❛ ━━━━━ 𝐒𝐔𝐌𝐌𝐄𝐑𝐓𝐈𝐌𝐄 𝐒𝐀𝐃𝐍𝐄𝐒𝐒 ❜
☼ ┊ 𝑷𝑹𝑶𝑳𝑶𝑮𝑼𝑬 ... !
𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭 𝘭𝘪𝘧𝘦

𝐓𝐚𝐧𝐧𝐲 𝐇𝐢𝐥𝐥, 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐂𝐚𝐦𝐞𝐫𝐨𝐧 𝐇𝐨𝐮𝐬𝐞𝐡𝐨𝐥𝐝
📍 𝘒𝘪𝘭𝘥𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘐𝘴𝘭𝘢𝘯𝘥, 𝘖𝘶𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘉𝘢𝘯𝘬𝘴 𝘕𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘩 𝘊𝘢𝘳𝘰𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘢

JULIET COULD FEEL THE SOFT WET grass underneath her feet as she hesitantly approached the cameron household. She could also feel her heart racing as she got closer and closer to the extremely large mansion.

as she approached she did her best to wipe the dry mascara stains off her face to look somewhat presentable. even though she knew that sarah would do this favor for her without even thinking twice she still wanted to look decent to avoid questioning. though with her knotted hair and the dried blood underneath her nose and on her cheekbones, questioning was going to be hard to avoid.

not only did juliet feel desperate but she also felt guilty for the fact that she had chosen sarah to go to, out of everyone. sarah and juliet had gotten close ever since juliet started working on the druthers, sarah's family boat. though the pair's unlikely friendship was absolutely secret, considering how much her other best friend, kiara, hated sarah.

kiara and juliet had been best friends for a while but not long enough for juliet to have experienced the falling out between sarah and kiara. kiara also refused to talk to juliet about what exactly had happened. juliet felt like a traitor for being so close to sarah but she couldn't just avoid sarah and she was actually really sweet despite what the pogues said.

as juliet was about to knock on the cameron's door she could hear the faint beat of narcos by migos playing from the backyard. her fist came to a halt before it could come in contact with the door and her eyebrows furrowed in confusion.

she slowly walked away from the front door and committed to the half mile walk it took to get from the front of the house to the back. in reality it wasn't that long but it sure felt like it compared to her home.

she hoped that maybe sarah was the reason behind this noise and she wouldn't have to wake her up from her slumber in the middle of the night. though there was also a small part of her that grew worried about the fact that sarah might not be alone.

once she finally got to the backyard she could spot the druthers, the place she was hoping to sleep at, blasting rap music with smoke practically floating out of the windows. she let out a sigh as she soon came to the realization that her last resort was full of high kooks.

though as she turned on her heels to make her way back to the cut she heard the sound of the boat entrance opening. the sound was soon accompanied by loud boy rowdiness that was common to her considering she spent her days with jj, pope, and john b. though this time it came from a group of rich and arrogant kooks, more specifically rafe cameron.

"don't smoke the whole fucking thing before i get back, you ass wipes." the sound of rafes voice flew through the air and into juliet's ears, she quickly turned back to walk away.

before the girl could get away from the cameron estate, the sound of rafe's angry voice caused her to stop, "woah! hey! what the fuck are you doing?"

she quickly turned back around, coming face to face with the young attractive boy. there had been a weird unspoken tension between the two ever since juliet had got the job working on the druthers at the beginning of the summer. the two would always share longing looks and subtle glances but had never once spoken before this moment.

"o-oh i'm so sorry, i was just looking for sarah." juliet mentally slapped herself in the back of the head for stuttering.

rafe could barley see the girl considering how dark it was but there was no way that he wouldn't recognize her by her voice. her soft and innocent tone was easily recognizable for almost everyone in the outer banks. juliet was somewhat pogue royalty, if you could even think of pogues being royalty.

juliet was, without a single doubt, one of the coolest girls in the obx. juliet was sweet, funny and unbelievably smart. she was pretty much the entire package and everyone knew it. people in the outer banks adored her, from adults to teenagers to children. they all knew jo maybank, what most people called her based on her middle name, was the life of the party and very reliable.

rafe would always remember when he first saw juliet maybank though. even though she was a pogue, she had a face and an aura that no one could ever seem to forget, not even the kooks.

he remembered sometimes seeing her around town considering his younger sister was her age but the first time he really saw her was when his father hired her to work on the druthers. he remembered playing football with topper in the back yard and looking up to see her and his father on his office balcony. the two had made eye contact, staring at one another until top hit him in the head with the football and he was forced to look away.

rafe was about to scold the girl for being on private property outside of working hours but he could hear the lump in her throat, an indicator that she had been crying. despite not being able to see her he knew that she wasn't okay.

