𝘿𝙍𝙄𝙁𝙏𝙀𝙍𝙎 BOOK TWO || 𝐑𝐚𝐟𝐞 + 𝐉𝐉 𝐎𝐁𝐗 𝐅𝐢𝐜

𝔚𝔥𝔢𝔯𝔢 𝔇𝔬 𝔚𝔢 𝔊𝔬 𝔑𝔬𝔴?

ᴺᴼᵂ ᴾᴸᴬᵞᴵᴺᴳ : Dark Paradise - Lana Del Rey

⇄ ◃◃ ⅠⅠ ▹▹ ↻

0:16 ———|———— -4:03

𝒯𝒽𝑒𝓇𝑒'𝓈 𝓃𝑜 𝓇𝑒𝓁𝒾𝑒𝒻, 𝐼 𝓈𝑒𝑒 𝓎𝑜𝓊 𝒾𝓃 𝓂𝓎 𝓈𝓁𝑒𝑒𝓅

𝒜𝓃𝒹 𝑒𝓋𝑒𝓇𝓎𝒷𝑜𝒹𝓎'𝓈 𝓇𝓊𝓈𝒽𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝓂𝑒, 𝒷𝓊𝓉 𝐼 𝒸𝒶𝓃 𝒻𝑒𝑒𝓁 𝓎𝑜𝓊 𝓉𝑜𝓊𝒸𝒽𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝓂𝑒

𝒯𝒽𝑒𝓇𝑒'𝓈 𝓃𝑜 𝓇𝑒𝓁𝑒𝒶𝓈𝑒, 𝐼 𝒻𝑒𝑒𝓁 𝓎𝑜𝓊 𝒾𝓃 𝓂𝓎 𝒹𝓇𝑒𝒶𝓂𝓈

━━━━•❃°•°❀°•°❃•━━━━

"I'm not mad at you." Sarah reassured her, as they sat on Isla's couch cross-legged.

She had called her over desperately as soon as she could charge her phone, begging to apologise. Surprisingly, Sarah had arrived with a bottle of rosé in hand and hugged her tightly. Isla had simply broken down into sobs in her arms. Now, they were sat in her living room, and with every breath Isla took she relived every minute of pain Rafe and JJ had put her through.

Isla's eyes flashed to meet hers. "Really?" Exhaling deeply, tapping ash off of her cigarette feverishly.

"Maybe a little bit, but..." She sighed, "mostly because you've been hurting all this time and you never thought you could trust me."

Isla shook her head, biting at her cuticles, watching the smoke spiralling from her fingers in the dimly lit kitchen. "I just didn't know, how to tell you." She admitted. "I don't know Sarah, freshman summer vacation some things happened between us and ever since I just, I can't go through that again."

"Go through what?" Sarah looked confused.

"Being best friends with you whilst trying to hide from your brother the King of the Kooks. I was so embarrassed I mean your brother completely rejected me."

"I mean, I'm pretty sure I always knew..." Sarah shrugged. "I mean, the way he looked at you all the time... He just, I don't think, it just doesn't sound like Rafe, the way he's been since that Summer is so strange. And the amount of times he's interrogated me over you..."

Isla closed her eyes, tilting her head back against a pillow. She thought of how he had looked tonight. His hair a mess, his words like a tainted dream turned into a nightmare. "I think I loved him..."

"Do you still?" Sarah searched her best friends gaze for an answer.

"I don't think I can let myself."

"That's not how love works." Sarah spoke gently.

"I know, but Sarah, the humiliation and the amount of time it took to recover - and even now after all this time I still think about it all the damn time. Every moment I felt close to him, every time he made me feel like – It doesn't matter anymore... I'm just so sorry that I lied to you."

Sarah responded with a squeeze of her hand. "I'm only sorry that he hurt you." She whispered, brushing a tear from Isla's cheek. "I know, that he's complicated but he does really care about you. I know he does."

Isla shook her head. "I don't think so Sar, I don't think you could do the things that he did, if you really care about someone."

She nodded, understanding immediately. "He took you to the cabin didn't he..."