Chapter Text
It's the day before the funeral. Every one of the pogues seems disoriented. They are all supposed to go back to Morocco tomorrow. John B has been stuck in his room with Sarah. The Pope was outside looking at nature and connecting. But Kie was different with her mourning. At first she cried when she saw JJ’s face that was scattered with blood. She couldn’t sleep at night without picturing JJ bleeding out in front of her as she begged for help.
She felt anger at how a cruel person could kill their own son. At the end she felt numb. They lost treasure and JJ. All she could think about now was trying to get away from the situation.
Looking through Morocco, it was kind of beautiful. She saw the land in the plane as she was coming to this foreign country. She didn’t really know what types of restrictions there were. But the community seemed welcoming.
She was walking through one of the markets that she spotted just randomly turning somewhere when she came across Rafe, who appeared to be on the phone with someone. He looked irritated and intense. She really couldn’t care what was happening, but he did seem to be better. She does know that his head is probably confused, as she used to be a kook as well.
He spots her as he's on the phone and quickly dismisses the person before hanging up. Rafe heads to her, sighing. Kie shifts when he arrives in her space.
The first thing that came out of Rafe's mouth was, “You ok?”
Kie kind of rolls her eyes dramatically. She could feel the tears trying to interrupt their way in. She looked up at the sky, trying not to cry. Don't cry.
“I’ve been feeling what most people do when they lose someone they love.”
Rafe winced at that comment. It's been a couple months since he lost his dad. He felt a huge weight lifted off his shoulders but also not.
“I know what you're feeling,” Rafe tries to reassure. They start to walk down the market looking through the life that was passing through their eyes. Kie has a standard distance from Rafe, but she’s still close to him.
The truth is, Rafe has been flat out depressed. He was really here in Morocco because he had his own morals to achieve. He thought he could get the crown without the guidance of his father. Ward was so demanding, but he was also willing to protect Rafe no matter how much of a piece of shit father he was.
So many high expectations. God, sometimes Rafe wanted to just drown in the middle of the ocean. He thought of taking so many drugs he could die from a heart attack. In the back of his head he wondered if Barry would even sell him that much.
He didn’t know how he was going to go ahead with his future. That bitch of a stepmother was already annoying. How much must he endure? But he stuffed it down at this moment and paid all his attention to Kie. In the back of his head, he kind of wanted to be there for her.
“I heard that Morocco has the prettiest sunset,” Rafe started as he looked down at Kie. She was looking around, trying not to make eye contact with him. “Are you trying to go see it today?”
Kie took a breath before breathing out heavily. She thought about it to the point that Rafe thought she was going to ignore his question. But eventually after a couple minutes of thinking, she agreed.
The rest of the day was spent not really trying to get Kie to smile but just not thinking about JJ dying. He knew Kie wasn’t going to warm up to him no matter what he did, but it was at least a try. He could catch a glimpse of Kie caught off guard that seemed kind of beautiful in his eyes. His stomach turned deep down in his head. He didn’t know why. Something just felt odd.
It's finally around the time the sun starts to set. At this point they are at the beach just walking across the sand. Kie was carrying her sandals while talking about anything or everything. Rafe just listened. He spent too much time talking, he thought. So much anger is pouring out. He'd rather just stay silent and let other lives happen around him.
Kie didn’t really notice that Rafe wasn’t engaging with the conversation. She just wanted to get the thought of JJ out of her head. The next day was the funeral, and she wasn’t ready whenever the hours got closer.
The sun was setting, and the colors blended together. You could have purple, pink, orange, and then finally it's dark. They find their way to the end of the beach trail. Rafe slows down his walking as they start to split their ways.
“I’ll see you guys tomorrow when we leave.”
Kie nodded and headed back to the rented room she shared with the rest of the pogues. The funeral was back at home. JJ wanted a closed funeral but later was burnt to ash and spread across the lake. Rafe had no idea how they were going to do all that, but he couldn’t really care less.
He never got along with the guy. He didn’t really get to know JJ. Maybe he was a kind soul. Nah, not JJ. Whatever, he’ll never know. He doesn’t lose sleep over it. But Kie clearly does. He thought of Barry back home in the Cut. How much for a bag? Should he go back to his habits?
Would Barry even let him?
"Another question for another day," he decided.
The next morning came quickly, and as Rafe expected, he saw all the Pogues at the airport with their limited items. Rafe came in with a huge suitcase; you would think he’s a model or something. He looked pretty well put together, while the group next to him were all depressed.
He sent a look at Kie to ask, "Are you ok?" To which he got a look back that said, "Yeah, I’m fine, just a rough day."
After a good number of hours spent on a flight, Rafe was happy to finally be home. But something dawned on him that made him realize that home was not sometimes good. He noticed Sarah kept glancing over at him. He didn’t really give a flying fuck, to be honest. Sarah could fuck herself for all he cared.
She hated him, so why not stay holding a grudge? That's what he thought. In Rafe’s world, everyone hated him. If someone even looked at him wrong, he just assumed that they had an issue. Probably why he had so many issues growing up.
Sarah was looking worried. But Rafe doesn’t know what worries look like. He wasn’t taught what worry was supposed to be. All he cared about was what he was going to do next . Going back to his step mothers house was definitely not on the menu. He might as well go see Barry. He looked back at Kie one last time before getting into an uber.