"nah, your good." rafe assured the girl, slowly stumbling towards her due to the ammount of alcohol he had consumed that night, "juliet, right?"

"um, jo, actually. everyone calls me jo." the blue eyed girl corrected, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear as she watched him approach slowly.

"a shame really. juliet is a beautiful name, i think it suits you more." rafe somewhat teased lightly, even though he really did prefer the name juliet. he wasn't sure why but he felt the need to lift the girls mood.

rafe was known around the island for being a player, everyone knew it. almost every girl on the island had sadly been a victim of rafe cameron's undeniable charm. though juliet had never been on the receiving end of rafe's flirting considering she was a pogue and he practically threw up at the sight of pogues.

"if rafe cameron says so." juliet shrugged, teasing back slightly but still apprehensive and sniffly. she didn't want rafe to think she was as desperate for his attention as some of the other girls on the island.

the maybank girl hadn't necessarily heard good things about rafe cameron. in fact, she has heard the complete opposite of anything good. those things didn't stop juliet for appreciating the obvious, rafes good looks and unbelievably good body. she couldn't help but stare as he got even closer to her.

"i mean beautiful girl beautiful name-" rafe's words instantly halted as he took in her appearance, finally seeing her in the light.

rafe had immediately took notice to her disheveled appearance as well as her mascara stained cheeks but he didn't notice the blood on her face until he got closer. the cuts on her cheeks lit a fire underneath rafe that he couldn't explain even a little bit.

"are you alright?" the words slipped out of rafe's mouth before he could even process what exactly he was seeing.

juliet's eyes widened when she realized by the look on his face that he was obviously talking about the cuts on hers. she quickly turned around and began to walk away.

"yeah yeah, i'm good thanks. sorry for interrupting." she waved a hand goodbye as she tried her best to escape the situation, not wanting to have to explain her fathers abusiveness to a kook.

"wait wait!" rafe yelled, dropping his solo cup to the ground, running over to juliet and stopping her in her tracks.

as he stopped in front of her, he could finally see the damage done to her face up close. he lightly gasped at the bruising that was already forming and the crusted blood on her lips.

"who the fuck did that to you?" he questioned, suddenly feeling extremely angry at the thought of someone hitting such a small girl.

"it's nothing, really." juliet replied, turning her head to try and shield him from the sight of her face. though he gently touched her chin to angle her face back into his view, causing her to flinch slightly and him to drop his hand. rafe immediately felt bad for scaring her.

"like hell! blood isn't nothing, juliet." rafe pointed out the dried blood that covered her delicate cheek bones and pink lips.

"jo." she tried to correct him to deflect from the subject but rafe seemed to ignore her.

"give me a name, juliet. now." rafe clenched his jaw, breathing fury from his nostrils. he wasn't sure why he felt so angry at considering he barley knew her. all he knew was that the thought of juliet on the ground while someone slammed into her face made him angrier than he had ever been.

"i really just needed to talk to sarah but i think i'm just gonna go." she tried to push past rafe once again but he gently grabbed her forearm to stop her. the warmth of his fingers burned into her cold skin, lighting a fire beneath.

"no no, juliet. listen, you can tell me and i'll take care of it." rafe assured the girl, his eyes soft with a layer of anger.

"you don't have to do that, rafe." juliet protested, shaking her head.

"you're right, i don't have to. i want to." rafe felt the overwhelming need to grab who ever did this to her and slam them into the ground over and over again.

"i-i don't really want to talk about it." tears filled juliet's eyes as she spoke but she did her best to blink them away.

though one small tear escaped in which she quickly wiped away as fast as possible, hoping rafe didn't see it. of course rafe saw it, he couldn't look away from her, and the sight made his heart drop into his stomach.

there was a small window between their words in which a silence fell over them like a warm blanket. rafe let his eyes roam her face, trying to decide what he should do. part of him wanted to force her to tell him who hurt her while the other part just wanted to help her in any way possible.

rafe let out a small sigh, finally deciding what to do. "alright, here come inside. i was going to grab some more beer but i think we have a first aid kit in there too somwhere, cmon."

"no-no i'm fine. i really was just looking for sarah." juliet refused, shaking her head slightly and attempting to back away.

