𓇼 Chapter Two

     After a long few hours of getting ready and cleaning the house, Scarlett was finally at her unofficial second home, the Cameron's house.

Even though Rafe unsurprisingly wasn't there, Scarlett still liked spending her evenings there since she was close with everyone in the house.

And today that someone she was spending her evening with was Sarah Cameron. Even if she will never admit it, she has a huge girl crush on her just won't own up to the feeling since she's with Rafe.

"You missed a hell of a party, Scar." Sarah spoke from the other end of the couch they were setting at.

"Yeah?" Scarlett questioned with an intrigued look going Sarah's direction.

"Yeah. Topper almost drowned John B until JJ pulled a gun on him. It was a great party!" Sarah said with clear sarcasm in her voice.

"JJ's so stupid." Scarlett sighed to herself and grabbed her phone and began looking for JJ's contact. "I have to make a call real quick, is that okay?"

"Yeah of course. I'll be here." Sarah smiled to her and Scarlett gave her a small smile back before walking outside to call her cousin.

     "Hello?" JJ greeted with a tone that let Scarlett know he had just woken up because of her call.

     "JJ, what the fuck we're you thinking? First, you steal a gun from a crime scene and that wasn't enough for you so you pull the same gun at someone during a party? Have you lost your mind?" Scarlett scolded.

     "Since when do you care about what I do?" JJ asked and Scarlett began pacing a little in the front yard due to her frustration with him.

     "You can't just pull a gun on someone and expect me not to complain about it." Scarlett spoke.

     "He was trying to drown John B. You weren't even there so try and figure out the whole story before you decide to bitch at me." JJ stated before hanging up.

     Scarlett looked down at her phone then put it in her back pocket before walking back to the living room.

     "What was that about?" Sarah asked and Scarlett made a fake smile and quickly made up a lie in her head. This was the one bad habit she had, she could make up a believable lie at any given time.

     "Oh, it was just my dad. Him and Aria want Rafe over for dinner and now I have to talk him into that." She lied so that she kept her promise with the pogues.

     "Yeah, good luck with that, Scar. We can barely get Rafe to have dinner over here." She informed her.

     "I think he'll see it my way." Scarlett stated then grabbed her phone out of her pocket to make it look like she was texting Rafe but was actually texting JJ to ask where he was. She didn't end up getting a response.

     "You must have him wrapped around your finger" Sarah told her.

     "Only took me twelve years." Scarlett joked.

"You know, Rafe hasn't been home for a few days, do you know where he is?" Sarah asked.

"Nope. But I have a pretty good idea." Scarlett replied and Sarah nodded. "Actually, I should probably go get him so he isn't late to dinner. I'll be back in a bit."

"Okay sounds good." Sarah said and Scarlett gave a small goodbye wave before leaving the Cameron's house.

     Scarlett quickly walked out to her car, first driving to JJ's house to look for him.

     But, he wasn't there, so her next trip was a small one to John B's where she found him along with the other pogues who all went silent when they saw her.

     "Scarlett, what are you doing here?" JJ asked.

     "JJ, give me the gun." Scarlett instructed.

     "What? No. Are you crazy?" JJ questioned as he backed away from her.

     "Wait, JJ. She could be useful." John B stated and Scarlett let out a scoff at the comment.

     "Useful? What do you take me for? An object?" Scarlett questioned and they all ignored her.

     "Think about it, she's pretty close with the Cameron's, she could distract them while I get the scuba gear, and all you have to do in return is give her the damn gun." John B explained to JJ.

     JJ sent her a look to see if she agreed. "Just give me the gun so you stay out of trouble and I can try my best to distract them." Scarlett told him.

     "Deal." JJ said handing her the gun.

     "Why do you guys need to steal scuba gear from the Cameron's anyway?" Scarlett asked and they all began looking at each other for someone to answer.

     "You know what, I don't even care." Scarlett stated. "They're about to have lunch outside in an hour, go then. I will text you when they're not paying attention."

     "Okay, cool." John B answered and Scarlett nodded before going back to her car, throwing the gun in her glovebox then quickly driving back to the Cameron's.

Since she made a few pit stops, she got there just in time for lunch to start as she noticed they were already at the outside table.

"Hey, so sorry I was running late, I had to run a few errands for my dad." Scarlett spoke to Rose that she met in the kitchen away from everyone else.

"No worries, we we're just starting." Rose smiled and the two girls walked out to the rest of the Cameron's.

