Only because you asked // Rafe Cameron

Chapter Twenty - Hope for normality

They had arrived back on the island not long after; they spent the rest of the time remaining in the basement of the boat so that they could both avoid Sarah.

Lana knew she should've spoken to her, and she was going to but she wanted to wait until they were alone; despite thinking through it for a while, she couldn't figure out why Sarah had been so mad at her because in the end, it's not like she knew anything for certain.

After getting off the boat and John B taking off to make his own way to Kie, Pope, and JJ to inform them of the news, the three of them made their way home together.

Sarah kept her distance from them, refusing to say a single word on their journey back. During her walking-in-silence, she tripped over a stick because she had been focusing too much on giving them the side eye rather than paying attention to what was in her way; Rafe's snorting and hysterical laughter had been the only noise made that whole time until Sarah picked up said stick to throw it at him, missing but her point had been made.

Arriving back to their houses had been the biggest relief to them and Sarah had marched her way to the front door to vanish out of their sight, but before she could, Lana decided to speak up now rather than later.

"Sarah," she called for her, her hand on the door handle and she slowly turned around to face Lana. "Can we talk?"

She thought about it for a second, her facial expressions indicating a definite 'no' but to her surprise it in fact was not. She stomped over to where Lana had been standing, the centre point between both their houses and stood with her arms crossed. Rafe knew this was his cue to leave, though he wasn't quite sure how to go about it.

He didn't just want to bid her farewell and be done with it, he felt differently now about his greetings and goodbyes and owed her something more than just a wave.

More importantly, he found himself wanting to kiss her, at least once more.

He wasn't entirely sure what they were, neither was she, but he left that for them to decide in the future; even if they decided to go back to holding knives at each other's throats, he knew he'd always regret it if he didn't kiss her at least once. This assured no regrets from him of that day, but now he just couldn't get enough, he wanted to kiss her again, and again, and again.

His thoughts came to a hold when Lana spoke up. "Bye," she blurted out, holding her hand out for a handshake.

She gave herself a mental slap on the forehead, wanting to shrivel up and evaporate into nothingness; it seemed like the only appropriate thing to do in front of Sarah.

This earned another silent snort from him, trying desperately to contain his laughter as he took her hand in his and shook it, walking back inside to the Cameron residence.

Once he was gone, it had been just the two of them. Lana didn't even know where to start, what to say, and she tried desperately to define the truth in her head.

"I'm sorry," she began, concluding that it was a good place to start. "I can explain everything, but I think it's best if you just ask me questions and I can answer them to the best of my ability."

Sarah raised an eyebrow. "To the best of your ability?"

Lana knew how it sounded; honestly she wasn't quite sure what to make of the situation herself.

"I promise you I have an answer for everything," she assured her, feeling the prickling sensation of water rushing to her eyes. Why was she about to cry? Deep down she had been so scared to lose Sarah; in reality it was a pathetic thing to stop being friends with someone for, but they had never been on the outs before and it terrified her. "You can say no," she told her, her hands filled with moisture from the sweatiness this caused her, "but you can stay over tonight and we can talk about it."