John B noticed how attentive Rafe had been with Kie and looked at her.
“You guys gotten close,”
“Yeah, I don’t really know,” Kie shrugged. Sarah glanced at John B with a worrying look. The Pope looked like he was about to pass out any second. Kie shook her head before looking at all of them.
“Where are we going?”
Pope shrugged, “I could ask my dad if we can stay there.” Sarah shook her head.
“We can go to mines; I know my stepmother will probably be annoyed as fuck if we go.” She tried smiling. Hopefully the mood would lighten, and it kind of did. But it went back to gloomy soon after.
“If you’re cool with it,” Kie said. She wondered where Rafe had gone. Or maybe where JJ could be doing right now. What he would say if he saw that they were all this gloomy. His funeral was in 3 hours.
They all knew it.
After arriving at Sarah's house, they all settled in. Sarah's stepmother was nowhere to be found. Wheezie, however, came to see all the commotion downstairs and gasped when she saw her older sister. She always admired Sarah and how cool she was with her friends.
“Sarah!” she exclaimed before running down the stairs to hug her sister. Sarah smiled as she reunited. Kie looked away to admire Sarah's house. She’s been in it before in the past and is still amazed every time she comes.
Her house was big, but the Camerons' house was even bigger.
Pope and John had the same reaction every time they went as well. Kie wondered if her dad was wondering where she was. She couldn’t care less right now. They all began to get ready for the funeral. Pope and John B went outside to discuss something or go somewhere. While Kie and Sarah stayed inside talking for a bit.
Wheezie joined in on their conversation. When they laughed, it carried through the hallways. Her stepmother is still nowhere to be found.
Sarah noticed that she hadn’t checked up in a while before asking Wheezie, “Where’s your mom?”
“She left to go somewhere in Connecticut.”
“Connecticut?”
It all came together. She went to see her family. So she really ditched Wheezie in this big house to go see her parents. What about this family?
Wheezie saw the mood change in Sarah's face before bursting into an explanation. “Nono, it’s okay, seriously. I know how to take care of myself.”
Sarah sighed into her hands before looking at Kie. Kie just gave her a sympathetic smile.
“I know you can but that's not even the problem,” Sarah tried explaining. Kie left the room to get her and Wheezie some space. But really she just needed some space as well. Her mind kept drifting off to JJ’s funeral. They should really get on their way. Then her mind drifted off to Rafe.
She shook her head that made it look like she was schizophrenic if anyone was watching her. It was such a random thought to have. But deep down she had an urge to do something.
And so she pulled out her phone and found his contact pretty fast. She slowed her breath and thought about whether or not she should call him. At this point in her life she just shrugged and thought fuck it. Another thing that she felt made her look schizophrenic if anyone was watching her.
The phone didn't ring for that long till Rafe picked up.
“Hello?”
“Hey,” It was silent.
When Rafe got to Barry's house it was silent. No one was there yet. It was empty. So he just helped himself into the house. He saw his bike the last time he left it near the other shenanigans that Barry was working on outside.
He looked around the house and it was still the same when he last saw it. He settled on putting his stuff in Barry's guest room that seemed like nobody was there and sat on the couch trying to organize his thoughts.
He felt like there was some sort of tension going on between him and Kie but he shrugged it off as helping her out. He wouldn’t mind doing something with her, it's just her mentality at the moment.
Wait, why was he thinking like this? He wondered.
Her boyfriend literally just died. His funeral is TODAY.
At that point he shook his head. Whatever happens from now on is on Kie. He’s just following along. And that is indeed what happened when he felt his phone start to ring in his pocket.
He looked at the caller id and raised an eyebrow. He didn’t know that Kie still had his number saved. He shook his head while smiling and picked up.
“Hello?”
“Hi,”
The line went silent. Rafe was confused but maybe she just needed someone to fill in the silence. He didn’t know why the pogues that she was always with did not provide her that but it was whatever.
“Why’d you call?”
“Getting straight to the point huh,” Kie laughed quietly.
“God forbid a guy is curious,” Rafe said while laughing silently as well. It was nice to kind of talk to someone real. He would later regret this.
“JJ’s funeral is in an hour.” Kie trailed. She traced the houses crown molding on the floor. She was crouching trying not to cry. It was always when she brought up JJ that she felt like crying. She sucked in a breath before asking. “Can you come?”
“Haha hell no,” Rafe laughed. He quickly stopped hoping she wouldn’t hang up. That sounded a bit rude. “I wasn’t close with the guy and I ain’t tryna start no fights with nobody, but you can text me afterwards,”
Rafe pumped himself up for being so smooth. All the past girls he hooked up were bad luck. Like BAD luck. He was thinking of going celibate at some point. But he didn’t think he would last a week.
Kies tan skin with curly hair. Gosh he really wanted her under him. Or maybe her on top? Maybe for once he didn’t want to be in control. Thats kind of gay of him to think.
“Ok then,” Kie said
“Bye gorgeous,” and Rafe hung up before Kie could say goodbye back.
Kie looked at her phone in disbelief. There was no way he just said that.