"Hey, Scarlett, did you find Rafe?" Sarah asked, referring to their conversation earlier.

"Yeah, he's with Barry, I told him to just meet me at my house later for dinner. I didn't want to bother him while he's with a friend." Scarlett replied as she sat in the cheer beside Sarah and Wheezie.

"I'm shocked you could get him at dinner." Ward commented to the raven haired girl,

"That's exactly what I told her." Sarah told her father, getting them into a conversation.

This was when Scarlett saw John B and gave him texted him when to go. Shortly after, she texted him when to leave and her work there was done.

A few hours had passed since Scarlett had lunch with the Cameron's and Scarlett was now setting the table for dinner while texting Rafe over and over.

She was beginning to think he wasn't coming until she heard a knock on her door that she ran to answer.

"Hey." She smiled at him in relief that he actually kept his word and came over.

"Hey, Scar." He greeted and placed a small kiss on her forehead. He hadn't done any gestures like that (or even be calm for that matter) in a while.

"Why are you in such a good mood?" Scarlett asked him with a small pink flush on her cheeks that went away the second he took off his hat, revealing his eyes.

They were red. Redder than she'd ever seen them.

"Just happy to see you." He smiled to her.

"Right." She forced a smile. "Can you maybe keep this on, though?" Scarlett asked him while reaching his hat closer to him and he took it.

"You want me to meet your step-mom in a hat?" Rafe questioned and Scarlett gave him a small nod once she saw her parents coming closer. Luckily, he had put the hat on just in time.

"Hello, Rafael." Her father greeted him.

"Nice to see you again." Rafe spoke and her father gave him a nod and small smile.

"Hi, Rafe. I'm Aria, Scarlett's step-mom. It's nice to finally meet you." Aria greeted him and stuck her hand out for him to shake.

"Hi. You too." Rafe answered.

"Okay, great you've met, now dinner?" Scarlett said. Now that she knew Rafe was high, she was doing what ever she could to make things go by quicker.

     After she said that, everyone sat down at the table. The fanciest of their plates were already filled with the food prior with silverware beside them.

     "Excuse me for a second while I go get the napkins." Scarlett's father announced to the table, making a small stop by Scarlett before getting them.

     "Next time you bring your boyfriend over for dinner, make sure he's not high." Her father whispered to her and she sat back uncomfortably in her seat.

     And after about thirty minutes of small talk the dinner was over. It didn't go as bad as Scarlett thought since Rafe only spoke when spoken too and didn't have any complaints. (Probably because he was high)

     "I'm going to drive Rafe home, I'll be back soon." Scarlett told them while her and Rafe were about to walk out the door and leave.

     "Be safe." Aria told her before she left.

     "Scar, I can get home myself." Rafe told her.

     "Yeah, if I let you go home yourself, you'll get lost and somehow end up at Barry's house." Scarlett scoffed and opened the passenger car door for Rafe.

     "I can't even drive?" Rafe asked.

     "Definitely not." Scarlett replied to him.

     Once Scarlett got home again, she laid in bed with her headphones on, hoping that her father was already asleep and wouldn't be yelling her for Rafe's bad habit.

     She realized that she thought wrong when she heard a knock on her do. "Come in." She sighed.

     "Scar, I'm not going to yell at you. I just have one question." He stated after setting on the edge of her bed. She took out her headphones to show she was listening.

     "How long has Rafe been using?" He asked.

     "I have no clue." She lied.

     "Well, I really hope that he betters himself." He told her and she nodded in agreement.

     "Me too." She replied. "Goodnight, dad. Love you." She spoke again, even though she wasn't going to bed, she just didn't want him to keep questioning her.

     "Night. Love you." He told her before going out of the room and Scarlett put her headphones back on.

     While listening to music, Scarlett began to think about what her dad said. Rafe bettering himself? She knew that wasn't going to happen and now she knew what she had to do.

     She turned off her music then unplugged her headphones, then went to her contacts to look for Rafe's number that she quickly found.

     She called and watch it ring over and over again until being met with his voicemail.

     Maybe him not answering was a sign. Maybe that meant she shouldn't break up with him. Maybe there's still hope for their relationship.

     That's what Scarlett wanted to believe at least. But, it wouldn't take a genius to know that none of that is true.

     And instead of trying to call him again or sending him a text, Scarlett decided to just sleep it off like all of her other problems she had.

Author's Notes 𓇼 If you didn't see my announcement from a few days ago, Monday is the new official publish day for this fic! See you next Monday :)