"i'll check if she's home, if she is i'll leave you guys to do... girl shit or whatever." rafe offered, shrugging lightly at the thought of what girls do when they hang out causing juliet to chuckle lightly.

"okay." juliet smiled softly, wiping a tear from her face causing rafe to smile and nod his head to signal her to follow him inside.

juliet slowly followed behind rafe as he lead her to the back of his home, opening the glass doors to let themselves in. juliet looked over her shoulder one last time to see the druthers swaying in the water with boy noise emitting from it. she worried what would happen if any of the boys on the boat would wander into the house and see her like this. would they tell someone? would they make fun of her?

juliet was snapped out of her thoughts as rafe led her to the dark kitchen. surprisingly enough she knew her way around the house considering her and sarah were such good friends. though she still couldn't help but be mesmerized by the richness of everything in the home.

"you can, uh," rafe scratched his head lightly before pointing at a chair at the kitchen island, "sit there i guess. i'll go upstairs and see if sarah's here."

she nodded softly and slowly approached the chair before sitting apprehensively. once he saw her sitting and comfortable he turned to leave the kitchen but was interrupted by the sound of her soft voice.

"rafe?" he turned at the sound.

"what's up?" he answered, worried she may be in pain or something.

"just... um... thank you." juliet struggled with the words as they left her mouth, trying to hold back any tears. rafe smiled lightly at her words but noticed the way she blinked away a few tears.

"don't thank me yet, i think all we have is spider-man bandaids." he smirked, attempting to make her laugh in which he succeeded.

"i'm perfectly okay with that." she nodded with a smile causing rafes to grow wider.

he turned back around on his heel and left juliet to the deafening silence of her thoughts. she couldn't believe that she was sitting in the cameron household waiting for rafe cameron to return. she honestly couldn't believe she was letting him see her like this.

as she sat in the silence she felt embarrassment creep up her spine and it was soon becoming unbearable. she never let anyone see her after a fight with her dad except for jj. she was ashamed of the fact that she had nowhere to go, nowhere to hide where she would be safe. she was ashamed of what her father had done to her.

as she pulled skin off her bottom lip she soon began thinking of the events of tonight. the screaming, beer bottles flying through the air, punches that knocked the wind out of her. the more she thought about her father the more she felt like she was back in that house with him. the thought of seeing him again send nausea through her body. the sound of rafe's voice quickly turned her attention away from how sick she felt.

"good news, we have spider-man bandaids. bad news, sarah must have snuck out with top or something." rafe shrugged as he walked back into the kitchen with the first aid kit in hand.

"oh." juliet felt dread flow through her body at the thought of now having to go back home.

"her window was open and wheezie was in her bed so i'm assuming she's doing something my dad wouldn't be happy about." rafe explained as he set the first aid kit on the counter and began ruffling through it.

"sounds like sarah." juliet nodded with a tight lipped smile.

her and sarah had gotten weirdly close ever since she began working with the cameron's and if there was anything that she learned about sarah in their newfound friendship was that sarah loved to party.

"right?" rafe scoffed while shaking his dead in slight disbelief, "but somehow i'm the problem child."

juliet's eyebrows furrowed at rafe's word and resentful tone, "how's that?"

"dropped out of college." rafe answered bluntly as he pulled out some gauze before walking over to the sink.

juliet's confusion only furthered as she watched him begin to wash his hands. she had heard many things about rafe from sarah, about how he was irresponsible,
but she was never quite sure as to why he was considered such a bad person.

"why is that considered bad?" she questioned as he washed the suds from his hands.

rafe looked confused for a second, he had received many reactions to him leaving college, but acceptance was not one of them. juliet seemed to be confused about how him leaving school was considered bad but when he told anyone else he was always met with a look that said "you're a failure."

"because i'm a kook." rafe sighed lightly, drying off his hands and approaching the counter once again, "i was supposed to go to college, take over cameron development, have a hot wife and shit."

juliet chuckled lightly, wondering why rafe wouldn't want a life like that. college, a job, and a family was the dream of most pogues that they knew could never be accomplished. "sounds like a good life."

"supposedly." rafe retorted, his tone sounding like he would rather die than have to live that type of life. she was about to ask but he tapped the counter top at her.

"hop up." he said and her face scrunched slightly in confusion.

"why?" she wondered and rafe held up the clean gauze with a light smile.

"so i can clean you up." he answered and juliet immediately shook her head. rafe had helped her enough tonight and the last thing she wanted was for his to spend more time away from his friends just to clean the wounds her father left behind.

