Eight | W2S

TWENTY EIGHT.

HARRY.

It had been two very long days by the time I'd finally dragged myself out of my apartment, and it was for two reasons.

One. I was getting sick and tired of both my housemates knocking on my door and checking on me every half an hour. Even though they were unaware of the reason I'd been acting differently, they weren't stupid. They'd noticed straight away, and the welfare checks were never ending.

Two. I needed to talk to somebody. And the one person I thought would get it lived outside of London and had a child, so I couldn't exactly force him to come and see me.

Which led me to right now, pulling up onto Ethan's driveway, noticing that it was a full house.

I had no clue if Faith knew about Kenzie and I. When we were — together, if you could call it that, Kenzie had repeatedly told me she hadn't mentioned it to anyone, but maybe I was foolish to think that included Faith. Those two were inseparable.

My entrance garnered attention, because their dogs started howling, and as soon as I turned off the engine and the gate closed, Ethan made his own appearance, shading his eyes from the blaring sun behind me.

"Come on, mate," he said gently, and that was when it hit me.

He knew.

I said nothing for the time being, trying to act as normal as possible.

Did that mean Faith knew? How had Kenzie told her?

"Ethan —" I started, before we were even in the house.

"Tell me when we're inside," he replies, holding the door open for me, and sure enough I walk into the house.

"It's a bit of a mess, sorry," he apologises, making room for me on the sofa. It's now that I realise Faith is stood in the corner of the room, looking anxious.

"Alright?" I ask, acknowledging her.

She shakes her head. "I can assume why you're here, and we don't know where she is either," she tells me, and even though she doesn't mention her name, I know exactly who she means.

"Wait — what?" I ask, incredibly confused. "You don't know where she is?"

Ethan shook his head. "We thought you knew, man. Did you two have a fight or something? You're always so close," he says, and I was wrong earlier.

He doesn't have a clue. Faith hasn't told him — or maybe she doesn't know either.

"Are you sure she's not at her apartment?" I ask, avoiding Ethan's question, scratching my head, trying to think rationally before panicking.

"No. We checked with her neighbours, she's not there," Faith says, and now I truly look at her I realise her face is written with worry.

"One of her neighbours said they saw her leave with a suitcase and another man — ow!" Ethan says, but is interrupted by a kick on the leg by Faith.

She definitely knew, and he definitely didn't.

"— I'm sure it was a friend," Faith adds, trying to lighten the situation, but the optics looked pretty shit.