𝐀𝐅𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐇𝐎𝐔𝐑𝐒, 𝘰𝘶𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘣𝘢𝘯𝘬𝘴

𝐱𝐱𝐱𝐢𝐱. P4L

"Well what happened, Miss 'I got this'?" Rafe asked sassily. Red didn't respond, she didn't have the mental compacity for his childish antics. "Yo-Hoo, Red. Whatever happened to trusting eachother?"

"Trust you?" Red scoffed, finally looking over at him. "Why should I trust you? You tried to kill me and Sarah. You shot the sheriff."

"Peterkin... I was protecting my father okay?" Rafe defended, getting closer to Red defensively. "I did what I had to, so, don't." Rafe sat down in the chair, feeling the need to justify everything he did. "I'm as much a victim as she is. No? Think about it. Okay, what did I get from shooting Peterkin, huh? Nothing, okay. I had nothing against her. I mean I... I... I liked her. You think I wanted to make y- that choice, huh? What I did was a gift from me to my father for... for him. And I got screwed because of it, okay? So don't give me that look when I say I'm a victim, alright? I am!" Rafe stated, progressively getting more defensive until he took a breath. "I will admit though, What I did to Sarah... what I tried to do um... what I tried to do to Sarah I admit that was wrong." Rafe suddenly let a tear fall from his face and placed his hands on his head, banging on it. "So you don't have to remind me..."

Red's attitude immediately changed, now Rafe wasn't being defensive, now he was shaky and panicky, not even he deserved to feel like that. And no one handled it better than Red Lucille Shoupe.

"I mean she was family... I never should have touched her." Rafe cried, his face getting Redder as tears spilled. Red stood up from her spot, nearing closer to him. "I just lose control sometimes in moments like that and I don't know what happened, I'm just I'm trying to get better."

Red truly wondered how long it had been since Rafe had a hug. A real, genuine hug from anyone but his father. Hugs are underrated. Truly, they could change anyone's whole attitude. And Red gave the best hugs in Kildare County.

Without really any second thought to it, Red approached Rafe and looked at him, sharing a moment of silence before wrapping her arms around the taller boy. Rafe seemed to take the hug by surprise at first, but soon wrapped his arms around Red and melted into her touch.

"I'm trying to get better."

After a few moments, Red pulled away from Rafe and rested her arms on his shoulders, wiping the hot tears from his face. "Rafe, your not the bad guy you think you are. What you did was wrong, but I know you regret it, and that counts. I know you better than to think you don't have a heart and that you can feel too." Red comforted. "So don't... don't ever think that I hate you or that I don't care about you, because as much as it kills me sometimes, I do, I always have and I always will. You may not be used to people telling you this, but Rafe, I see you."

Rafe looked at her for a moment, as if debating something in his mind. It was then that he leaned in closer to her and didn't give Red time to process what he was doing until he pressed his lips against hers and placed his hands on either side of her face.

She didn't pull away. And it killed her that she didn't. Because in her head as their lips parted and came back together again, it wasn't Rafe, it was JJ.

It was only then that Red snapped back into reality that she was kissing Rafe Cameron and immediately pulled away. Oh God, this would pound on her like a weight, wouldn't it?

Red cleared her throat, giving Rafe a guilty smile. JJ, JJ, JJ, JJ, JJ. Why wasn't she thinking about JJ? Now she already felt guilty.