Ruin My Life ~ Zara Larrson

Tasha woke the next morning with a pounding headache. She groaned as she sat up, glancing over at Sam who smirked at her as he lit a cigarette. "Morning, princess."

"Hi." Tasha replied, blushing slightly when she saw his bare chest, pulling the sheet up to cover her own. "Um... last night was fun..."

"Yeah, it was." Sam chuckled, ruffling her hair. "Feeling any better?"

Tasha nodded, smiling slightly. "Yeah, actually. Who knew sex would help." She teased, opening her mouth to speak but was interrupted by a banging at the door.

"Sam! You up yet?!" Nate called from the door, causing Tasha to jump, falling off the bed and onto the carpeted floor.

Sam couldn't hide his laughter. "Yeah! What do you want?!"

"Tasha isn't in her room and I haven't seen her since last night, have you seen her?"

"You could say that." Sam laughed as Tasha threw a pillow at his face.

"What are you— oh!"

Nathan opened the door, stepping into the room only to find Tasha sitting on the opposite side of the bed. She blushed, covering herself with the sheet up to her chin.

"Hi... hi Nate."

"Oh, for god sakes! Seriously?! You guys did not—"

"Oh, we did." Sam smiled smugly as he put out his cigarette. "More than once, right, princess?"

Tasha sighed, rubbing her temples. "Can you two like keep it down?? My head is killing me!"

Nathan groaned. "I can't believe you two — gross."

Sam chuckled. "You'll get over it, I'm sure."

"Alright, well as fun as this has been, I'm just gonna, y'know... go." Tasha stood up, holding the sheet to her body as she walked around the bed. As she grabbed her clothes from the floor, the door opened once more.

"You guys are late."

Tasha nearly squealed when she saw Rafe, who paid no attention to her as he walked over to the table with their plans on it.

"Rafe, have you heard of knocking?!" Tasha protested, sprinting past him towards the bathroom.

"Have you heard — I don't care." He replied evenly, still not looking at her.

Tasha pulled her clothes on, tossing two Advil into her pocket as she walked back into the room. Rafe was gone, but Nathan was shaking his head disapprovingly at Sam who had gotten dressed as well.

"Um... so I guess Rafe knows..." Tasha rubbed her head with a sigh. "Fuck."

"Aw, what will our poor princess do now?" Sam smirked as he screwed up her hair. Tasha glared at him as she shoved her pistols into her holsters.

"I will shoot you, Samuel Drake. Don't push me."

•••

The four of them spent an hour in the car, driving towards their destination. Things were normal for the most part, except for Rafe ignoring Tasha and not saying a single word to her or offering her so much as a glance.

Once they got towards the caves Tasha sighed, noting the two different entrances. "There's two ways to go... what's the plan here, guys?"

"Nate and I will go this way." Sam pointed to the entrance to the right. "Rafe, you and Tasha go that way."

"Seriously?" Tasha kicked Sam's leg when Rafe wasn't looking. Sam grabbed his injured leg while Nathan raised his eyebrows.

"Trouble in paradise?"

Tasha glared at Nathan, opening her mouth to repute but Rafe looked at her expectantly, almost impatiently. "Nope. No trouble at all." She stalked past Rafe quickly. "Let's go, Rich Boy."

Rafe didn't say a word went they walked through the cave, also keeping his distance from Tasha enough that she nearly got caught in a trap. Rafe grabbed her wrist, roughly tugging her back to him.

"What the hell—"

Rafe shushed her, tossing a rock towards where she was stepping. A trap snapped at the rock, making Tasha jump slightly. "Thanks..."

"Pay more attention." Rafe let her go, shaking his head slightly as he walked past her.

Silence fell between them once more, and Tasha took this time to study him from behind. She couldn't figure out why he was ignoring her, or why he had been avoiding her. If anything she should be the one ignoring him.

Tasha's thoughts were interrupted as the two came to a fork in the cave, so to speak. Rafe began walking left, but Tasha called out to him.

"Rafe — wait."

Rafe sighed in frustration. "What?"

"You told me to pay more attention." She beckoned him over as she wiped dirt off of the wall, uncovering some wording. "Initium Gloria."

"Latin..." Rafe stood next to Tasha as he tried to decipher the phrase. "Death..."

"Death equals glory." Tasha finished almost instantly, taking a step back from the wall. "We shouldn't be here."

Rafe looked at her, eyebrows raised. "What are you talking about? You're afraid of a Latin phrase in a cave—"

"This isn't a cave, Rafe... This is a tomb." Tasha grabbed onto his arm, tugging him over to the far wall. "Omnes insidias ulcisci. Vengeance on all those who betray."

"This isn't the first tomb we've encountered. Look, if you're that uncomfortable, let's just head back and find the others, alright?"

As the two made their way back through the cave systems, Tasha felt the memories of her near death experiences flash through her mind. She stopped dead in her tracks, a cold shiver coming down her spine as she remembered the water filling her lungs.

"Tasha, what the hell are you doing?"

Silence.

Rafe walked over to her quickly, noticing she was staring into space. "Tasha..." He reached his hand out, touching her shoulder gently, hoping to bring her back to reality.

Tasha blinked a few times, a fear on her face that made Rafe's skin go cold. "I — I just — I —"

"Hey, you're alright." Rafe reassured her with a small smile. "We'll be back with Sam in no time."

Tasha felt little relief from his sentiment, but she found herself walking beside Rafe, until they heard a loud bang from above. Both of them dived to the ground, covering their heads as the ceiling caved in all around them.

