RIPTIDE | Rafe Cameron

50. 𝘭𝘰𝘤𝘬𝘦𝘥 𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘷𝘦𝘯

This is a double update! Read 49 first! This is only a short chapter but it's the most wholesome chapter I've written of Rafe and Sidney and I also loved writing this in Rafe's pov

RAFE CAMERON
I could stare at Sidney for hours and some nights before everything that happened on the Coastal Venture I did just that. Somehow, everytime, I notice a new detail, a freckle on her stomach or a dimple on her cheek. Before what happened on the tarmac I would often notice a small smile creeping onto her face as she slept, leaving me wondering what she was dreaming about. But after what I did on the tarmac I'd lie beside her as she tossed and turned, resenting myself for being the catalyst of those nightmares that haunted her sleep.

She is the only person who has ever made me feel like life has more meaning to it than just being a kook and a Cameron, and losing her was the biggest mistake that I have ever made. As she lays beside me, the bedsheets strewn across her perfect body I wonder who is shining down on me to offer me a second chance like this. Sidney is everything that I'm not, but having her by my side makes me feel like a better man, or at least, like I'm capable of being a better man.

I want to do right by her, and I know that I have a lot to make up for. After everything that happened, she deserves to know that I care about her. I glance at the clock on my bedside table, it's not even nine o'clock at night, which is when the town is most alive, just the way I know Sidney would like it.

"Sid," I nudge her nervously, watching as she rubs her eyes with her hand, "Sid."

"Fuck off," She mumbles into the pillow as I flick on the lamp beside me, sitting up in the bed.

"Sid, I've got a surprise for you," I tell her, watching her slowly roll over onto her side, her eyes fluttering open with a smile.

"A surprise?" She smiles, that intoxicatingly breathtaking smile that I spent the last thirty two nights dreaming of.

"You'll need to get dressed though," I tell her, climbing out of the bed, grabbing a pair of shorts and a white and blue striped shirt, which is short sleeved, given the insane humidity in the air.

"Why?" She sighs as she watches me get dressed, a glimmer of mischief in her eyes.

"I'm taking you out." I answer, watching her eyes light up as I pull on my shorts.

"If you're taking me on a date, then you'll have to ask me properly," She tells me, rolling onto her stomach and resting her chin in her hands.

"Sidney," I sigh, unable to disguise the smile creeping onto my face, "Will you go on a date with me?"

"Yes I will," She grins, filling me with relief, even though I knew she would say yes.

"Good," I reply, slipping the shirt onto my body and buttoning it up as she hops out of the bed, rummaging in the bag of clothes from the shop in Barbados.

"Where are we going?" She asks, pulling various items of clothes out of the bag, struggling to decide what to wear.

"That's a surprise," Technically, it'll also be a surprise to me, because I haven't even decided where to take her, I've not really ventured beyond the walls of this house except for business meetings. But knowing Sidney the way I do, I can tell that she'll end up spotting some tiny little bar that reminds her of home, and she'll drag me there, and I'll be fine with it, because how can I complain when she's smiling?

"What do you think?" She asks, snapping me out of my trance, I look up at her to see her wearing a pair of blue denim shorts with a pink floral crop top that ties together at the front, exposing all her tan lines.