RIPTIDE | Rafe Cameron

31. 𝘴𝘦𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘥 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘴𝘢𝘭𝘰𝘰𝘯

this is the second chapter in a double update, make sure to read 30 first!

SIDNEY MONROE
All I can smell is cleaning products.

I wipe my eyes with the back of my hands, slowly opening my eyes as I feel a throbbing pain, wishing I could reach for a pair of sunglasses due to the bright light above my head.

Quickly, I realise that I'm not at home, and looking down at my body I register that I'm in a hospital bed, wearing a hospital gown. There's various tubes connected to my body, and as I frantically try to wrack my brain for what happened for me to end up here, the last coherent memory I have is arguing with Topper at the Island Club.

"You're awake!"

I glance to my left to see Pope sitting beside me, who I hadn't expected to see, given my friends' reactions to seeing me breaking down in Rafe's arms yesterday. He's got a tentative smile, and he's holding a cup of coffee in his hand and he's sitting on one of those hard plastic chairs that make your back ache.

"What happened?" I mumble, attempting to sit up.

"Don't move too fast," Pope reaches his arms out to steady me, adjusting the pillows behind my head so that I can sit up comfortably, "Do you remember what happened last night?"

"I remember being at the Island Club, arguing with Topper, and that's where it ends." I mutter as he sits back down in his chair.

"Sid, you overdosed on cocaine last night," He tells me and my heart aches at his words, "You've been unconscious for almost twenty hours."

"You know about the coke?" I whisper, feeling my eyes well up.

"Yeah," He nods, "And JJ found you and brought you here."

"He saw me like that?" I reply, wiping tears from my cheeks.

"Yeah, and he was terrified." Pope tells me, placing his hand on top of mine.

I take a deep inhale of breath and look back at Pope, "He still hates me, doesn't he?"

"Sid, JJ could never hate you, he loves you too much," Pope assures me, "He spent most of last night listing all the ways he could kill Rafe for the state he's left you in."

My heart plummets, wondering if Rafe would've seen me like this, "Does Rafe know what happened?"

The look in Pope's eyes is nothing but sorrow as he answers, "He might, we told Sarah last night, so it just depends if she's told anyone else."

"So he could know," I sniff, "And he's chosen not to come?"

"Or he might not know, we only told Sarah." Pope assures me, playing devil's advocate.

"Do my family know?" I whisper, hating the idea of my parents trying to swoop in to save me from myself.

"We assumed you wouldn't want them to know," Pope explains, filling me with relief, "So Kie told them that you stayed at hers and your phone died."

"Thank you." I smile.

"It's okay, all of it's okay." He replies.

"You don't have to say that," I sigh, "I know I've put you all through so much pain, and John B might get the death penalty, and it's all my fault."

"Sid, none of this is your fault, and I don't know why you did coke, but I know it can't have been a straightforward decision," Pope says, "And I know that doing it wasn't a choice, it was a way out."

"I get these dreams, about what I saw at the airstrip, really vivid dreams, and they just wouldn't stop, until I started doing coke," I explain, "Rafe didn't know straight away, and he was so angry when he found out, he said that he didn't want it to ruin my life."