Chapter Text
"Rafe hurry up! We're gonna miss everything!” Wheezie shouted from her place waiting at the foot of the stairs. The eleven year old was growing more impatient by the second.
Rafe rolled his eyes as he finished getting dressed, pulling on a polo and light jacket over dark fitted jeans. Grabbing his new Nike shoes from the box in his closet, he put them on before checking himself out in the mirror. He looked pretty damn good if he did say so himself, despite the buzz cut he was sporting after having lost a bet between his two best friends Topper and Kelce.
The annual back to school carnival was tonight. It took place every year the weekend before school started, and every school aged kid on the island ended up going to enjoy the last few days of freedom with fun and games.
Rafe grabbed his phone, wallet and keys off his dresser before leaving his room and heading downstairs to meet his youngest sister.
Wheezie sighed. “Finally, you take forever for a guy. You know that, right?”
“Shut up, Wheeze.”
“Don’t tell me to shut up.”
At that, their father walked into the foyer from his study. “Rafe, be nice to your sister, and make sure you keep an eye on her tonight.” Ward told his oldest, his voice calm, but firm.
“Yes, sir.” Rafe automatically responded to his father, then looked back at his sister. “Let’s go, Wheezie.”
“Bye Daddy!” The girl gave her father a quick hug, letting him kiss her cheek before she ran for the door following after her brother.
The ride down to the North Side of the beach where the carnival was being held, consisted of Rafe listening to his sister talk about what rides she wanted to ride and the games she wanted to play as rap music thrummed through the car speakers at a low volume.
Once they got there, Rafe parked his truck, turning to look at the younger girl. “I’m gonna let you run around and do what you want with your little friends or whatever, but you have to meet me back at the front at eleven, okay.”
Wheezie nodded, happy to be able to go off on her own.
“I mean it, Wheeze. Set your alarm so you don’t forget.”
Wheezie huffed, rolling her eyes, though pulling out her phone to set an alarm anyway. “I’m not a baby, Rafe.”
Rafe shrugged, unbuckling his seatbelt, and moving to get out. “Yeah, well you'll forever be my baby sister, so deal with it, short stack.”
The siblings got out of the truck, walking from the parking lot to the main entrance. That’s where both Topper and Kelce were waiting along with Kelce's younger sister Brandi and Topper's cousin Stacey. The girls happily greeted each other, going their separate ways from the boys after they were reminded of what time they were to meet back up.
“They better make it back here on time. I hate babysitting, bro.” Kelce stated as the three started walking.
“I doubt it. Stace rarely ever listens to me.” Topper told them as he scrolled through his text messages, smiling to himself. “Let’s go to the face painting booth first.”
Rafe snorted, stuffing his hands in the pockets of his jeans. “Why, so you can mack on my sister all night?” Both he and Kelce already knew the answer to that, with the other boy cackling while Topper blushed.
“You've got it bad, dude.”
“Shut up, Kelce, you too, Rafe. When both of y'all find a girl that makes you happy, you'll understand.”
“Shit, plenty of girls make me happy.” Rafe chuckled. “I had one doing just that last night.”
“Hell yeah, I feel ya, bro.” Kelce agreed, dapping him up.
Topper shook his head at his friends. “You two are hopeless.”
Both Kelce and Rafe shrugged as they continued walking to the face painting booth.
“Ooh, cute boys at one o’clock.” Miranda, one of the girls volunteering at the both said nudging both Sarah and Kiara. The three girls got along quickly after just having met a couple hours earlier.
Sarah looked up from where she had just finished painting a butterfly on a little girl’s cheek. “Oh that’s Topper and his friends. The one in the middle is my brother, so I wouldn’t count him as cute.”
Miranda leaned over the counter. “Really? Because I definitely think he’s hot.”
Sarah pretended to gag, causing Kiara to giggle as she concentrated on painting a spaceship on a little boy's face. She had yet to look up when Miranda mentioned cute boys, not wanting to mess up her work.
