Only because you asked // Rafe Cameron

Chapter Thirty - Irritated

"You need to tell him," Sarah whined at her, loosening the cap of her water bottle.

Lana sighed, squinting her eyes at the sun as they continued walking to the Chateau. "Let it go Sarah," she told her, taking the hair-tie from her wrist to gather her hair into a bun, a few curly stands falling in front of her face.

"But you can't hide it from him forever, it's the wrong thing to do. He should know," she assured her, taking a sip of water.

Lana began to grow agitated, partially from the extreme heat conditions but also because of Sarah's 'advice'. "I don't want to," she murmured, closing her eyes in irritancy.

"He needs to know your feelings," she advised her, nodding her head in agreement with herself. "Why don't you wanna tell him?"

"Because there's no way he feels the same way," Lana exclaimed, standing still in one place as she let her rage consume her. "Stop trying because as soon as I tell him, he's not going to want to be with me anymore."

Sarah squinted her eyes, throwing her hands in the air. "What is wrong with you?" she shrieked at her, waiting for a reply but received nothing. "Why on earth do you think he's going to leave you?" Lana frowned in fury, trying to contain her anger. "He's in love with you Lana, and you're being stupid right now."

"You don't know that," she snapped, beginning to walk again, Sarah remaining.

"You're doing this again," Sarah told her, standing still as Lana walked away. "You're going to shut him out." Lana didn't stop. "You promised Lana," she called out, earning a halt from her. She turned around to face Sarah who stood helpless, Lana's expression blank. "You promised. You said you wouldn't hurt him."

She stood with her arms limp beside her, her eyebrows furrowed as she forged a look of heartbreak across to Lana. Sarah loved her more than she could say, more than she realised but this is what she classified as betrayal. This was the part where she truly began to feel hurt.

"That's not what I'm trying to do Sarah."

"Then what is it? You're so afraid but don't you realise that what he needs more than anything is for someone to love him?" she explained to her, growing frustrated at Lana's behaviour. "He's been through so much, and he's finally better. For once, I haven't seen his nose covered in white powder and his eyes, I look into them and I see my brother again." She stood in a tank full of fear and sadness, hoping so desperately for her point to make sense to her. "It's because of you," she told her, tilting her head. "How can you say he doesn't love you?"

Lana softened her gaze, wanting nothing more than to shut everything off. She knew she was acting tiresome and exasperating, and what Sarah didn't know was that she too was sick of herself.

Her attachment to Rafe had been tightened so much over the last few days that even thinking about the fact that she could be the one to drive him away broke her heart. It drove a mental knife through her heart as she contemplated what would happen if she scared him away, knowing it was too soon to admit anything of the sort. Everything he had confided in her about Maddy tore her into pieces. It only made her want to smother him with affection and the right attention, wanting to treat him the way he deserved to be treated because she knew that she was stuck in a place where it would frighten her to think that even a splinter of wood could hurt him.

"Love is a very strong word," she informed her, walking away as Sarah sped up to catch up with her.

"Its like you don't want him to feel that way about you," Sarah huffed, genuinely finding annoyance in her friend's thought process.

"Stop it," Lana snapped, once again standing still as she darted her eyes towards Sarah. "Just stop."

Sarah turned her gaze to the ground, nodding her head slightly as she began walking, faster than Lana so she wouldn't have to stay besides her as they made their way towards the Chateau.