THE PICTURE OF YOU -rafe cameron-

054; surfing with jj

A few days had passed since Myra last saw Rafe. She had been preoccupied with surfing and working. The weather had been really nice, offering up some great waves which she couldn't say no to. Especially when her brother invited her to hang out. They had been drifting apart lately, unintentionally of course. JJ was hardly ever home, partially because of the feud he had going on with their dad over the restitution and partly because of the treasure hunting thing he was on with the rest of the pouges.

Myra had tried to keep herself busy during the days, but the thought of Rafe never really slipped her mind. It somewhat bothered her that he was nowhere to be found. She wasn't exactly looking for him, but she had found herself out by the golf course on her breaks. Yesterday she packed a bag and gone swimming down by his secret marsh spot on the cut. She rode her bike around figure eight and she even stopped by Barry's place to check it out. He wasn't there, neither was Rafe. So she wasn't exactly looking for the tall kook boy, no, but she kept her eyes open as she passed the places he would often hang out at.

A wave washed over Myra, drenching her blonde and knotted hair as she sat on her surfboard. "Hey, why didn't you catch that one?" JJ called out to her loudly as he paddled over, laying on his own board. Myra pulled her hands up to her face, dragging the wet hair back. "I wasn't ready" she simply shrugged, squinting her eyes in the brightness of the mid day. The summer heat was intense, the sun burning down each and every spot of Kildare island. JJ kept on paddling his hands in the water until he reached his younger sister, stopping by her. He sat up on his surfboard, eyeing her weirdly. "What's up with you today?" he asked, furrowing his eyebrows. Myra turned her gaze towards her older brother, letting it dance over him. He was rocking a few bruises, as per usual.

"Not much" Myra mumbled as an answer, once more shrugging her shoulders, "what's up with you?". JJ blinked his blue eyes, sensing his sister's unwillingness to talk, as per usual. One sibling held back while the other threw himself head first into every altercation. Ying and Yang, dumb and dumber, or something like that.

"I'm fine, you're obviously not" JJ pointed out as they swayed gently on their surfboards in the waves of the ocean. "You're fine? You've got like five fresh bruises Jay" Myra snapped back, her eyes wandering over his exposed skin. "Yeah so?" JJ shrugged, pointing his right index finger to a bruise on his left knee, "this one is from where I hit my knee trying to climb up onto Johnny's boat". He then moved on, pointing at a bruise further up his leg, "this one is also from the boat". Myra nodded slowly as she awaited him to list off all of his marks. "This one... I know know, I was drunk and I fell over like five times so it's surely from one of those times" JJ urged, pointing to a bruise on his arm before he moved onto one on his shoulder, "this is from falling over with the bike"

"And that one?" Myra asked after JJ didn't mention his last bruise. She pointed her index finger to a fading mark on his right cheek. If was small and the swelling had gone down, but it was still visible, the purple fading into a yellowish green. "That one, uhm yeah..." JJ trailed as he ran his fingers over the bruise, "that was dad". His words weren't as loud now and his gaze had wandered off. "You've been home to see dad?" Myra asked, a little surprised. "Yeah, you were at work and he needed help with the roof" JJ mumbled, gazing down at his hands as he reached forward to splash around in the water. "Did you fall of the roof?" Myra asked, trying to lighten the mood. JJ chuckled, nodding his head. "Yeah, let's just say that" he spoke, lifting his chin up to look at his sister. The both of them knew the truth, but they didn't feel the need to speak it out loud. It had just been some stupid argument between JJ and Luke and it had foolishly ended physically as it often did. JJ did his best to just push it away to the back of his mind, like it never happened. The bruise would soon be gone and so would the memory of it.

"Anyways, I'm fine as I said... bruises heal and disappear" JJ circled back, pulling his hands out of the warm water, "what's going on with you? You seem exceptionally cheerless". Myra furrowed her eyebrows, "cheerless? Is that even a word?". JJ scoffed, "of course it is". Myra wasn't convinced. "Is it really?" she questioned, wanting to avoid the topic that JJ was trying to get to. He wasn't totally lost, he understood that too. "It's a word Myra, I just told you, so now you tell me... why are you cheerless?" he insisted, seemingly very confident in the choice of words. "I wouldn't exactly view myself as cheerless" she hummed, still trying to mislead her brother. He wasn't buying it, not for a second. "I would" he argued, nodding his head firmly, "cheerless, downcast, gloomy, dispirited, dismal, singing theeee blueees"