𝐂𝐎𝐍𝐅𝐋𝐈𝐂𝐓𝐄𝐃─𝐨𝐮𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐛𝐚𝐧𝐤𝐬

one hundred four.

─☼☼☼─

IT WAS CLOSE to two in the morning by the time the Pogues finally called it a night. Carson had returned back to the house at some point, but Charlotte hadn't been bothered to go in and talk to him. After all, it had been months since she'd been able to celebrate with her best friends, she wasn't going to throw that away so she could go fight with her boyfriend...been there, done that.

When she stepped into her bedroom (that the Pogues had been saving for her return), Carson was sitting at the end of the bed, his phone in one hand, a beer in the other.

"Oh," Charlotte breathed, not expecting to see him awake. "Hey."

Carson glanced up at her, giving her the saddest excuse of a smile she'd ever seen. "Hey," he returned, voice thick.

Charlotte hovered in the doorway, still unsure of where they stood. "I thought you might be asleep. Why didn't you come outside with us?"

His answer was immediate, "Wasn't really in the mood." He was clutching onto his phone, so tightly his knuckles were turning white.

"Okay," Charlotte said hesitantly. "Where'd you go anyway?"

Clearing his throat, Carson downed the rest of the beer in his hand. "Went to get a drink at some bar." He let out a humourless laugh, giving his head a small shake. "You'll never guess who I ran into."

A sense of unease settled over Charlotte at his words. Anyone he already knew had been with her the entire time. He'd yet to meet Willa, and it was unlikely for her to be at a bar anyway, Mike and Anna wouldn't have been out at a bar either. That only left...no way.

"Who?" She questioned, trying to make it seem like her voice wasn't shaking.

Carson ran a hand over his mouth, his eyes crinkling in a smile, despite the fact that Charlotte could tell he didn't find this situation even remotely funny. "Guy's next to me when I sit down, right? And I start rambling about my problems, as one does, and all of a sudden he's pretty interested in who my girlfriend is."

Charlotte quite literally felt like she was about to throw up as Carson continued. "So, I ask him his name, right? But he won't tell me. Says some coy shit before disappearing. Well, that's not gonna work for me. So, I got back here, and while you were partying it up with your Pogues or whatever, I did some digging." He looked down at his phone, unlocking it before all but shoving it in Charlotte's face. "You can imagine my surprise when I find this photo on your Instagram,"

The room seemed to spin around her as Charlotte felt her face heat up as she stared at the picture he was showing her. It was one of the first pictures her and Rafe had taken together when they were fourteen. When nothing had even dared come between them.

Carson swiped to the next photo, "And this one." That was a more recent one, dated a year and a half prior. "And these ones too." His swiping sped up, flipping through numerous photos of Rafe and Charlotte over the years.

"It's the funniest thing," Carson muttered, pulling back his phone to look at it, "The guy in the bar looked exactly like your ex."

Charlotte wasn't sure exactly how she was supposed to feel, but she was pretty sure she wasn't supposed to feel relieved that Rafe was okay, that he was in the Outer Banks. But relieved is what she felt...and also a little pissed at Carson.