─☼☼☼─

𝙄𝙏 𝙃𝘼𝘿 𝘽𝙀𝙀𝙉 one full day since Ward Cameron died, and everything felt different. 

A heaviness hung in the air, not necessarily in mourning of him, but in those who lost him. Sarah, Wheezie, Rafe, hell even Rose, they all weighed heavy on Charlotte's heart. 

Even Tannyhill seemed different as she pulled into the driveway as dusk settled along the Outer Banks. 

Just a day ago she had stood on this property and watch a man die. 

But today, today she was here to support a boy who she was sure desperately needed it. 

Rafe had been released earlier that day, Ward's confession that took responsibility for all the crimes essentially cleared Rafe's name. It was true in some respect, because as Charlotte had maintained since the beginning, Ward Cameron was responsible for everything that happened in one way or another. 

Approaching the front door, a heaviness settled on Charlotte's chest. She wasn't sure what to say to Rafe, just like she hadn't been sure what to say to Sarah. 

When Rafe's mother had died, they were kids, meaning Charlotte hadn't been expected to really say anything. 

But they weren't kids anymore. So she needed to figure it out─and soon. 

The doorbell chimed throughout the house, echoing into Charlotte's ears as she tried to rehearse a monologue. She knew that the minute she stood in front of Rafe, everything she had meant to say would vanish, but she should at least try. 

It was Rose who opened the door and interrupted Charlotte's internal freakout. She assumed that the staff had been sent away when all of this started. Why else would Rose be opening the door right now?

Her face was place, eye makeup slightly smudged, but aside from that she looked rather put together. 

"Hi-hi." Charlotte stuttered out, already at a loss of what to say. "How are you?"

How are you? Good one Charlotte. 

Rose gave her a polite smile, understanding the sentiment. "Hi, Charlotte."

"I'm sorry about your loss, Rose." She admitted softly. "I truly am."

Letting out a small sigh, the widow nodded, "Thank you, sweetie. That means a lot."

Silence fell for a moment, and Charlotte wasn't sure if she was expected to give Rose a hug or not. She was really new to this whole mourning over a man who you sort of hated thing. 

"Rafe's upstairs. I think he's in Ward's closet looking around." Rose finally said, nodding toward the staircase. "I know he would love to see you."

Stepping into the house, Charlotte gave Rose a small smile. "Thank you." She whispered. 

The house somehow seemed empty. It had been ransacked a couple days prior by police, and now its patriarch was absent. Charlotte was sure the family felt it too. 

The floorboards creaked under her steps as she ventured upstairs. Her eyes snagged on the doors to Ward's office, and she felt a lump rise in her throat. She may have hated him when he died, but at one point, Ward Cameron had been like a second father to her. 

Pushing away the thoughts, Charlotte stepped into the master bedroom, her attention drawn to the walk in closet, light seeping out from within. Silently, she walked toward it, peeking her head in to see Rafe standing in front of the mirror, one of his father's jackets adorning his body. 

"Hey." She said softly, attempting not to startle him too severely. 

Rafe paused, his eyes flickering up to meet Charlotte's through the mirror. His expression softened, relief flooding his face. "Lottie."

Her name had barely left his lips by the time she had moved across the room, pulling him into a tight hug. Rafe melted into her, clutching onto her as he buried his face into her hair. She was silent as she held onto him, letting him quietly cry. 

Neither of them wanted to let go, and for a long while, they didn't. 

When they finally did, Rafe's eyes were red-rimmed and full of sadness, "I'm happy you're here." He whispered, voice wobbling slightly. 

Charlotte nodded, reaching out to wipe away his tears, "Of course." She said softly, hand lingering on his cheek for a moment. 

Rafe's Adam's apple bobbed as his eyes flickered toward the window, "Rose said that─she said that you were there when it happened...that you saw it all."

The memory from the previous day struck her heart as she let out a breath. "Yeah." She answered, voice hoarse. 

He now studied her with worry, their roles shifting. "Are you okay?"

Charlotte felt her heart pull toward him as she smiled a sad smile, "I'm supposed to be asking you that...don't worry about me, Rafe."

"I always worry about you."

