𝐂𝐎𝐍𝐅𝐋𝐈𝐂𝐓𝐄𝐃─𝐨𝐮𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐛𝐚𝐧𝐤𝐬

one.

─☼☼☼─

𝙊𝙉 𝙏𝙃𝙀 𝙎𝙀𝘾𝙊𝙉𝘿 day of summer break, Charlotte Carrera found herself standing in her childhood bedroom, eyes lingering as she stood with a series of suitcases at her feet.

She thought that coming back to Kildare Island for summer break was going to be a good thing─ hell, she had looked forward to it almost all year. But now that she was here, it didn't feel so good.

 As if mocking her displeasure in returning home, Hurricane Agatha had ripped through the island just days before, meaning Charlotte was returning to a disaster in more ways than one.

The Carrera house was rather unscathed. Aside from their need for a generator, everything appeared to be just as it was the last time Charlotte had been back in Kildare County.

Everything in her bedroom was the exact way she left it the last time she was home for spring break ─ except for the fact that Kiara had clearly been in her closest at one point.

But aside from that minor change, everything was the same.

Which meant that her room was encased with the past. Because the last time she had been in this house ─ this room ─ she had still been with Rafe.

Shifting slightly, the girl's eyes landed on a picture frame that sat atop her bedside table, and instantly she felt her heart droop slightly.

Moving quietly toward it, Charlotte picked it up and glanced down at the picture of her and Rafe from senior prom. He looked miserable ─ like he often did when forced to take a serious photo ─ but beneath his scowl, Charlotte could see the small smile.

It had been her favourite picture of the two of them. Now, to be quite honest, she hated it. It was never real anyway. The hair, the makeup, the dress. That wasn't who she really was...that was just who Rafe wanted her to be.

For four years, Charlotte busted her ass to be the perfect girlfriend...the perfect Kook. She had to work ten times harder than anyone else ─ her family's quasi "in between" status making it hard to feel like she really fit in.

Even if she was accepted into the Kook, was she really? Or were they gossiping about her behind her back? Wishing that she would scurry off to the cut and be out of their way?

Rafe made her feel like she fit in. Even if he was one of─if not the biggest ─douchebag on the entire island, he treated her rather well. Most of the time he acted as if she had no ties to the Pogues at all. She tried to avoid reminding him that she did, in fact, have rather rooted connections with the less well off.

So, when she lost Rafe, Charlotte wondered if she had somehow lost her spot among the Kooks as well.

The breakup (or the disaster as Charlotte had named it) had happened two months prior. And despite the fact that she had since completed her first year of college and returned back home, somehow the disaster still felt like the most prevalent thing in her life.

What hurt the most was knowing that Rafe could not have given less of a shit about the breakup. In fact, he seemed to be living his best life without Charlotte by his side.

Whatever. Charlotte thought on a daily basis. I can do way better, anyway....right?

"You're home!"