatum asked, crossing her arms.
Rafe scoffed, shaking his head, "You guys gotta learn to stay out of other people's business."
"And you need to learn to grow up. I haven't seen player Rafe since before you dated Iris. He wasn't someone I was exactly a fan of by any means." Tatum scoffed as Topper and Jack shared a look.
"She's going to be pretty upset with you too, Tatum. After all, Sofia was your friend that you brought here, for me."
"When I thought she was dead, okay?" Tatum exclaimed, "I already talked to Iris about this, so don't even try that bullshit."
He had royally screwed up.
If he had went about the situation in a mature way, he would've accepted that she wasn't ready and focused more on repairing their relationship and working out the quirks rather than moving along.
Fuck.
He hadn't cheated on Iris ever.
His mind wandered a few times to the subject, but that was a long time ago and he really didn't like seeing that side of himself.
Even though she had fucked up, that didn't mean that he needed to.
Shit.
He had some work to do.
And he had to do it soon before shit hit the fan.
~~