"oh no, i can do that." she refused and tried to take the gauze from rafe's hand but he quickly moved his hand with a mischievous smile.

"i want to help." rafe objected and held the gauze higher up as juliet continued her attempt to grab it.

"you've helped enough rafe, really." she struggled out as she began to jump up in attempt to steal the gauze but rafe just held the gauze higher and higher.

rafe laughed lightly at the small girls attempts considering he was significantly taller than her. he couldn't help but noticed the redness appear on her cheeks from the movements and smiled widely.

quickly he grabbed the girls waist and picked her up, emitting a squeal from juliet. she latched onto rafe's shoulders as he lifted her into the air and off of the ground. juliet's skin tingled on he waist at the contact of rafe's hands. rafe gently sat her on the counter top so that they were finally eye to eye. they stared at each other for a second in silence before they quickly let go of one another.

the silence and the air between the two teenagers became thick with tension. everything moved slow, rafe picked up a rag and soaked it in water from the sink. he slowly raised his hand, about to touch the rag to the cuts on her face. he raised an eyebrow, asking for permission and juliet smiled softly with a small nod.

rafe cautiously brought the rag to her cheek, gently patting it. the coldness and tenderness caused juliet to suck in a sharp breath. she curled her lips in to hide her reaction and rage was too focused on being gentle to notice.

rafe continuously patted juliet's cheek lightly to clean up the blood. he focused deeply on her cheek as she stared up at him. she couldn't help but notice how aqua blue his eyes were. they were pale blue around the pupil and then progressively got deeper blue and around the outside there was a very think black ring around the color.

juliet also couldn't help but notice the light freckles the littered his cheeks. from far away you would never notice them but at this close of a proximity it was hard not to admire them.

juliet didn't realize it at the time but rafe was doing the exact same thing. he focused on the cut on her cheek and the soft tan skin around it. he tried his best to keep his eyes trailed on the cuts but he couldn't help but let his eyes stray to her plump lips and her red nose. she sniffled every one in while due to the amount she was crying earlier and he couldn't help but find it adorable.

"so why'd you give it up?" juliet couldn't help but ask the boy. she thought about what she would give to have the tradition kook life and how nothing would make her give it up.

"give what up?" rafe questioned back, confused on what she meant as he pulled out an ointment.

"the kook life." she clarified as he looked away from the first aid kit and down at her. her eyes were full of curiosity and he couldn't not answer.

he pulled his lip into his mouth with his teeth as he thought about an answer for a second before he shrugged lightly, "i didn't really give it up i just... took out a minor detail. everyone at that stupid fucking school thought they could push me around."

"you don't seem like someone who lets people push you around." juliet said truthfully and rafe chuckle under his breath.

it was true, rafe wasn't someone that let other people push him around. in fact, he hated when people thought that they could. he didn't like being told how to act or what to do. he most certainly didn't like when people thought they were better than him either.

"i'm not. why do you think i know how to clean wounds so well?" he retorted and screwed off the cap of the ointment and push some on his index finger. juliet watched his every move in interest, he did know how to clean a wound really well.

"too much football?" she joked and rafe laughed lightly.

"yeah, something like that." he nodded with a goofy grin on his face.

rafe then held his hand up, one of the fingers holding ointment meant for her cheek. he looked at her as if asking if she was ready and she nodded softly. he slotted his body between her legs slowly to get closer to her face. the cloth of his polo brushed the bare skin of her inner thigh causing goosebumps to arise. juliet could feel his v line through the thin cotton that pressed against her thighs.

rafe slowly cupped the left side of juliet's face in his hand, careful not to press against the bruised part of her jaw. rafe gently moved his hand to the back part of her head, his hand sliding under the hair that framed the side of her face. his eyes flickered to her, making sure the contact was still okay in which she smiled softly.

the coldness of rafe's rings on juliet's cheek made her stomach erupt in butterflies. the coldness was always contrasted with the warm ness of his hands and made juliet's cheeks turn red. rafe brought his other hand up and brought his finger to hover over the large cut on her right cheekbone. his hand shook slightly as his nerves rose due to the fear of possibly hurting her. juliet let her eyes flutter shut in an attempt to calm herself.

"might hurt." rafe whispered lowly in which juliet nodded ever so slightly while humming.

she was well aware that it was going to hurt considering she had been through this dozens of times since she was a child. rafe could tell from her calm demeanor that this wasn't anything new to her and for some reason it felt like a jab to the heart.

rafe gently tapped his finger onto the cut causing juliet to take a sharp breath in with a small gasp. the sound of her pain made rafe retract his finger quickly and guilt flooded through his body.

