─☼☼☼─

─one year and three months earlier─

𝙄𝙏 𝘾𝙊𝙐𝙇𝘿𝙉'𝙏 𝙃𝘼𝙑𝙀 been any later than five o'clock in the morning when Charlotte first heard it.

The noise was faint at first, a quiet tap tap tap, which soon turned to more of a rapid knocking.

What the fuck?

She sat up in a panic, rolling over to double check the time on her phone. In doing so, she happened upon the text that had flashed across her screen three minutes ago.

rafe: open your door

In the middle of typing her response, Charlotte's brain seemed to finally defog, and she was able to put together all of the pieces.

Rafe was on her damn balcony.

"Why can't I have a normal boyfriend?" She muttered to herself, tripping over her slippers as she ambled toward the double doors that led to her balcony.

Still in somewhat of a sleep-induced haze, Charlotte unlocked and yanked the doors open, the warm May air whooshing in.

"Finally!" Rafe breathed in exasperation, pushing past Charlotte to enter her bedroom. "I've been out here for like twenty minutes."

"You know," Charlotte muttered, turning on her heel to face him. "It is four o'clock in the morning."

"Five." Rafe clarified, a goofy grin covering his face. "Aren't you happy to see me?"

Charlotte couldn't fight the grin that covered her face as she closed the doors behind her. "Always." She answered, "But, I am kinda curious as to what you're doing here at five AM."

Upon hearing that his girlfriend was happy to see him, Rafe smiled like a little kid who had just been given a piece of cake. "Happy to see you too, Lottie."

"Rafe."

"Right. Right." He muttered, dropping the duffle bag, that Charlotte had yet to notice, on the floor. "Pack a bag...or two."

Shaking her head, Charlotte sat down on the edge of her bed. "What? Oh God, Rafe, don't tell me you did something illegal."

He scowled at her, moving to pull open her closet doors. "No, I didn't do anything illegal...well not really."

"Are you─"

"We're going to the Bahamas," He interrupted before Charlotte could give him any sort of lecture. "Just me and you, baby."

A shocked laugh fell from Charlotte's lips as she fixed him with a furrowed expression. "Rafe, we have school tomorr─today. And finals are coming up. And─and, what about our parents."

"Lottie." He breathed, kneeling down in front of her. "It's the end of senior year, actually going to class at this point is a waste of time. Finals aren't for another two weeks, and you're literally a genius you'll be fine. And our parents...we'll worry about them later."

Her face softened slightly as she looked down at him, conflict written across her features. "Babe, my parents are gonna kill me."

He grinned, shaking his head. "We'll call them when we get there. How are they going to kill you when we're on a different continent?"

Charlotte couldn't help the laugh that bubbled in her chest as she cupped Rafe's face in her hands, "Oh, my sweet, beautiful boy...the Bahamas are still in North America."

Rafe's face reddened slightly as he stood up, making his way back toward her closet. "Fine, well you'll be in a whole different country then." He disappeared for a moment, his voice muffled as he dug through her clothes. "Come on, Lottie. We leave for college in a few months, let's just take this last trip, just the two of us."

Leaning forward slightly, Charlotte watched as he began firing outfits out into her bedroom. Most of them were her articles of clothing that covered the least amount of skin─shocking.

"I chartered us a flight for six AM, so we gotta get a move on." He declared, a bathing suit flying out of the closet, almost hitting Charlotte in the head as she made her way toward him.

"Could you maybe pack me at least one outfit that covers at least fifty percent of my body?" She wondered, leaning against the doorframe, watching him with a small smile.

Rafe turned, a bra clutched in his hand as a smile creeped across his face, "You're saying yes?"

Taking the bra from his hands, Charlotte shoved it back into the closet. "Yes, I'm saying yes."

Rafe moved toward her, grabbing her face before pressing his lips to hers. "This is going to be so great." He breathed, his eyes full of excitement as he stared back at her.

Charlotte let out a laugh, leaning forward to connect their lips once again, "Have I ever told you you're the best boyfriend ever?"

"Not in the last twenty minutes."

Lightly shoving him away, Charlotte picked up the pile of clothes Rafe had picked out for her. "Okay, maybe I should do the packing."

Rafe winked, picking up the skimpiest bathing suit. "Fine, but just make sure you pick this one."

"Keep it in your pants." Charlotte chastised, raising her brows. "At least until we get to the Bahamas."

"Fuck." Rafe muttered, eyeing her as she made her way into the closet. "You're literally going to be the death of me."

─☼☼☼─

An impatient sigh fell from Rafe Cameron's lips as he rolled over on the bed, sprawling his arms out in despair. "Lottie, come on!"

Charlotte glanced over at him, closing the lid of her laptop slightly. "I'm almost done." She assured, reopening the screen. "Like ten more minutes."

"You said that ten minutes ago." Rafe reminded, reaching out to take the laptop from her. "I told you, you don't need to study."