Putting the finishing touches on the red and blue spaceship, Kiara stood to her full height, grabbing the hand held mirror to show the boy. “Do you like it?” She asked with a smile.
The boy nodded, smiling back. “It’s awesome! Thank you!”
“You’re welcome buddy.” Kiara watched the boy hop out of the chair, running over to his mom and little sister to show them.
“And how are you beautiful ladies doing tonight?” Topper greeted with a smile.
Sarah smiled back, leaning over the counter to give the boy a kiss in greeting. “Hey Top.”
“Hey yourself.” Topper pecked her lips once more before pulling away. “When are you done here?”
Looking at the time, Sarah shrugged. “Like another hour or so.” She turned to introduce the other girls. “This is Miranda and Kiara. Miranda just moved to OBX over the summer, and Kiara was in boarding school last year, but she'll be going to school with us now. This is Topper, Kelce, and my brother, Rafe.” Each boy waved in greeting.
“You guys can call me Kie by the way. My parents are really the only ones who call me by my full name.” Kiara stated as she finished cleaning the paint brushes she had been using earlier. Feeling someone staring at her, she looked up, meeting a pair of ocean blue eyes. She quickly looked away, clearing her throat. “Uh, do you guys want your faces painted?”
“Nah, we’re good.” Kelce spoke up. “Meet y'all back here in an hour?”
Both Sarah and Miranda nodded as Kiara made herself busy still feeling Rafe’s eyes on her.
“Stop staring, creeper.” Sarah snapped her fingers in front of her brother, bringing him out of his daze.”
“Shut up, Sarah.” Rafe retorted, removing his eyes from Kiara. She was gorgeous, he had to admit. All long legs and golden skin with her long, dark curls framing her face with big brown eyes. Rafe stepped back to continue walking. “Let’s go boys.”
“See you in an hour.” Topper kissed Sarah once more before jogging to catch up with Rafe and Kelce who had already started walking away.
“So, is Rafe like the strong, silent type?” Miranda asked, looking at Sarah. “Because that’s so fucking hot.”
Sarah rolled her eyes not understanding how just about every girl with a pulse thought her weirdo brother was attractive.
“Rafe obviously likes you, Kie. He couldn’t take his eyes off you.”
Kiara rolled her eyes. “I doubt it. Boys like him only want one thing, and I’m not one for random hookups.” She stated as she finished cleaning her station. “No offense Sarah.”
The blonde waved her off. “None taken. My brother’s definitely a fuck boy. He's never had a serious girlfriend, and pretty much will sleep with anyone with a pulse.”
“That’s settled, then. I'll shoot my shot later.” Miranda stated fluffing her tightly coiled locks and fixing her lip gloss. “As I have absolutely no problem with random hookups, especially with boys who are that fine.”
“Gross" Sarah made a face not wanting to think about her brother having sex with anyone let alone one of her friends.
Kiara shook her head not understanding the appeal of sleeping around. She wasn’t judging Miranda, but personally, Kiara was happy to stick with her vow of waiting until the right guy came along.
After an hour, the girls had been relieved of their shift of face painting. As promised, Topper, Kelce and Rafe met back up with them.
“So what do you girls wanna do?” Kelce inquired. “We can ride a couple of rides, play a few games.”
“Can we grab something to eat first? I’m starving.” Sarah told them getting a nod of agreement from Miranda.
Kiara looked at her phone seeing a message from one of her best friends. “Actually guys, I’m gonna go. I kind of made other plans, so…”
Sarah frowned, and Rafe made sure to keep his disappointment from displaying across his face.
“Well, you have my number.” Sarah told her. “We should hangout sometime.”
Kiara nodded. “We will. I’ll text you both, and I’m sure we’ll see each other at school on Monday.” She looked between Sarah and Miranda. The latter was already talking to Rafe trying to get his attention.