"i'm sorry." he apologized immediately and his gaze softened when pain spread across her face.

"it's okay." she replied softly and nodded to signal him to go back to applying the ointment.

"it's not." he mumbled under his breath and went back to the task at hand, juliet unaware of his words.

it wasn't okay. nothing about this was okay. it wasn't okay that a teenage girl was beaten so badly that she needed ointment applied to a huge cut on her cheek. the cheek that should be unscathed. the cheek that should be for smiling and blushing, not for brushing and bleeding. rafe hated that someone as kind as juliet maybank was in this situation in the first place. none of this was okay.

it was silent for a while as rafe applied the cream all over her cuts and stuck a spider-man bandaid onto the biggest one. juliet couldn't help but ask, "are you still gonna take over the family business and stuff?"

"that's the plan i guess." rafe sighed gently while sliding out from between juliet's legs and walking over to the sink.

"is that what you want to do?" juliet questioned his lack of enthusiasm on the topic as he began washing his hands.

"my family is fucked up, juliet." rafe snapped bluntly causing juliet to jump slightly, "i don't really have a decision."

this was clearly a very sensitive topic for rafe and juliet immediately felt guilty for questioning him so much on it. when rafe saw juliet flinch and was met with silence, he turned away and faced the wall. rafe scrunched his face up when he realized that his reaction was inappropriate but a part of him felt like he didn't need to apologize. she had no right questioning him about something she had no knowledge of.

rafe continued to wash his hands in the tense silence, wishing juliet would bring up a different topic though she stayed mute. rafe quickly shook his hands off and grabbed a hand towel, drying his hands off. he looked over his shoulder and noticed a part of juliet's silence was due to how focused she was on the door.

he stepped closer to the island to get a look at what she was staring at through the glass door. he noticed the large boat at the end of the dock rocking lightly in the water. the sound of loud chatter was just barley heard. he looked down and noticed juliet fiddling with the bracelets on her wrist as she stared worryingly at the boat. he realized that she was worried that one, if not all, of the boys were going to see her like this. the last thing she needed was nosey kooks finding out about her father.

"they're too high to walk this far." juliet whipped her head around to see rafe staring down at her.

"are you sure?" she asked worriedly glancing at the boat again.

"positive. to be honest i'm not sure how i'm able to walk right now." he joked lightly in attempt to lighten the mood in which his anger had brought down.

the corner of juliet's lip twitched and she teased, "should i be the one getting help for you?"

"maybe, but ladies first." rafe joked, sliding his hands in to the pockets of his khaki shorts and smiling when juliet finally let out a small laugh.

it was silent for a moment as juliet gave rafe a looked that asked if he was actually okay and he shrugged, "nah i'll be fine, i've done worse."

juliet's eyebrow quirked as she began to think about his words and what they could possible mean. what could possibly be worse than drinking and smoking weed that rafe had done? she bit her bottom lip to assist in resisting the urge to ask what he had done. juliet didn't want to make rafe upset again so she decided to keep her questions to herself.

"so why were you looking for sarah anyway?" rafe questioned as he took a seat next to juliet on a stool, both of their gazes planted on the boat outside.

"oh... i just needed some help." juliet hesitated slightly, not wanting to spill more problems onto rafe.

"with?" he pushed, wanting to know any other way he could help her out.

juliet knew that she had no choice but to tell him the truth, somehow he was able to get it out of her. juliet had absolutely no where to stay tonight. she couldn't possibly go home, her father was probably still up and definitely still angry at her. she would normally go to the chateau but the boys were having a "guys night" and she really didn't want to ruin it.

"i don't really have a place to stay tonight... i guess. so i was hoping she could help me out but she's not here so i might just try to break into kiara's house." juliet finally admitted, fiddling with the bracelets on her wrists again out of sheer embarrassment.

"oh," rafe responded before the confusion set in, "why would you have to break in?"

"she's in barcelona right now with her parents so i'll have to jimmy her lock." juliet answered, trying to come up with any solutions in her mind.

"you know how to jimmy a lock?" rafe asked, dumbfounded that such a sweet girl knew how to do such a traditionally bad thing.

