This is Me Trying ⭑ Rafe Cameron

sixty eight

CHAPTER SIXTY EIGHT
[68]
song: roman holiday by fontaines dc

The streets of Dubrovnik were packed with tourists and locals, both walking through the stony alleyways at a leisurely pace that Cassie couldn't get herself to match.

Rafe trailed quickly behind, his head in his phone as he read directions for the museum. He kept pulling on the back of her shirt, whispering to tell her to slow down.

"Cassie."

She didn't respond.

"Cas."

He caught up to her, reaching for her elbow and finally forcing her to stop. She looked back at him, blinking as though she'd forgotten he was there.

"Are we going the right way?" She asked plainly.

"Yes."

"Then what's the problem?"

"We don't even know if this woman knows anything, alright? Let's just— just chill out a second." Rafe said, a tinge of frustration in his voice.

The alleyway opened into a wider street ahead of them, sunlight shining between the old stone buildings. Tourists crowded around the shops, and a couple stopped in the street to take a picture of one another.

Standing in the middle of it all felt wrong, like she was intruding on people's vacations.

Cassie wiped the sweat off her upper lip with the back of her hand, before giving a lazy, breathless nod. She didn't notice how fast she was moving until she stopped and realized how hard she was panting.

She felt Rafe's hand on her back as he guided her through the crowd and out towards an open part of the area, where a large fountain sat in the center.

"Sit." He said, pulling out a wrought-iron chair at a cafe table. He sat down across from her, and she avoided his gaze.

Cassie huffed as she sat, the chair wobbling beneath her as she shifted her weight, its thin legs finding uneven footing between the stones beneath them.

"I feel like something's wrong." She spoke, shaking her head and biting at the hangnail on her thumb.

Rafe looked around, then back to Cassie as he studied her eyes. They darted around each individual who passed their table, studying them in milliseconds like she was trying to decide if they were Groff or not.

He couldn't help it. Her paranoia was becoming contagious. Every time someone walked past, his eyes followed them too, searching for a familiar face in a sea of tourists.

"I just feel like we're being watched, or something." She looked to Rafe now, her voice quiet and her eyes concerned. "Ever since we got here. Something has been off."

Rafe leans back in his chair and runs a hand over his head frustratedly. "I think you're being paranoid."

"Yeah, I think so too." She spoke with a bit of sharpness in her voice. "Yeah I think I have every right to be paranoid right now, Rafe."

"Groff has no idea we're here, alright?" Rafe leans forward in the table. "We have a leg-up right now. If we can talk to this Medici or whatever, she'll point us in the right direction and we'll have the element of surprise on our side. Okay? Okay, but we can't do that if we're being impulsive."