ROT WITH ME

ii - drunk

CHAPTER TWO

Camilla arrived with Oliver by her side, swiftly paying a two-hundred pound bail as the prisoners practically fell out of their cells. An officer shoved a bin in their faces as they immediately grabbed their phones before walking out without a backwards glance. Fervent footsteps pounding against the cobblestoned streets of Brighton.

Theo was already on a call with his mother, rapidly spitting out how they had all gotten to this point. How he was wrongfully placed in cuffs and how all cops were corrupt. Mei nodded along with his rambling although her arrest seemed to be with reason.

Cold wind infected the air, seeping through the cotton coat June had thrown around her shoulders. Camilla and Oliver seemed to be in a deep conversation. As Mei and Alex started yelling in thick southern accents, acting as though the lamppost a couple blocks ahead was a person that had just insulted their mothers.

Alara slipped out headphones and plugged her ears with them to drown the noise out. Theo had handed the phone to Rafe who was reassuring his mother that her son was fine.

But then his voice dropped an octave. June discreetly glanced at him, he sounded serious from what was audible but his face betrayed him. A smile peeked from his mouth and lit up his eyes. Theo on the other-hand was holding in his laughter. She wondered what he was whispering into the phone and liked how expressive he was.

Sometimes June felt like the only emotions she could really feel was frustration and wrath but even then it would die almost instantly. Like a victims last words. A pleading phrase. Then... gone.

When she continued to walk - distracted by the heavenly lull Rafe's voice exuded in the background of her own cynical thinking - she was startled by a cracking sound from beneath her Mary Janes. Choking on a little yelp that came from within her throat as his gaze flicked to her for a mere moment.

She tilted her head away, self-consciously grinding a strand of her hair between her index finger and thumb as if she hadn't almost screamed.

Alex moved towards her and patted her back, still pretending to be a middle aged man who loves his horses more than his wife. "You alright, darling?"

She felt sick to her stomach.

When June didn't reply, Mei intervened.

"Armed and ready!"

Alex saluted at Mei before hooking his other arm with hers. "Come on, solider-"

Rafe smiled at the pair, the wind seemingly blowing him closer to June before he lowered his voice so only she could hear him. "Are you okay?" his soft tone was scratchy, soothing. She glared up at him, in the corner of her eye she saw Theo approach a lonely Alara.

"Why do you care?" she mumbled, looking back down at the pavement.

"Look," he sighed one of those sighs someone would do before going on a long rant about how the economy was falling apart and global warming would be the end of humanity. "I know I've been acting immature and ignoring you but no hard feelings, right? You were drunk and I'm sure you've sobered up enough to realize that what went down in there was childish."

June inhaled deeply, eyes stinging. She wasn't drunk. Again, she stayed silent. Things wouldn't end well if she opened her mouth. Oliver and Camilla laughed in the distance at something Mei said. Reminding her once again that they weren't alone, she fidgeted with her fingers. Rafe took her silence as a no.