Tasha coughed violently as the dust from the rubble kicked up in the air as she moved around. She laid back, letting her head fall back against the stones uncomfortably.

"Are you alright?" Rafe asked, his hand searching through the darkness until he felt her arm.

"Peachy." Tasha replied, taking a deep breath. "My flashlight should be somewhere by the rubble."

Rafe's hand left her arm, searching through the rubble. "Got it." He shook it, sighing. "It's busted."

"Give it here." Tasha sat up, reaching her hand out towards his voice. Rafe's hand connected with hers, startling them both for a moment. He gently handed her the flashlight before moving over to her side.

Tasha slapped the light against her hand, and when that did nothing she hit it roughly against the wall. "God damnit!"

"Tasha — Do you want to bring everything crashing down on us?!" Rafe grabbed her wrist, stopping her from slamming the flashlight again.

"Do you have any other brilliant plans?!"

Rafe sighed, "Just, sit tight. I'll see how far the rubble goes. Maybe the extra flashlight didn't get crushed."

"Alright, just... just be quick."

"There we go!" Rafe's voice sounded slightly relieved as he lifted his flashlight up, the dim light adding some lumination to the space. He walked back to Tasha, pointing the flashlight at her. He noticed then she had another gash in her forehead, the same place as last time. "You're bleeding."

"I'll be fine." Tasha replied, standing to her feet as she looked around the cave. "How long do you think it'll take Sam and Nate to find us?"

"Knowing them, they might never find us."

"Way to be optimistic, Rafe." Tasha sighed, rubbing her forehead on the back of her hand.

"It's called being realistic." He replied with a shrug.

"God, you know, I forgot how much of a dick you can be." Tasha mumbled, going to the opposite end of the cave. "What's your problem anyways?"

"I don't have a problem—"

"Really? Because you haven't paid one inch of attention to me in days. You've been avoiding me. Why?"

"I haven't been avoiding you." Rafe rolled his eyes, a trait he had picked up from her. "You're overreacting, as per usual."

"Oh, fuck off. How do you go from nearly jumping my bones to not even being able to look at me?!"

"Why do you care?" Rafe asked frustratedly. "You have Sam, why would you care how I act with you?"

Tasha looked at Rafe with a dumbfounded expression. "What the hell are you talking about? What does Sam have to do with this?"

Rafe laughed humourlessly. "Don't be stupid."

"Stupid?! Alright, motherfucker." Tasha glared at Rafe.

"So what," Rafe glared back. "You think I wouldn't find out about you and Sam?"

"Me and Sam?! Jesus, Rafe, are you stupid?"

"I heard you! You were fucking him! Not to mention I saw you this morning! Don't play dumb!"

Tasha scoffed angrily. "Okay, first off, rich boy, you don't own me. You're not my boyfriend, you've made that abundantly clear. Second, it was a one night stand! Like you haven't had one of those ever!"

Rafe was silent as he looked at her, their eyes meeting for a moment. Tasha shook her head, turning her back to him. She walked to the end of the cave, touching the rocky walls.

"Tasha..."

"Sshh!"

Rafe gaped for a moment, "Did you just shush me—"

"Bring the flashlight over here!"

Rafe did as he was told, holding it out for her. She grabbed it, pointing it towards the rocks on the south wall which were coming loose.

"If we move some of those rocks, I think we can get back to camp. Look, airs coming through. There's got to be an opening at the end."

Rafe and Tasha worked in unison as they moved the rocks away. Soon enough, the two of them were back in the forest walking down towards the car in the distance.

Silence befell the two as they reached the car. Tasha dug into her backpack, taking a long sip of water before passing it to Rafe. "Thanks."

"Don't thank me yet, it's practically warm water at this point." Tasha replied with a small smile, taking another sip once he handed it back. The sun was setting, but it was still incredibly hot. Both of them had sweat covering their bodies, not to mention dirt.

Rafe rummaged through the trunk of the Jeep, tossing Tasha a towel as he grabbed one for himself. "Thanks. God, I need a shower after this." She tried to rub off the sweat and dirt stuck to her face but it mainly just moved around. She sighed, giving up.

Rafe stepped over to her, grabbing the towel from her hand before pouring water onto it. He held it to her face, rubbing the dirt from her face. "Maybe Sam can join you."

Tasha laughed, shaking her head. "He's not who I'd want to join me, idiot." She smiled slightly as Rafe continued to wipe the dirt from her face, almost affectionately. "Jealousy doesn't suit you, Rafe Adler."

"I'm not jealous." Rafe replied a little too fast, using his free hand to hold her chin up as he cleaned her neck.

"You don't need to be, y'know? I've known Sam for a long time. He's not my type."

"Didn't sound that way last night—"

"You know, I wanted to be with you." Tasha admitted. "But I saw you with those other girls. That's why I was with Sam."

"Oh." Rafe replied, not looking at her as she took the towel from him, flipping it over to the clean side. As he went to walk away, she grabbed onto his shoulder, holding him in place.

Rafe watched her quietly as Tasha began to clean his face, smiling slightly once she was done. "There. Now you look good as new." She rested her palm against his cheek for a moment, but when she went to pull away Rafe rested his hand over hers, keeping her in place.

"There you two are!"

Tasha and Rafe slowly turned to the rushed voices of Sam and Nate running towards them. She dropped her hand from his face, but Rafe refused to let her hand go, instead holding it in his remotely tight.

A/N: Y'all I need more comments and inspiration or else I can't write 😭😭😭 help a girl out.