silent treatment / chapter three
"Oh don't mind me baby. I'm
just enjoying the view."
IT HAD BEEN DAYS since Adelaide was released from the hospital, but it almost felt like weeks, if not months. Ever since her brother and friends had brought her home, it had been real quiet. Literally. Both John B and JJ were giving her the silent treatment for her "impulsive" decision on the not pressing charges matter, which of course she thought was useless anyways. They thought she was doing it out of pure kindness, and she was.
Kiara had stopped by a few times, but not for Adelaide's sake. She didn't check up on the girl, she would only come over to hang out with the guys. Although, she did ask John B how she was doing the first time she came over. "Will she be okay?", was all she could voice before it went quiet. She guessed it was because they didn't want her to hear them gossip about her, and she knew they would blab about the other situation.
Pope seemed to be the only talking to her at all. It was all small talk, but she appreciated it regardless. After all, he was the only one who knew why she had done what she had done, and she loved him for keeping her secret.
"I can't believe how immature they're being." The girl ranted to the boy next to him.
"Give them time to process it." He commented.
"I have. It's been days Pope. They need to stop being babies and get over it. What's done is done." She stated, crossing her arms as she looked at the window.
"Well, just think about it from their point of view. You didn't give them an explanation on why you chose not to press charges. They're just feeling confused and frustrated you know?" He elaborated, hoping that she would understand how they felt.
"Yea, you're right.." She gave up, a long silence taking over the room.
"So are you going tell them?" Pope curiously asked her, looking at the girl sitting on the bed in front of him.
"Tell them what?" Adelaide asked, pretending like she had no idea what he was talking about.
"You know what Addie." He persisted, arms crossed and eyebrows raised.
"And you know my answer Pope." She argued back, mocking the boy by crossing her arms the same way he was.
"Funny." He chuckled, shaking his head as he headed towards the door. "I have to go study for my math exam."
Before the boy could even reach the door, Adelaide sarcastically gasped in disbelief at his words. "Wow, so you're just going to leave me here? All alone, by myself in this cold and gloomy room?"
Pope stood in silence for a moment before answering, "Yup sounds about right, see ya!" He said, waving goodbye and running out the door.
"You suck!" She shouted, throwing one of her teddy bears at the now closed door. He didn't blame him for leaving though, since he had been keeping her company for hours now.
"Love you too!" Was all that was heard from a distance.
"Great, now what the hell am I supposed to do now?" She asked herself, looking around the room for something to do.
She turned to her nightstand, where a clock stood, reading 11:36 am. It sat besides a bottle of pills and a glass of water, both from which she took from since her head was killing her. I mean, her head did hit a rock so that figures.
She sat in silence for what felt like hours, but it was really only five minutes. Everyone was gone and god knows where they were. All she knew was that John B and JJ had been out since 8 am this morning, something about "Meeting Kie."
"Fuck it." She muttered, quickly getting off the bed sheets and going into her closet.
"They're out of their minds if they think I'm gonna stay locked in this room for one more minute." She continued yapping, already changing into something that wasn't her pajamas.
She looked around her tiny closet, which was filled with a bunch of plain shirts and shorts, next to a few pair of converses. She didn't mind though, after all this wasn't her room to begin with. Big John was nice enough to take her in and give her one of the unvacated rooms, saying "This is your home now sweetie." Oh how she missed him.
She stood there for a minute until she decided to go with a black shirt and jean shorts. As she stood there changing, she felt the presence of someone or something watching her. Her instincts were never wrong, but this time she really hope they were. Especially since she was home alone. What made matters worse was that she wasn't even fully dressed. She only had shorts and a bra on, as her hands still held the shirt.
She slowly turned around, praying that she was wrong. But of course, she wasn't. Damn her mind.
And there he stood. Leaning on the closet door, a tall Rafe with his arms crossed and a smirk on his face.
"Oh don't mind me baby. I'm just enjoying the view." He joked, still observing the girl from where he stood. "You know, you shouldn't leave the door open. Creeps can easily get in."
"What the fuck Rafe?! Can't you see I'm changing! And how—" Adelaide yelled, quickly covering her chest with the shirt she was holding.
"What? It's nothing I haven't seen before." He teased, a smirk on his face as he eyed her up and down.
"Get out!" She shouted, already annoyed at his presence.
"Geez fine! I'll wait outside the door. No need to yell at me." He mumbled, rolling his eyes and closing the door behind him.
Adelaide quickly put on her shirt and stood there for a long minute, not knowing what to do. If anyone saw her with Rafe, it was over for her. The last thing she wanted was more drama.
"What the fuck do I do?!" She whispered to herself, hands on her waist. "Fuck it." She sighed, quickly opening the door to reveal Rafe sitting comfortably on her bed.
"Well that was fast. I think—"
"What the hell are you doing here? They'll kill you if they find you here!" She interrupted before even letting him finish his sentence.
Rafe chuckled at her words. "Stop being dramatic, they're not even here. And we both know I'd kill them first." He said in a calm tone, which made it even scarier.
She scoffed quietly. "Seriously, what are you doing here Rafe?"
And with that, the smug on his face dropped. "I- I uhm, just wanted to say thank you. For not pressing charges. I don't know what changed your mind but— thanks."
You did. She thought to herself, but of course she didn't say that. Because it's not like she could explain to him that she was eavesdropping the whole time he was there. Either way, she didn't want to tell him anything. It saved her the trouble, so she kept quiet and simply nodded her head, giving him a sympathetic smile.
"Yea, it was nothing."
"Why didn't you press charges?" He curiously asked, avoiding making eye contact with her.
"Oh, because it was a really long process and I didn't want to go through all of that." She lied, but of course anything was better than saying, "Oh, because I heard everything you said at the hospital since I was awake the whole minute you were there."