"you don't know very much about my family, do you?" juliet joked with a chuckle as she looked over to the boy beside her.

rafe laughed lightly as he soon remembered who exactly her family was, "i forgot that you're a maybank."

the two went silent again, the only sound in the room being the air conditioner. rafe began to really think about who exactly her family was. rafe had known jj, considering he was a slight menace and it was impossible not to know him. but then he thought about juliet's father, luke maybank. rafe had heard his father talk about luke, about how much of a deadbeat he was, how he was nothing more than a drug addict. rafe looked over at the maybank girl, he stared at the spider-man bandaid on her cheek and the split on her lip.

he knew that juliet had nowhere to stay tonight meaning that she couldn't go home for some reason. he felt his blood turn cold at the realization that maybe juliet's father was the one who had done this to her. rafe couldn't let her be on the streets of the cut tonight and he most certainly couldn't let her go back home if what he was thinking was true.

"hey, why don't you just stay here anyways?" rafe tossed the idea out quickly causing juliet's head to snap to him.

"what?" she asked, voice full of pure confusion. rafe had done a lot to help her tonight but never in her wildest dreams would she think he would go this far.

"yeah, i mean you could sleep on the boat." he offered and gestured out to the druthers.

"no it's fine, really." juliet immediately denied and jumped up from her seat. there was no way that she could let him do this for her, all of this was going way too far.

"juliet, you need a place to sleep." rafe jumped to his feet as well, towering over juliet.

"i told you, i'll go to kiara's house." she refused further while shaking her head.

"and set off the thousands of alarms her parents probably have?" rafe pointed out causing juliet's breath to hitch.

she hadn't thought about all of the alarms the carrera's had. not only did they have very many but every time they went on vacation they had even more.

it went quiet again as juliet looked down at her bracelets while messing with them. she tried to think of any other solution that could possibly take this burden off of rafe's shoulders but she was met with nothing. she looked up at rafe and saw him looking down at her with wide, hopeful eyes. she tore her eyes away from his and out towards the boat when a question popped into her head.

"what about your friends? you can't just kick them out." she pointed out and rafe scoffed and shook his head. feed

"i can do whatever i want. it's my boat." he added.

"it's your dads boat." juliet responded and rafe just shrugged.

"same difference."

"rafe, you really have helped me enough tonight. i can't ask you to do this." she shook her head.

"it's a good thing you aren't asking then." rafe smirked and juliet sighed and looked up at him.

she had realized that rafe wasn't going to let this go. while she felt like a terrible burden, she was still incredibly thankful for how much he had done for her. she had heard so much about rafe, none of it good, but there was no way any of it could be true.

"thank you." she finally caved and giggled when rafe began to jokingly cheer.

rafe normally wouldn't do anything like this, especially for a pogue. though something was different about juliet and he couldn't put his finger on it. all he knew is that he felt the need to do this for her. it was an unspoken apology for ther way he had snapped at her.

༝ ˚ ｡⋆ 𓇼 ⋆｡ ˚ ༝

"YOU'RE SERIOUSLY KICKING US OUT FOR some random pogue?" kelce scoffed, disgusted by what he had just found out from rafe.

rafe sighed and shook his head, crossing his arms over his chest. he had promised juliet that he wouldn't tell the boys why he was making them all leave in the middle of the night but apparently kelce had seen her through the window. kelce couldn't believe what he was seeing, rafe kicking out his kook friends for a pogue. all of this was just wrong.

"she's not a random pogue. she works for my dad and she's friends with sarah." rafe defended juliet.

"since when did you start caring about your dad and sarah?" kelce further investigated, incredibly annoyed at rafe's actions.

"will you just fuck off? it's none of you're damn business anyways." rafe felt himself begin to get angry at kelce's investigations and all he wanted was to get juliet somewhere safe to sleep.

"dude, are you just trying to get laid?" kelce asked, the idea finally making sense in his head.

the words instantly filled rafe with even more anger. he was actually doing something nice for once in his life and now he was getting berated for it. "kelce get the fuck out before i choke you with your own polo."

kelce groaned and threw his solo cup down before walking out of the druthers and leaving rafe by himself. he watched out the window, making sure all of his friends were gone. once the coast was clear, rafe walked through the yard and back into his house.

he looked around at the empty room before he noticed juliet standing in front of one of their hanging mirrors. she was inspecting some of the cuts that weren't covered by the spider-man bandaid with a look over sadness covering her face.

"they'll heal." rafe assured her, hoping to take some of the worry away.

"i hope." she responded, not even looking at him as she still inspecting the cuts. 

he watched as the worry and sadness on her face spread. he didn't know much about how women thought but he could tell by the look on her face that she was scared about scarring.

