RED LIPS & ROSY CHEEKS

It started off with infatuation.

Even though you’ve known Rafe since birth, he’s never acknowledged your existence. Not until your senior year.

Suddenly, he bothered to bat his eyes in your direction. He would glare when you laughed with a boy at the country club, for whatever reason you couldn’t seem to understand.

You had no idea why he suddenly became interested in you, why he would suddenly turn up at the most random places you were at.

At the grocery store, he would appear in random aisles, giving you a quick wave that he would’ve never done a few years prior. You reciprocated, not thinking about it a second later.

Rafe would think about that wave as he fell asleep that same night.

The idea of you clouded his mind most the time, his thoughts wandering as he pondered what having you would feel like.

His friends would call it an obsession, the way his eyes followed you and your sundress as you walked across the deck of the country club to your parents.

“She’s gotta watch out, Rafe’s gonna pounce on her any second.” His friends would laugh, forgetting about you two a second later.

He watched you at parties, the way you declined every drink and had fun, sober. It was like a foreign thought for Rafe.

So, he crept closer. He started to inhale you, like a drug better than the cocaine he’d sniff daily. When he’d talk to you, it was like being lifted off the ground and twirled around so much that you’d fall out of dizziness into his arms.

He’d hold you, of course. Get a good whiff of your shampoo, smell your perfume that lingered onto your sweaty body, and caress your leg as you would sit on his lap at parties.

Rafe was high on love. So much so that he didn’t do cocaine for a full week, but in return wanted you by his side for almost that whole duration. He would be a gentlemen to you, opening doors, paying for everything, and taking you wherever you wanted.

“You’re so beautiful.” He would say at a bonfire, away from everyone so they couldn’t see the make out session that was about to occur, but close enough to still hear the muffled music and sounds of people talking.

“You’re so whipped.” You would reply, a sly smile on your face as you leaned in to give him that messy top lip kiss he loves, which would make him lust for you and your touch even more.

The peak of your relationship was the summertime, as Rafe could have you all to himself. Without the distractions of your guy friends as school, you were almost always either at his house or on his boat while he was fishing. Either way, he loved seeing you in a skimpy bikini. But only for him.

You stood between his legs as he sat on the anchored ledge of the Druthers, planting kisses on his neck and he rubbed his hands up and down your body.

A frown landed on your face as you pulled away from him, “Rafe, why are we always on the Druthers?”

“What do you mean?” He asked, looking up at you with a concerned face.

You pouted, crossing your arms and taking a seat on his lap. “It just feels like you’re stealing me away from everyone. Not stealing—I just mean that we’re always… Isolated.”

He sighed, tightening his grip around your waist. “I know princess, but how would we enjoy the sunset every night if we have drunk teenagers in our ears? Besides, does anyone else need to know the things we do? We can do whatever we want on here,” he smirked, his finger running up your bikini strap, “it’s all up to you.”

With that same seductive smile, you were convinced that he was a romantic for whisking you away from your friends each night, but it turned out just be a way to get you all to himself.

You saw a future—a life with him. You two had been dating for almost a year, and there was no way he didn’t think so either. It might’ve been a bit too early, but at some point he saw forever.

It was fine until July Ninth.

You had begged to stay on the island for one night to go to a party with Rafe, and he was still not on board even entering the house. He made you promise to stay by him the whole night, to which you did.

His eyes floated around the whole night, his death grip on your hand getting looser and looser and the night continued. “I’m gonna go to the bathroom, yeah? Go talk to your friends.” He said, dropping your hand and disappearing into the crowd before you could even get a word in.

You had no choice but to mingle around with people you hadn’t talked to in months, the awkwardness steaming though each conversation.

After thirty minutes with no signs of Rafe, you decided to go looking for him around the alcohol and weed smelling house.

To your surprise, Rafe was snorting a line of cocaine. As he looked up, you realized that another girl dared him to do it. Her giggle as he did so was contagious, wrapping her hands around his neck and embracing him as he finished. He mumbled something in her ear, but you couldn’t quite read his lips. As she turned around, a smirk was wide on her face and her cheeks were flaming red.

It was too late when Rafe spotted you staring directly as him, your plastic cup filled with Sprite dented from the tight grip you held on it watching their interaction.

You ran through the crowd as fast as you could, pushing and shoving your way through the sweaty and drunk people as Rafe was close behind you. Or so you thought.

By the time you were hyperventilating outside, Rafe gave up on you halfway through the house and went back to his original place with the other girl.

You felt sick to your stomach. The way Rafe had told you he saw a future with you a week prior to today and decided to throw it all away the second he was going to commit was a classic Rafe move.

“I should’ve fucking known it was a matter of time.” You whispered, collapsing on the grass as you threw your now empty cup onto the porch behind you.

A figure popped out behind you, catching the cup you threw. “Woah. You okay?” Topper Thornton asked, a smile plastered on his face.

“Do I look okay?” You replied, ripping out some grass from the perfectly cut lawn.

“You look… Nevermind. I saw Rafe in there with some girl. Did you guys break up?”

“No. No, Topper! Isn’t that the fucking funny part? We didn’t fucking break up! Last week he was like, all over me. I was all over him. He said that he saw forever with me. Now he wants to smash it all up?” You almost screamed, over exaggerating your hand motions.

“He’s known for this. It’s not your fault, really.” Topper replied in a much calmer voice, most likely in an attempt to calm you down too from causing a scene.

A loud scoff erupted from your angry voice, “You should’ve seen him when he first saw me, like really saw me. It was like he was obsessed with me. I liked it too, is that so bad?”

“No, no. Actually, I don’t fuckin’ know. This is all crazy. I’m gonna go get Rafe, and I’ll tell you if he’s doing anything else insane. ‘kay? Stay here, and don’t do anything stupid.” Topper said frantically, then running back into the house in an effort to search for Rafe.

You plopped back onto the grass, tears swelling at your waterline as you looked at the freshly cut grass. You wanted to rip out more, but you might as well wait to pull out Rafe’s hair.

A few minutes later came a disheveled Rafe and a worried Topper, “He’s here.” Topper sighed behind you.

“Bring him here. I don’t want to turn around.” You said, refusing to look behind yourself.

Topper rolled his eyes and pushed Rafe in front of you. His hair was messy, his cheeks were red, and his nose hairs were layered with a white powder.

“I’m sorry.” Was all he said before sitting down beside you. As he sat, you stood up.

“I can’t even fucking look at you. You destroyed me, Rafe. Everything I have is gone because of you. I don’t wanna know what happened with you and that girl or what you whispered in her ear to make her blush like that, but I can’t be the person you just throw away once you get sick of them. I’m not a toy, Rafe. But clearly I was your favorite one.”

He was silent after that. He couldn’t even look at you.

“Once I fix me and everything you destroyed, you’re gonna miss me.” Was your final words before walking away from him.

After you left, he went back inside.

❝THERE WAS DANGER