018 !! STUPID

Georgie sighs placing the container full of barbecue meat right next to the grill Pope is standing by with a tired look in his eyes.

"This is shit", Pope mumbles as she straightens up craning her neck to glance up at the sky.

"What if it rained?".

"Huh?", Pope turns to her with a frown.

Georgie shrugs.

"What if it rained right now? Everything would stop and they'd still pay us for all of this", she gestures at the chairs and uncooked food containers around them.

Pope shakes his head turning his attention to the barbecue grill.

"It's not gonna rain, Georgie. It never does during this time".

She rolls her eyes, "Yeah, but what if it did? You know, hypothetically".

"Then that . . . . ", Pope half smiles, "would be pretty awesome".

She smiles leaning over to watch the meat sizzle with the fragrance of overcooked spices lingering in the air.

She inhales deeply watching the meat slowly heat up against the grill.

"Excuse me, sir. Do we have to shuck these ourselves? 'Cause it might mess up my costume and we wouldn't want that now, would we?".

Both their heads snap in the direction of the voice speaking in an awfully hilarious British accent.

The moment her eyes meet Kie's, Georgie's whole face lights up.

She may or may not have forgotten about the whole 'John B dibacle'.

Though him disappearing for an entire day without so much as a text informing her that he's indeed alive really made Georgie rethink everything she's believed about him till now.

Especially when JJ texted her about an hour ago saying that he's with John B and that the Routledge boy is as safe as they come.

He couldn't even find the time to respond to her texts yet he has the time to hang out with JJ?

Now that's just terribly selfish.

She was worried, you know.

"That accent was bad", Pope grumbles tiredly.

"It was. I was gonna let it go", Kiara shrugs smiling.

"You look pretty", Georgie walks over to adjust the flower crown on the brunette's head.

Standing there in her dark lavender flowy dress with a matching flower crown resting on the top of her head, Kiara, to Georgie, looks nothing short of a princess.

Almost blushing, Kiara smiles even wider.

"Why, thank you m'lady".

"You ever seen this many Kooks in one place?", Pope butts in interrupting their happy little conversation.

"Yeah. Last year", the blonde shrugs.

"We're in the lion's den", Pope comments.

"Exactly", Kiara agrees.

They start to rant about everything that is wrong with this particular Kook tradition and though, Georgie would love to stay and input her own thoughts, the last few hours have been unbelievably exhausting for her to be standing there normally with all those Kooks wandering around.

So she excuses herself and quietly walks to the back of the Country Club grabbing the pack of cigarettes from her back pocket.

She picks one out shoving the rest of the pack back in and takes out the lighter she stole from JJ's room lighting it up and bringing the flame near the tip of the cigarette dangling from her lips.

The flame hovers past the thin paper catching it on fire almost instantly.

Georgie turns the lighter off and takes a long puff of the cigarette, inhaling as she shuts her eyes.

A light breeze pushes past her tickling her puffed out cheeks, the nicotine already beginning to work its magic.

A sense of quiet relaxation overwhelms her and she doesn't hesitate to swiftly drag the cigarette out blowing out the smoke in the air with a faint smile on her lips.

She looks around, past the green fields feeling herself transport to a place where there's nothing but calm.

Nothing but joy.

The burning cigarette now dangles from between her fingers allowing her to run a hand through her hair feeling the knots tug gently against her grasp.

"Didn't think you liked to smoke, Maybank".

The husk in the voice sends goosebumps down her arms her brain physically pulling her body back to reality when she rolls her eyes and takes another puff of the cigarette — this one shorter than before — and turns to face him.

Rafe Cameron comes walking towards her in a sleek baby blue suit, his hair perfectly gelled back yet again — though it looks like today it took much more effort to set in properly.

A glass is clutched in his right hand while his left stays hidden in his pocket as he finally comes up, stopping right in front of her.

"Leave me alone", she clenches her jaw ignoring the little flutter that drives through her heart when he gives her an amused smile.

"You're mad at me?".

She gazes at him as if he's the stupidest person on this planet.

And she hides the thought of wanting to push her lips against his.

Which is honestly so out of proportion because doesn't Georgie not like him?

"Of course I'm fucking mad you. Yesterday wasn't a weird nightmare, Rafe".

"Pope did drown Topper's boat, Georgie".

The way her name so effortlessly rolls off his tongue has her internally screaming at her brain to shut up.

That's gonna require another smoke.

"So you could've just gone to the police? — which you did do in the end, by the way — instead of trying to kill him yourself? It was damn immature, Rafe", she pulls the cigarette out of her mouth.

His eyes stray away to her lips when the cigarette moves away, her heart feels like it might just stop beating any moment now considering the rate at which it is speeding when his gaze lingers too long on her lips.

He licks his lips, this time Georgie's eyes glancing down from the sapphire orbs to the very very appealing lips barely stretching into a smirk when her eyes refuse to look away.

"What I gotta do to make it up to you?".

The way he says it makes it seem as if there are a thousand different meanings hidden right beneath but Georgie knows better.

She's not gonna be the stupid one this summer.

"Leave me alone", she finally looks up into his eyes.

"Or I could give you this? Looks like you need it", he pulls out a small rectangular case from his inside jacket pocket.

Opening the case, he reveals a very very expensive vape pen.

Georgie's eyes grow wide at the sight and she pulls him by his arm, hoping to hide the case just by touching him.

But that earns her another one of those damned smiles.

And she certainly cannot miss the way his bicep feels under her fingers.

Okay fuck, stop it.

"There are children here!", she whispers making him shrug.

"Are you talking about yourself?".

She laughs.

And immediately regrets it because Rafe's smile only grows wider.

Though how much of that awfully familiar feeling quietly swimming inside of her is regret?

"You're just gonna hand that over to me? Seriously?", she narrows her eyes.

Rafe shrugs again.

"I can always buy another one. There's a room upstairs, third one in the second floor corridor. It's reserved for my family but more specifically, me. You can go do . . . . whatever you want", he waves the case in front of her.

On one hand, going up to a room reserved for the Camerons and vaping with a pen a Cameron — the one who beat up her brother and friend — seems wrong just on the face of it.

But on the other . . . . isn't most of the pent up anger inside of her because of what Rafe and his friends did last night?

So, isn't it only fair if one of them helps her get over it? Even if it means parting with an easily $150 vape pen?

Mumbling a small 'thank you', she grabs it from him their fingers unintentionally — or maybe intentionally — grazing in the process.

And then she disappears upstairs.

For three hours, she relaxes in the locked air conditioned room and no one sees her.

Three hours later when she finally comes out into the garden with a significantly intoxicated brain, her eyes fall upon JJ in a server's uniform being escorted out by security, his lip freshly cut this time.

She can't make much of what he says but the next thing she knows, Pope and Kiara and running behind him.

And in less than a second, so is Georgie.

***
i refuse to believe that my break is about to end. THERE IS NO WAY