"Oh. That makes sense." He murmured, almost sounding disappointed.
"Yea.." She whispered.
It was quiet for a minute as they both sat on the bed, inches away from each other. "So—" She awkwardly added, "was that all you came here for?"
He mumbled, getting up from the bed. "Uhm, yea yea—" , stopping mid sentence, "actually no. I was wondering if you'd like to go hang out?"
Caught by surprise with his question, she opened her mouth to speak, but nothing would come out.
"Hang out—", she repeated, pointing at the boy as she continued to speak, "with you?" She chuckled, the boy clearly not amused.
"Yea, that's what I said." He snapped, his eyes closed while his fingers touched the tip of his nose out of frustration.
"As tempting as that sounds, you know why I can't— why we can't." The girl explained, pointing at herself and then at the blonde.
"Please Addie, no one has to know okay? No one will find out." The blonde insisted, getting closer to her as she began to slowly back away.
"Rafe, Im not doing that again. I physically can't."
"It'll be different this time. I promise." He pleaded, but she had already heard those words before.
She shook her head, "That's what you said last time Rafe. I can't."
"That was last time, please give me another chance!" He begged her, kneeling down in front of the girl and grabbing her hands.
"I'm sorry, I can't! Please understand." She stressed, untangling her hands from his.
"Fine. Whatever—" He grunted, getting up and walking away. "This was all a stupid bet anyways."
Adelaide scoffed, a tear falling from her eye. "The fact that I'm not even surprised."
"Adelaide I—"
"Just get out. Leave! And don't come back." She yelled, trying not to make eye contact as she pointed at the window in which he had come in.
He resisted the urge to tell her that he was lying. But he was a coward, so he left without saying a word. He left like he had many times before. Ladies and gentlemen, Rafe Cameron.
꒰ 🌊 ꒱
Hours had passed and she had yet to hear back from anyone. No call, no message, absolutely nothing at all. The house was so quiet that she could practically hear the echoes of her own voice.
She had originally planned to go to Sarah's house, but after the whole Rafe situation, she decided it was best not to go. Instead she texted her and asked if they could meet up at The Wreck, but she got no response.
"Great. Another person that's MIA." She whispered to herself, growing tired of waiting.
It wasn't until 4 o clock when Sarah replied back and agreed to meeting her there. With that, she quickly got off her bed, put on a pair of white chuck's, and headed out her bedroom door.
She was surprised to see everything was just like it was before the accident, and by everything she meant the mess. She was always the one cleaning up after them, it's like they couldn't live without her or else they'd die. Boys are pigs, she thought.
It felt weird leaving the room, since she had been stuck in there for days. She headed towards the living room, where she found a rated-r magazine. JJ. Typical. Next to the magazine were cigarettes and empty bottles of beer.
"Geez, it's like they can't live without beer." She commented, shaking her head side to side in disapproval and looking further around the living room.
Adelaide knew she wasn't allowed to leave the house for precaution, but she felt fine. "You are to stay in this house, do you understand?", she heard her brother's words in her head but she decided to ignore them. It's not like anyone was here to stop her from leaving anyways, she said to herself as she opened the door to leave.
But of course she spoke to soon, as the door revealed John B and JJ standing there making eye contact with the girl. John B held bags of food from The Cut while JJ held a six pack of beer with one hand.
"Where do you think you're going?" JJ spoke up, eyebrows raising in mild disapproval, the same look that her brother had on his face.
"Out." She stated, taking a step forward.
"Yea, no you're not baby." JJ chuckled, putting his arm across the door, blocking Adelaide from leaving.
"Oh, so now you want to speak to me?" Adelaide snapped, quickly trying to remove his arm but he was too strong.
"Adelaide, now's not the time to start shit." He grunted, pulling the girl inside the house with his arm, the six pack still on his other hand.
"It's for your own safety." Her brother added.
"My ass!" She blurted, while JJ let out a small laugh.
"JJ." John B said, giving him a serious look.
"What? She's the one acting like a child." He complained, pointed at the agitated girl.
"Because you're treating me like one!" She added. At that point her head felt heavy, like it was about to explode.
"Potato, potahto." He nagged, waving his hands in a mocking tone.
"I hate you." She sputtered, JJ giving her an exaggerated shocked look while both of his hands touched his chest.
"Ok that's enough. Both of you are acting like children!" John B snapped at the two standing in front of him, and then looked directly at the girl.
"Where did you say you where going again?" He asked her sister, arms crossed as he tilted his head to the side.
"I didn't." She stated, looking at her brother and JJ with a I want to kill you face.
"Stop being a smart ass." JJ added, his eyes on the girl the whole time.
Adelaide rolled her eyes at him "I was meeting someone at The Wreck."
"Who?!" Both guys said simultaneously.
She let out a chuckle before answering, "Wouldn't you like to know."
"Adelaide—"
"Okay fine, I was meeting Sarah geez. Now can I please go?" She pleaded, giving them her famous puppy eyes. They could never say no to that.
Both of them stared at her, squinting their eyes and trying to look away, in an attempt to not give in into her devil ways. Both of course that failed, as it always does when it comes to her puppy eyes. How could anyone say no to those eyes?
"Ughh fine!" Her brother gave in, getting the keys from the table.
"I hate it when she does that!" The blonde cursed, the girl smiling and already on her way to the door.
"But with one condition—" , John B added, "we're going with you."
"Wow, I didn't know you wanted to see Sarah that bad big bro." She muttered, a smirk on her face.
"Shut up and walk." He scolded, grabbing her sister arm while the blonde grabbed the other.
"Yes!" JJ exclaimed as he took the keys from John B. "I'm driving baby."
"Great. Just what I needed. My two bodyguards." She murmured.