ROCK BOTTOM ~ Rafe Cameron // OC // JJ Maybank

forty eight.

Kiara was stirred from her sleep as she heard the front door open. She slowly opened her eyes, and realized it was Bexley coming in from outside.

Kiara yawned, sitting up, and whispering, "What's going on? Are the boys back?" What was she doing outside?

Bexley didn't meet her eye. She mumbled a low, "No," before making her way down the hall, and shutting herself into the bathroom.

Kiara frowned. She stood quietly, still careful to not wake Sarah. She glanced out the window, and narrowed her eyes. There was a light out there, on the ground.

It looked like a phone, she realized. Had Bexley dropped hers?

Kiara quickly went out to it, going up and grabbing the phone off the ground. She looked around, and noticed Bexley's car was in a different spot, and wondered why she'd moved it. Had she gone somewhere?

Getting back inside, Kiara went to knock on the bathroom door. "Bex? Hey, Bex, you dropped your phone outside."

Bexley didn't answer. Kiara heard the sink running.

She tried calling again, "Bex?"

When there was no reply again, Kiara risked trying the door. It was unlocked. She peeked inside.

Bexley was hunched over the sink, scrubbing her face clean with a washcloth.

Kiara shut the door behind her, concerned now. "Bexley, are you okay?"

Bexley pulled the rag from her face, and Kiara's eyes widened as she realized the girl had been crying. Horribly crying. Her eyes red and puffy, her face pale white.

"Oh god, what happened?" Kiara asked. "Is this about the boys?"

Bexley scrubbed the side of her face harshly with the washcloth, before turning away from Kiara, like she was embarrassed for the girl to see her at all.

"No."

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing," she choked. "I'm fine, Kie."

"You're not fine, what happened?"

"Nothing," she forced out. "I just want to be alone."

Kiara briefly wondered if she'd had a fight with JJ over the phone. Something was bothering her. Something bad.

"...You can talk to me," Kiara told her.

Bexley wiped her eyes.

"Tell me what's wrong," she tried to urge.

Bexley couldn't look at her. She shut her eyes, and kept wiping them with her sleeve. Finally, after a long moment of contemplation, she choked out, "Kiara...something happened."

Kiara's mind flashed back to the moved car. "Did you drive somewhere?"

"No."

Kiara got a terrible feeling in her stomach, watching how Bexley was struggling with this. What could prompt this reaction from her?

"Did something happen to the boys? Did they text you? Are they hurt?"

"No, it wasn't the boys," Bexley told her..

Kiara panicked more every moment that dragged by. "What was it, Bexley?"

"I went...to get something from my car, and..." Bexley looked down, like she was ashamed of herself. "I shouldn't have gone out alone. I just didn't want to wake you."

"What were you getting?"

"I couldn't find it," she mumbled. "Pope wanted a photo of the map I had, but I didn't even get to it." She kept looking away.