Sarah gave Kiara a hug. “I’ll call you tomorrow. Maybe we can go do something.”
“Yeah, I’d like that. Have fun!” Kiara hugged her once more, waving goodbye to everyone else before heading in the opposite direction to go meet up with JJ, Pope, and John B.
With the first week of her sophomore year officially behind her, Kiara was happy that it hadn’t gone like she had anticipated. She thought transitioning from boarding school into regular high school would be a big change, but she was able to get back into the swing of things fairly quickly. She was happy that she now got to see her friends everyday, and even that she had a new friend in Sarah. They had hung out the Sunday before school started, and the blonde had invited her to a party which they were actually getting ready for at the moment at Kiara’s house.
“Are all of your clothes hippie-ish?” Sarah questioned going through the other girl's closet.
Kiara snorted, looking at herself in the vanity mirror as she applied mascara to her dark lashes. “Pretty much"
Sarah hummed sifting through the items to find something cute and party worthy. “Oh! You can wear this.” Quickly grabbing all the items she needed to make the outfit, Sarah stepped out of the walk-in closet and placed the items on the bed. The black hook and eye sheer long sleeved cropped top with black jeans and black gold accented Coda boots she had made the perfect party outfit.
Kiara nodded in approval, deciding to wear her hair down. She’d put some mousse in it so her curls were more defined than normal. She got dressed as Sarah did the same, the other girl wearing a similar outfit of high waisted dark jeans, a white cropped sweater and tan chunky heeled boots.
Satisfied with their looks for the night, Sarah texted Topper letting the boy know they were ready to be picked up.
Kiara had attempted to invite Pope, JJ and John B. to come tonight, but all three boys refused to go to a kook party. She came to the conclusion after that maybe she would just have to keep her Pogue and Kook lives separate at least for the time being.
When Topper pulled up in his Jeep, the girls walked out hand in hand.
“Ready to have a good fuckin’ time tonight, ladies?”
Both girls nodded as they climbed inside with Sarah sitting in front.
“Mind if I smoke?” Kiara asked, holding up her weed pen.
Topper shook his head as he pulled back onto the road. “No, you’re good.”
“Ooh, can I take a hit?” Sarah looked back at Kiara with wide eyes.
The other girl lifted a brow, letting the window down a bit so the smoke wouldn’t cloud in the car. “Have you ever smoked weed before, Sarah?”
Shrugging, Sarah held her hand out. “There’s a first time for everything.”
Kiara handed the pen to her attempting to warn the blonde not to inhale too deeply since it was her first time, however it was too late once Sarah started coughing up a storm letting out a large puff of smoke as she did.
“Are you okay?” Topper asked concerned as his eyes bounced from her to focusing back on the road in front of them as he drove.
Sarah continued to cough, getting her airway clear, and giving them a thumbs up.
Kiara shook her head, taking the pen from her, taking another hit.
Rafe sniffled, wiping any sign of the white substance from his nose with the back of his hand. Checking to make sure he was good using the small mirror in the sun visor of his truck before climbing out of the vehicle. He was ready to drink and get as faded as possible, and maybe even get laid tonight.
Making his way up the crowded driveway of his best friend’s house, the rap music could be heard blasting through the built in speakers. Kelce always threw the best parties when his parents were out of town which was pretty often.
Rafe walked into the house maneuvering through the crowd and heading straight for the patio where he knew the drinks would be greeting a few people on the way. As soon as he got to the full bar Kelce’s parents had in the backyard, Rafe grabbed a solo cup filling it up with whiskey and a few ice cubes. He downed half the cup before being interrupted.
“Yo, Rafe!” Kelce walked over, refilling his own drink and greeting the other teen. “I was starting to think you weren’t gonna make it.”
“Naw, I just got held up for a minute.” Rafe took another long drink from his cup. His high was starting to hit, and he was able to fully relax, filling his cup up again.
