PICTURE NOT SO PERFECT Part Cinco.
June 5th, 2022. 11:15am, Y/N's Cottage.
I wake up to a call from Rafe, barely able to register the time and place i'm at since I stayed up half the night with the girls, I answer.
"Good morning, Squirt. Just letting you know i'm on my way over, got breakfast and then we can head to the Country Club." he sounded so at peace, so calm, it weirdly passed onto me through the phone.
"Gmorning. Sounds good, the girls are still here, Sarah crashed my crash out and then told me that we were having a forced girls night so I just gotta let them know and we can head out. See you soon, key's still under the Lilly pot." He hums in response and hangs up, I lift myself off the couch only to find the others staring up at me already.
"Shit! god- you guys keep giving me heart attacks and I might just not come back next time!" giggles erupt while we all squeeze onto the couch.
"You sure you wanna do this, Y/N? Rafe seems like he's over it, maybe it could be worse?" Kie speaks up first, pulling me from my daze. I nod.
"I want to see her face, I need to. It's not even just for him, it's to get the closure I need, to know that they did set him up, that he had no choice and still fought back when he realized what she was put up to." I run my hands over my face heading to the kitchen. The girls follow suit as we all begin to get breakfast made for themselves. The Pogues always made themselves at home, we all practically grew up coming to this cottage with my dad as kids, fishing trips, swimming lessons, surfing lessons, my dad taught us all alongside Big John and Ward. A knock on the door is all I hear before Sarah walks over to answer it. Rafe.
"Morning ladies. Where's my girl?" I walk out of the pantry waving. Rafe, already closing the distance between us pulling me into a familiar feeling, God I missed his arms around me.
"Hi." I whisper into his chest.
"Hey." He sighs. He pulls away handing me my favorite breakfast sandwich and heads to sit at the dining table. Sarah, Kie and Cleo following him.
"I assume Y/N has caught you guys up? listen, I just want to put an end to this shit. I got myself together, all on my own, I did the work and still can't 100% say i'm perfect.. I just know I don't want to be with anyone but her.. So, floors open for the judgement and pent up anger.." He lays his terms out and the girls all exchange glances.
"We, just want you both happy and safe. You went through a lot, Rafe. This shit isn't pushed away lightly. We just wanna know, if you agree with getting closure or whatever Y/N, wants. If you're both on the same page." Cleo starts.
"We want you both to go forward in a positive light, letting go of the past drama and just remembering how cute and disgustingly in love you both were. No judgement or pent up anger here." Sarah adds.
"Seconded, both statements. I will finish off before leaving you two alone with one thing. If anything triggers either one of you at all? You calls us or the guys, okay? You might be older than us, Rafe. But, this trauma is one most of us have been through, sadly. We won't hesitate to be there for you both. Just be careful and no. fighting. Squirt?" They all turn to me know as I stand at the bar, mouthful of food.
"Pinky swear. I'm not that much of a hothead anyway. Chill." I muster out, knowing they won't believe me. Something most people don't know about me is that after my dad's death, I became a bit of a hothead. I ended up trashing our entire house on Figure 8 after the burial and Rafe had to hold me back from worst damages while the girls and my mom cleaned up, simply out of anger from losing him. I wasn't in the right head space and sometimes could be quite vengeful. So, I guess they're right or whatever. The girls stifle giggles as they head into my bedroom and I follow, letting Rafe know i'm just gonna get dressed so we can head out. A few minutes pass and I say my goodbyes to the girls before hopping in Rafe's truck and we make our way to the Country Club. Lord, help us all.
We pull up to the Country Club and plan to talk to Sofia, ask her a few questions and hear her side, then meet up with Topper and Kelce to play some golf. Or basically let them know we’re talking again. We haven’t really specified if we’re back together or not so, we didn’t want to complicate the conversation. I head for the bar, Rafe on my tail and take a seat which he pulls out for me. Sofia lingered on the other side doing her bar-back chores until she heard us talking about what we were thinking of ordering. She froze, now, I couldn’t tell if it was fear, or simply guilt but it was a bit of both.
“Hi, uhm- I’m Sofia, I’ll be your bartender, let me know if you need anything. I’ll get your usual Mr. Cameron.” Poor girl couldn’t even look us in the eye let alone give us a second to interject. When she came back with Rafe’s usual glass of whiskey neat, I grabbed her hand, not harshly just to get her attention.
“I’m not here on bad terms, Sofia. Rafe and I just want to speak to you about that night of the 4th of July bonfire last year. Get some answers to who put you up to the task.” She was trembling but, I noticed she had a very specific Tiffany And Co. charm bracelet on. Was she still working for this person? If so, why? She took a deep breath and put on her best fake smile, tough cookie, alright.
“I have no idea what you’re talking about, Rafe and I were just hooking up, until you ran into the room and prevented that from happening.” I scoffed, Rafe’s grip on my waist tightening a bit.
“Listen to me, sweetheart. Whether you tell us the truth or not? We’ll find out, you’ve already been exposed for sleeping with people for money and making money to break up relationships, do you really want your fathers business deals to he torn apart but that kind of scandal? Now you can give me a name, or I can get it out of you myself by dragging you to the restroom.” Her eyes widened. She stammered for a bit until the name croaked out of her throat.
“Topper. Topper Thornton, you- Rafe’s friend. He paid me $5000 to break you guys up so he could try to sleep with you.” It was my turn to grab Rafe before he ran off and beat the life out of Topper, who we had planned to hang out with, his best friend from middle and high school. But, he stood still, almost like he had known.
“Sorry for the scare tactic, you’re free to go. Thank you.” I whispered to Sofia and she practically sprinted away. Rafe’s gaze was glued to the glass in front of him.
“How are you not actively losing it right now? You have the right to, Ray. I me-.” He sucked in a breath.
“I knew.” and my jaw dropped.
“I knew it would either be him, or Rose. They both always said shit about our relationship not being right but I never cared, just didn’t ever want to know if he would really betray me like that.” and it suddenly dawned on me, Topper had been the one to basically deliver me to Rafe’s bedroom door that night, smug shit eating grin on his face and all. I pulled Rafe into a hug and he gave in? Melting into my hold.
“I’m so sorry. I should’ve known! He was the one who told me you were waiting for me in your room but I was so worried I didn’t register that until now.. Ray..” I hold him close and after a while he pulls away, a calm smile on his face.
"This just makes it clear we were never meant to break up, it was all a mistake. I know what I have to do about Topper but, I want you back, Y/N/N. I need you back." His hands cupping my cheeks, eyes pouring into mine, I did what I should've done a long time ago and kissed him.
"Never stopped being yours, Ray. It's us against the world." We had a few drinks and suprisingly, Topper cancelled when he heard I was in attendance so we ended up golfing with Kelce who had always been a huge supporter of our relationship. Now, 4 hours later we're headed to the cottage to have dinner with the Pogues when out of nowhere a vaguely familiar truck starts speeding up behind us, all I remember is hearing Rafe shout at me to get down and the feeling of his arm pulling me toward him. Next time I woke up, I was hooked up to machines, in a hospital gown.