"you'll still look beautiful even if they don't." he suddenly blurted, the words flying out of his mouth before he could even come close to stopping himself.

his words caused juliet's eyes to widen slightly in surprise. she turned her head and look at him over her shoulder. the embarrassed look on his face caused her to smile softly.

"but they will because i'm an outstanding doctor and i patched you up pretty well." rafe quickly covered up, clearing his throat of embarrassment causing juliet to giggle.

"you did do a pretty fantastic job." she praised him and he smiled at her compliment.

"c'mon." rafe nodded his head to the door, signaling juliet to follow him.

she slowly caught up with him and he opened the door for her. she stepped outside into the warm night air and watched as rafe quietly shut the door behind them. they both began to walk side by side to the druthers. juliet looked around as the walked in silence, making sure none of his friends were still around. the pair eventually arrived at the druthers and rafe let themselves in.

juliet looked around at the boat that was littered with red solo cups and open chip bags. the cabin smelled of weed and beer but juliet didn't mind much considering her own home smelled like this sometimes. the music that rafe was playing over the surround sound was still going. "money trees" by kendrick lamar filled the cabin and juliet smiled lightly.

"interesting music you've got going on." juliet commented as she continued to look around the messy cabin.

"what? you don't like rap?" rafe smirked as he moved to begin picking up the empty solo cups.

"not particularly." she responded with a laugh, trying to be respectful of his taste in music.

"so what do you like? one direction?" rafe asked with a teasing tone, looking over his shoulder at the short girl.

"maybe a little bit." juliet giggled as she admitted that she liked one direction. everyone liked one direction at some point in there life. though juliet had always liked them but she was too embarrassed to admit the severity of her love for them to rafe.

"no but really, what do you like to listen to?" rafe curiously asked.

"would it be cliche if i said taylor swift?" she asked back with a small scoff, almost every time she had told a boy she liked taylor swift she was instantly made fun of.

"just a little, but i'll let it slide since your injured." he smiled at juliet causing her to giggle.

"she is actually really good." juliet defended as she took a seat on the couch.

"i beg to differ." rafe said slyly and juliet rolled her eyes playfully.

"how would you know? i bet you haven't listened to even one of her songs." her words caused rafe to gasp mockingly.

"hey, i've heard shake it off." he pointed out causing juliet to laugh.

"that doesn't count! everyone has heard shake it off." she shook her head and rafe put his hands on his hips and looked up, trying to think of another song he had heard.

"okay... i heard that one about her being all crazy and shit." he danced his hand in the air as he tried to recall the name of the song.

"blank space?" juliet questioned and rafe snapped his finger and pointed at her.

"yeah! that one!"

"still doesn't count." she bluntly replied causing rafe to groan.

"what? how come?"

"because almost everyone has heard her singles. you can't judge an artist basses off of their most popular song because you have more than likely heard it on the radio thousands of times which has caused you to hate it." juliet explained and a part of rafe actually understood what she was saying.

rafe continued to stand with his hands on his hips as he began to think about what juliet was saying. he wanted to make her as comfortable as she could it here and if that meant he had to listen to taylor swift he would do that. of course it was going all the way to hell with him and not one of his friends would ever find out.

"okay okay i'll listen to this taylor smith-"

"taylor swift." juliet corrected sternly and rafe smiled.

"i know i just wanted to annoy you." he laughed and juliet shook her head at him with a tight lipped smiled that she refused to let spread.

"i'll listen to her if i can pick a topic and you can find a song about it." rafe grabbed his laptop off of the table and came to sit down by juliet.

"deal." she agreeed and watched as he opened up his computer and went to spotify.

his spotify was covered in rap and a small amount of rock. he had a few playlists that didn't have any fun names or anything. he just had ones labeled "workout" and "golf" with a few others.

rafe went to the search bar and looked up taylor swift before handing her his computer and resting his arms on the back of the coach, "okay show me one about forbidden love."

"too easy." juliet shook her head. she wanted rafe to hear the ones that were actually about something and not cliche.

"fine show me one about..." rafe thought for a minute before smirking and saying. "vehicular homicide. not so easy now is it?"

juliet's face remained straight which slightly worried rafe. maybe he thought his joke was cruel and not funny. though she then began tapping on the computer and soon the sound of "out of the woods" filled the room. rafe's jaw dropped and his eyes widened at the fact there was actually a song that fit his gruesome topic. juliet began laughing at rafe's face and the two soon launched into the backstory of the song.

the pair spent about an hour sorting through taylor swift songs and juliet tried her best to explain the lore behind the ones they talked about. if anyone had asked rafe about what they were doing he would probably lie and say he was miserable but he actually liked watching juliet explain the songs. currently, rafe was confused on the folklore love triangle and juliet was explaining it.

