𝐂𝐎𝐍𝐅𝐋𝐈𝐂𝐓𝐄𝐃─𝐨𝐮𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐛𝐚𝐧𝐤𝐬

one hundred ten.

─☼☼☼─

CHARLOTTE WAS THE  first one up the next morning, and she was thankful for that. After a long night of drinking, smoking, and celebrating, she needed time to nurse her raging hangover without being made fun of by the others.

The sun was just beginning to peak over the horizon, casting a golden haze against the sky as Charlotte sat on the porch, warm cup of coffee in hand. She inhaled deeply, the smell of salt water being carried by the rippling winds. She knew what that meant, and knew the others would too when they awoke. 

A storm was brewing somewhere across the Atlantic, lending itself to the perfect surfing conditions. Charlotte smiled to herself, knowing the day ahead was sure to be exciting. 

This was something she didn't get when she was away at school. There was nothing and no where like the Outer Banks. But maybe because the Outer Banks was where the Pogues were...where her family was. And that was what made it that much more. Carson never got it, and now he never would. Charlotte felt bad for him in a sense, never getting to experience all that this place could be. 

As her breakup flitted across her mind, so did something else. Someone else. And before she could stop herself, Charlotte found herself reaching for her phone. 

Her fingers shook slightly, likely from her hangover and lack of sleep and perhaps a bit of anxiety, as she clicked on her photos app, opening the album she had been avoiding for the past year. When she clicked on it, she was inundated with pictures of Rafe.

A year ago, she hadn't even been able to think of him without feeling such an overwhelming sadness that she truly wanted to die. That feeling was still there as she scrolled through their entire relationship in the form of snapshots, but it was much less minimal. She scrolled all the way to the start, a photo of them at a party when they were freshmen. They'd just started dating. Rafe still had braces, and Charlotte had apparently such discovered eyeliner. But the way they looked at each other in the photo...

Charlotte always wondered when it started to go wrong. She'd thought back so many times trying to decipher when her Rafe became someone she barley knew. But she could never really figure it out, and she knew that even if she could it would make no difference. 

The drugs were what destroyed him, and she knew that until the day he was completely clean, he would never be her Rafe again. 

A stabbing pain filled her chest as she swiped through their memories. This was the first time in a year she'd been able to look at his face. Each picture hurt more than the last. Each reminder of what they were destroyed her more and more. 

A year had passed, she should have moved on...but Charlotte wasn't sure if she ever could. Even when she was old and grey, Charlotte Carrera knew she would never stop loving Rafe Cameron. Until her dying day, he was the love of her life, whether he was in it or not. 

Every day, she wondered what Rafe was doing, if he was okay. He'd never even tried to talk to her after that day she walked out of Tannyhill twelve months ago. Not a text or phone call...nothing. 

There was a time when Charlotte feared that he was dead. But all along he had been okay...he'd just been ignoring her. Pretending that she never existed. And that hurt Charlotte more than she cared to admit. 

"Morning, Charley."

She jumped slightly, quickly setting her phone down before turning to the source of the voice.