"Rafe─"

He closed the computer, setting in on the bedside table before rolling to face her, "There's about a million other things we could be doing right now."

Raising her brows, Charlotte let out a small laugh, "You're right." She agreed, grin covering her face, "Let's go down to the beach!"

An exasperated groan fell from Rafe's lips as Charlotte pulled herself from the bed, turning to him with a wink as she sauntered toward the bathroom.

"Why are you doing this to me?" He called, banging his head against the pillow.

"Doing what?" Charlotte wondered innocently, voice muffled behind the bathroom door.

Grumbling to himself, Rafe let out a deep sigh, "You know what."

The bathroom door reopened, revealing Charlotte in the bathing suit that Rafe had so desperately wanted her to bring.

He sat up, eyes widening slightly as he laid eyes on his girlfriend, "Holy shit."

"My eyes are up here, babe." Charlotte chastised, trying to hide the smile that was covering her lips.

Rafe raked his eyes up her body, smirk covering his own expression. "You know, the beach can definitely wait."

"Can it?" Charlotte wondered, playing dumb as she moved toward him. Once she was close enough, Rafe reached out, catching her around the waist and pulling them together.

"Trust me," He breathed, his hands warm against her bare skin, "The beach can definitely wait."

─☼☼☼─

After a few interruptions, the couple had finally made it down to the beach.

The waves lapped against the shore, almost putting Charlotte to sleep as she sat on the sand, watching the ocean with a small smile.

There wasn't a place she loved more than the Bahamas, especially when she was with Rafe. Her favourite place, with her favourite person in the world.

This wasn't their first time in the Bahamas with each other; in fact, they visited the island every summer since they started dating, but had always made the trip with Rafe's family.

But this time felt so different. Maybe because it was the first time they were alone here, maybe it was because of the fact that they were older now, about to leave for college.

Letting out a sigh of contentment, Charlotte rested her head against Rafe's shoulder, eyes still focused on the ocean, "This is perfect." She whispered.

Rafe turned his head, focusing his eyes on his girlfriend. "So perfect." He mumbled, not referring to the ocean anymore.

"We should move here." Charlotte declared, turning so she could meet his gaze. "Once we're done college. We could move here and start our life together."

A small smile came to his lips, "What about our parents...their businesses?"

It had always been a rather unspoken assumption that both Charlotte and Rafe would take over their parents' businesses once they graduated college. Neither of them were sure that it was what they wanted, but neither of them had much of a choice.

Shrugging, Charlotte ran her hand over the sand, "We could start our own businesses here..." She trailed off, as if thinking for a moment, "We could open our own restaurant. It would be ours...just ours."

Rafe nodded, a gentle look on his face as he watched the excitement flash across hers. He would do anything to see her happy...anything.

"Then let's do it." He suggested, still watching her with a certain softness. "Let's finish college, pack our shit and move here."

Both of them knew it was a pipe dream, but neither of them were going to admit that right now.

A smile broke across Charlotte's face as she nodded, "We could raise our kids here. Grow old here...it would be perfect."

Bending over to press a kiss to her cheek, Rafe smiled, "Baby, I would go anywhere with you. Literally anywhere."

"Antartica?"

"In a heartbeat."

"The North Pole?"

"Absolutely."

"The Cut?"

"Now you're pushing it."

A laugh bubbled from Charlotte's lips at Rafe's response. But despite his response, she knew he would follow her anywhere...even The Cut.

He was watching her again, with such gentle concentration. "Hey, Lottie?" He wondered, breaking the silence that had settled.

She turned to face him once again, "Yeah?"

He paused for a moment, preventing himself from saying the words he wanted to say.

What he wanted to do was ask her to marry him...they were destined for each other anyway. Why wait until after college?

But something nipped at him, something stopped him.

That something was the fact that he was lying to her. Lying about what he did when she wasn't around. He couldn't ask her to marry him if he couldn't even tell her about his drug use...that would destroy her. And he couldn't do that to her.

So instead, he told her the next thing on his mind, "You're the most beautiful girl I've ever seen."

A blush rose to Charlotte's cheeks as she dropped her head for a moment, "Four years and you still know how to make me blush." She muttered, "That takes real skill."

He smiled, taking her hand in his, "I love you more than you could ever know."

Charlotte lifted her head, giving him a soft look. "I know," She assured, "You show me everyday."

Leaning forward, she connected their lips. "I love you." She declared, "More than I've ever loved anything."

Reaching up, Rafe pushed a piece of hair behind her ear before pressing his lips to hers once again, "Come on." He nodded back toward the house, "I'll make us dinner."

─☼☼☼─

-an-

proof that rafe wasn't always a sociopathic asshole

i love writing soft rafe and lottie <3

thank you to LIVSSTARS
for the request of a bahamas flashback

ily all

-mads xoxo