"wait so betty, august, and james are all fake people that she made up?" rafe questioned, the two now laying on the floor on their stomachs next to one another.

"well kind of. james and betty are named after blake lively and ryan reynolds's kids. same with inez." juliet explained and rafe's eyebrows furrowed deeply.

"so it's about their kids?" he asked, confusion laced in his tone.

"no!" juliet laughed and shook her head, "the characters are just named after them! the story is completely fake."

"woah... she's kind of like shakespear." rafe said dumbfounded which caused juliet to laugh and cheer.

"see! i told you she was good!" she smiled and so did rafe.

the laughter soon died down and eventually the pair was just looking at one another in comfortable silence. their close proximity caused the hair on juliet's arms to prickle slightly. rafe felt his breath hitch when the tension grew heavy between them. rafe gulped and let out a small breathe when he noticed juliet open her mouth to speak.

"can i ask you something?" she whispered, feeling like the volume of her voice could shatter the comfortable air around them.

"course." he nodded, still staring at her bright blue eyes.

"why did you do all of this for me?" she finally asked the question that had hung over her head all night.

she had heard nothing but horrid stories about rafe cameron. if those stories were real, then why the hell would he go so far out of his way to help juliet? why would he kick his kook friends out for her? why would he bandage her up?

the question slightly surprised rafe, not because of what she asked but because the answer was unknown to him. he didn't know why he helped juliet, he just knew that he had to.

rafe hesitated for a few seconds before licking his lips, "i...i don't really know. if i'm honest, i don't do things like this. for anyone. i don't help people, let alone pogues."

being a pogue was something that juliet had always taken pride in. sure the lack of money and respect was a downside but pogues we're happy people. truly happy people, not artificially happy. but for some reason when rafe called her a pogue it hurt. maybe it was because she was having a good time with him and when he reminded her of her social status it felt like a reality check.

"but, um, i don't know there's just something different about tonight. about you." his words threw that reality check straight from juliet's head and warmed her cheeks, "i couldn't let you leave here busted up with no place to stay, i just couldn't."

what rafe didn't realize was that he was doing all of this out of the kindess of his heart. he had never done anything out of the kindess of his heart before. a part of him felt like there was no part of him that was made of kindess and if there was, there was certainly none to spare. little did he know, juliet was going to bring out every single kind part of him by the end of the summer.

"can i ask you something?" rafe asked and juliet nodded silently.

his hand went up to cup her cheek gently. his thumb trailed over her spider-man bandaid, feeling the indent of the cut underneath. juliet sucked in a deep breath at the feeling of his rough fingertips on her cheek again.

"who did this to you juliet?" rafe pleaded, his tone begging to know the truth.

juliet felt her breath get caught in her throat. she didn't know how to answer him, whether to lie or to tell the truth. one part of her never wanted anyone to know about her father and the other part felt like if she didn't let it out now, to someone who wouldn't judge, she was going to fall apart at the seams.

rafe had been so generous to her tonight. he cleaned up her cuts, gave her a place to stay, and even told her about his own family issues. if there was a time to tell someone, it was now. he had been so open with her and it was her turn.

juliet brought her hand up and covered his with her own. both of their hands rested on her cheek as they both shivered at the contact. juliet felt her cheeks go hot and felt tears prickle in the back of her eyelids. rafe clenched his teeth when he noticed her eyes fill up with tears that were begging to fall.

juliet truthfully and simply answered, "my family is fucked up too, rafe."

juliet's words caused rafe's jaw to tighten in anger. seven simple words completely confirmed every thought that rafe had thought earlier in the night. he couldn't believe a man would do such a thing to someone like juliet.

he couldn't even begin to describe how he was feeling. all he knew was that he wanted to help juliet, he wanted to be the light in the dark. and juliet, well she wanted the exact same thing.

little did the two teens know that this is where it all started. where a summer full of forbidden love, lust, heartbreak, murder and illegal activities began. it was all a domino effect and it started with the touch of a hand between juliet maybank and rafe cameron.

𝗮𝘂𝗯𝘀 𝘀𝗽𝗲𝗮𝗸𝘀!
i'm gonna be completely honest
with all of you... this chapter too wayyy
too long to write omfg! also thank you
for all the support on tik tok! it
means so so so much!
(also i did not edit this oh well)