“Miranda's looking for you.” Kelce told him with a chuckle.
Maybe getting laid would be easier than he thought.
“Yeah?” Rafe looked around trying to see if he could spot the girl which was pretty much a lost cause with the amount of people there.
Kelce nodded. “What’d you do to her, bro? She's obsessed with you.”
Rafe shrugged. He was a good lay. What could he say?
“Where’s Top?”
“Dancing with your sister and her new friend…I can’t even remember her name right now, dude. Kaylee…Kianna-"
“Kiara" Rafe said without missing a beat.
Kelce snapped his fingers. “Yeah, Kiara. Anyway, they’re inside dancing all over each other, and you know Top is having the time of his fuckin' life.”
Rafe’s jaw clenched as a wave of jealousy washed over him. It wasn’t like he had any claim over Kiara, so he couldn’t really blame Topper for taking a hold of that opportunity. Though he would be lying if he said the thought of punching his best friend in the face right now didn’t cross his mind. Completely finishing his drink, Rafe poured himself another.
“I'll catch back up with you later, bro.” Rafe told Kelce who was already busy flirting with one of the girls that came up to refill her drink.
Rafe made his way back inside in search of the one girl who had pretty much consumed his thoughts for the past week. Weaving through the crowd, he searched for the head full of dark curls. He couldn’t help but wonder if Kiara’s hair was as soft as it looked.
When the song changed to a slightly slower beat, that’s when Rafe spotted Kiara smiling and dancing with his sister. She looked good, really good. Deciding not to punch Topper since the boy was technically just dancing with his sister while Sarah was dancing with Kiara, Rafe made his way over to the three.
Topper spotted him first. “Yo, where have you been, man?” He spoke over the music as they dapped each other up.
“Out back with Kelce.” Rafe stated holding his cup up and taking another drink. Looking straight at Kiara, he watched her hips as she moved to the beat.
Kiara continued dancing with Sarah as the music played. She was riding out her high feeling good and having a great time when she felt a pair of eyes on her. Turning, she found Rafe standing next to Topper, watching her intensely.
This time, Kiara didn’t look away, meeting his gaze in a challenge. She continued dancing with Sarah, moving her hips more to the beat than she had before, all the while keeping her eyes on Rafe who still had his eyes trained on her.
When the song ended quickly switching to another, Sarah moved to dance with Topper leaving Kiara free. Rafe wasted no time walking over to, their eyes still locked on each other.
“Dance with me.”
Crossing her arms, and lifting a brow Kiara spoke up. “Is that your way of asking me nicely because I can tell you right now I don’t do well with being ordered around.”
Rafe licked his lips, looking her up and down before changing his tone. “Will you please dance with me?”
Kiara smirked, satisfied. “Now that wasn’t so bad, was it? It looks like you do have some manners after all.” Moving forward, Kiara pulled him in by his free hand as she started moving to the rhythm of the new song playing.
Rafe was absolutely mesmerized by her watching Kiara as she moved. She kept some distance between them, not letting her back touch his front. Rafe wanted to move closer, have her moving against him, but he knew if he tried anything Kiara would push him away and that would be the end of it.
Before Rafe knew it, the song was over and Kiara was moving away. He had been so entranced by her that he hadn’t noticed the time pass by.
“I need a drink.” Kiara told him over the music.
Rafe nodded, and without thinking about it, he grabbed her hand leading them through the crowd and to the back. Topper and Sarah had disappeared at some point, probably going off to make out somewhere. The two made it to the bar outside and Rafe moved behind it with Kiara leaning over the counter.
“What'll it be? I can make whatever you want.”
“How about a Sex on the Beach?” Kiara held her bottom lip between her teeth. She didn’t know what was getting into her. Maybe it was the fact she was high, but she hadn’t ever felt like this after smoking before. She felt like a surge of electricity was coursing through her. Maybe it had something to do with the boy standing in front of her with electric blue eyes and a story to tell.