Looking up at him with sad eyes, Charlotte pushed a piece of hair from his face. "I know what you mean." She whispered. And she did. Charlotte Carrera worried about Rafe Cameron every single day of her life. 

His eyes flickered to her lips, and for a moment it seemed that he was going to kiss her. Just two days ago Charlotte had begged him to leave, to forget her, but now here they were, back in their vicious cycle. 

He didn't kiss her though, but instead spoke. "Can you stay?" He wondered, voice broken. 

She couldn't say no, even if she had wanted to.

"Absolutely." She nodded, their faces still hovering closer to each other than they probably should have been. "Do you guys have dinner plans? I could make something." She offered, knowing the last thing on any of their minds was what they were going to eat. 

Smiling, Rafe spoke. "That would be amazing. I know Rose would really appreciate that."

"Okay." Charlotte returned the smile, "Why don't we see if Wheezie wants to come help?"

She had yet to see Wheezie since everything had gone down, and she could only imagine how hard all of this must have been for her. First she lost her sister, then her sister came back, then her brother got arrested, then her father died, then her brother came back. If Charlotte didn't know better, she would have thought that somehow Ward was coming back next to keep up with the trend. 

"Hey, Lottie?" Rafe said, catching Charlotte's arm as she went to leave the room. "Thank you for being here." 

Warmth flooded her chest as she gave him a sincere smile. "Of course. I'm here as long as you need."

─☼☼☼─

"Is this enough cheese?" Wheezie wondered, looking across the counter at Charlotte who was in the middle of mixing up a salad. 

The older girl looked up, slapping Rafe's hand away as he reached for a handful of shredded cheese. "It will be if you brother keeps his hands to himself." 

Grinning, Rafe moved his hands away from the cheese, and instead to Charlotte's waist, standing behind her as she cooked. 

Charlotte froze, knowing she shouldn't let this happen, but the fact that he was grieving echoed in her head, louder than the responsible thoughts.

"Are you two back together?" Wheezie wondered, noting the way that the two older teens were acting like they used to when they were dating─when they were happy together. 

"No." Charlotte answered instantly, moving away from Rafe with a smile that she hoped would remedy her rejection. "Just friends...right, Rafe?"

Throwing his head back, the oldest Cameron boy groaned. "Just friends." He gritted out, reaching for a handful of cheese as if to spite Charlotte. 

She rolled her eyes, throwing the tea towel at him. "That's coming off your pizza."

"Everything okay in here?" Rose asked, appearing in the kitchen with a slightly worried expression. She hadn't heard this kind of happiness in the house for quite a while.

Wheezie nodded, picking up at handful of flour before launching it at her brother. "Great." She answered, turning to Rose with an innocent smile. 

Charlotte's eyes widened as Rafe paused, a look of shock covering his face, almost shielded by the dusting of flour that was now coating the upper part of his body. The Carrera girl was partly afraid he was about to blow up at his younger sister. Rose seemed to share a similar fear, as she too was watching him with wide eyes. 

But he didn't. 

Instead, he let out a laugh as he shook his head. "Oh, bring it on."

Somehow, it was Charlotte who got the face full of flour next, courtesy of her wonderful ex-boyfriend. Rose ran for the hills the minute the second shot was fired, which left the three kids in a flour battle with each other. 

Truthfully, it was some of the most fun Charlotte had had in weeks, and it made her remember how much she loved spending time with Rafe and Wheezie. The three of them had had some pretty fun movie nights back in the day, or nights spent in the kitchen making dinner just like they were right now. 

It was almost surreal how different life was now. 

Back then, they were just three kids with nothing to worry about besides their mark on the latest math test, or what someone said about their new haircut. It had never been about theft, death, or lies. It had been simple. 

Charlotte hoped that for Wheezie, it could at least remain that simple in the tiniest of ways. She had lost her father, but she didn't need to lose everything. So, in that moment, Charlotte vowed to find a way to be there for Wheezie, and more importantly, she planned to help Rafe be there for her. Now was his time to step up...his time to do better. 

─☼☼☼─

"Double cheeseburger, no tomatoes." Charlotte announced, placing the burger down in front of Rafe with a smile, "Oh, and extra fries."

He gave her a lazy smile, looking down at the burger, "Have I ever told you you're perfect?"