Rafe pulled out all the ingredients for the drink, looking back at her. “Sex on the Beach it is.” He made the drink, setting it in front of Kiara watching as she took a sip. “Good?”
Kiara nodded, taking another drink. “Thank you"
Rafe nodded, putting the ingredients back. Drinking from his own cup, Rafe watched her for a minute. “Wanna go somewhere?” Kiara gave him a look. “Just to talk, I swear.”
She thought about it for a moment, eyeing him. “Don’t try anything.”
Rafe held his hands up in defense. “Wouldn’t dream of it.” Technically, that was a lie. He definitely may have dreamed about her once or twice in the past week, however he wasn’t one to ever take advantage of a girl.
“Where are we going?”
“I know a place.”
Kiara stood up following Rafe back into the house and upstairs. Kelce’s room was locked, but he knew where the other boy kept the spare key. Rafe knocked twice before opening it making sure no one was in there. Making his way across the room, he unlatched the window before pulling it up.
“Are you afraid of heights?” Rafe thought about how he probably should have asked before all of this.
Kiara shook her head. “No, I’m good.”
“Cool" Rafe climbed out of the window, turning to help Kiara through as she followed. Taking a seat on the roof, he waited for her to do the same.
The music could still be heard along with everything else going on at the party, however it was more peaceful up there than anything else. They couldn’t really see the sky due to the large tree near the house, but it was still a pretty nice view.
“Do you miss boarding school?”
Kiara snorted. “Not at all. The people there were not my kind of people.”
“Who are your kind of people?” Leaning back, Rafe looked over at her, the streetlights illuminated her face.
Kiara hummed, turning to meet his gaze. “People who are honest, trustworthy, have a good heart, and a good sense of humor. It amazes me how many people can’t take a joke.”
Rafe chuckled, understanding the last part. How could anyone live if they took themselves too seriously.
“So what’s your story Rafe Cameron? All I know is that you’re Sarah Cameron’s older brother who seems to enjoy a good staring contest.”
Rafe let out a full laugh at that. He knew his staring was intense at times, but he was simply trying to figure her out.
Kiara smiled to herself hearing him laugh. He had a nice laugh.
“There’s not much to tell. I’m the oldest of three, the only boy. My mom died when I was thirteen, and I have a stepmother who I hate. My Dad’s always on my ass about something. I think that about sums it up.”
“Damn Cameron, when I said I like honesty, I didn’t expect you to drop a truth bomb on me.”
“Yeah, sorry. I don’t even know why I just told you all of that.”
Kiara shrugged. “It’s cool.”
They talked for a while from their interests outside of school to their favorite music and movies. In a way it was weird as they both felt like they had known each other their entire lives. Rafe had never willingly sat down with a girl outside of his family just to talk. Other than her best friends, Kiara wasn’t one to trust many people outside of her little circle to share her stories and experiences with. It was refreshing. Before they knew it, an hour had passed by. Rafe checked his phone seeing it was just past one in the morning. The party was starting to die down a bit. Rafe turned back to look at Kiara, catching her watching him.
“Now who’s staring?” He teased and she smiled, shaking her head.
“We should probably head back inside soon.” Kiara stated hugging her legs.
“Go on a date with me.” Rafe blurted, still looking at her.
Kiara lifted an eyebrow as she considered it. “How about you ask me when we’re both sober. I'll give you an answer then. In the meantime,” She held out her hand for his phone. Rafe unlocked it before handing it to her. “here’s my number.” She quickly typed in her contact information, saving it. “You better contact me, Cameron. I hate games.”
Rafe could tell that right off the bat. She was a no bullshit kind of girl. “I will.”
“Good" Kiara stated simply before turning to head back inside leaving Rafe alone with his thoughts. Before getting up, Rafe scrolled through his phone, sending a quick text to Kiara so she had his number too. As soon as he sobered up, he planned on calling and asking her out.