She shrugged, untying her apron before sitting down next to him. "Once or twice, I'm sure."

Thirty minutes prior, he had walked into The Wreck looking like he'd had next to no sleep and a hell of a day. Charlotte didn't want to pry, well actually she did but she knew that wasn't very nice, so instead she had offered to make him some food. 

With his eyes lingering for a moment, Rafe picked at a couple fries, taking a sip of his soda before speaking. "We can't find the money." He explained, not meeting her eye for a moment. "The gold...Rose isn't sure where it is."

"Oh." Charlotte wasn't entirely sure what to say. In fact, she was pretty shocked that he was sharing their financial situation with her, especially when it had to do with the gold that his father had stolen from her friends. 

Drumming his fingers on the table for a second, Rafe shook his head, a certain anger in his eyes. "Between you and me, I'm pretty sure she's lying."

Confusion swept over Charlotte as she watched him. It was no secret that he wasn't Rose's biggest fan, but even she thought this was a rather absurd accusation. "I really don't think she'd do that to you guys." She argued, noting the way Rafe's face twitched when she disagreed with him. "Do you think she'd just take all the money and run for the hills?"

He shrugged, taking a bite of his burger before responding. "I don't know. But what I do know is that she has no loyalty to us now that our dad's gone."

"She's Wheezie and Sarah's legal guardian." Charlotte argued. "She can't just up and leave them."

Dark eyes flickering toward her, Rafe answered quickly. "She's not mine. Nothing to say she won't screw me over."

Sighing, Charlotte reached across the table and took one of his hands. "Can I give you some advice?"

He looked down at the joined hands for a moment before nodding. 

"Stop thinking everyone is out to get you, Rafe. Try to work with people...see how far that gets you. You need your family right now." Her voice was soft as she spoke, sympathy dripping from her words. 

"I told you," Rafe argued, Adam's Apple bobbing in his throat, "I need you. 

With a tight smile on her face, Charlotte pulled her hand away, "And you have me...for now. But I'll be going back to school next semester, and besides, Rafe, we're still not back together."

"Yet."

She gave him a look before stealing one of his fries. "You know my conditions...don't push it."

"So as soon as I'm clean you'll take me back?" The hope in his eyes was that of a young boy believing that he could get whatever he wanted. 

"Not exactly." Charlotte argued, her phone dinging in her pocket to alert a text. 

Rafe furrowed his brows, "Not exactly?"

With a deep exhale, Charlotte leaned back in her seat, phone dinging again. "Maybe we should just try being friends first, Rafe. I mean, we kind of went from hating each other to dating, we missed out on the being friends part."

"We were friends." He argued, "We used to hangout all the time when we were younger."

"Only because we were part of a big friend group...you and I were never really friends until we were something more." And it was true. Sure, the two of them were "friends" when they were in elementary and middle school because their friends were friends, but they had moved so quickly into something more, they skipped out on one of the most important stages. 

Groaning, Rafe dropped his head into his hands, "What, so you just expect me to be around you all day and not kiss you?"

A smirk had come to Charlotte's face as she nodded. "That's typically what friends do."

"You're torturing me." He muttered, eyes flickering to her lips.

"Good." She grinned, stealing another one of his fries. "I'm gonna be the best friend you have ever had."

Her phone dinged again, and Rafe's eyebrow shot up. "You going to get that?"

Taking a sip of Rafe's soda, Charlotte pulled out her phone to read the numerous texts from her younger sister. Apparently the history teacher at Kildare High had imparted some knowledge on the boys in the form of Denmark Tanny's diary. And while Charlotte couldn't argue that that was pretty interesting, her focus was on Rafe right now.

"What is it?" He wondered, leaning across the table to try to steal a glance at her phone. 

Shoving it back into her pocket, Charlotte gave him a look. "Kiara." She answered, "Wants me to go to the bon fire tonight." That wasn't a total lie, part of the text was an a plea for Charlotte to attend the annual bon fire with the Pogues. 

"Oh." Rafe nodded, leaning back in his seat. "You going?"

Giving him a small smile, she shook her head. "Don't think so. I'm pretty sure I have plans with a friend."

─☼☼☼─