𝐀𝐅𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐇𝐎𝐔𝐑𝐒, 𝘰𝘶𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘣𝘢𝘯𝘬𝘴

𝐱𝐥𝐯𝐢. once bitten twice shy

"I'm sorry, mom. Thank you for everything, but I have to go. My friend's need me." Red briefly explained. She rushed into the room where her grandfather was. He seemed surprised to see her. "Papa, I need your help. Quickly."

"Okay?" Martian sat her down in the chair across from him. "What's going on?"

"I think my friend's are in trouble. But I don't know where they are." Red spoke in a rushed tone. "You're a private investigator, is there any way you know how to track someone?"

"Well, Red, you're lucky your grandpa is me, because I know exactly how to track someone. Give me your phone." Red handed her grandfather her phone. He spent about five minutes on that thing, asking who she needed to track. Red responded with John B, who's contact was JB in her phone. Martian handed her phone back with a smirk. "There."

John B's location was moving rapidly on Red's screen. "How did you do that?"

"You have his location on The Find My App." Martian replied with a smile. Red chuckled. "Simple as that. I'm no electronic geek."

"Thank you, grandpa. I promise I'll be back. I just have to do something first." Red immediately ran out of the door and all the way over to the fairy, where he'd booked her ticket. Red remembered something John B said about his dad, but if anyone knew where they were, it was Rafe Cameron.

The 8-hour ferry ride could not have seemed longer when she needed to get somewhere fast. She actually wanted to see Rafe the most, but tried to find the right words for her to say.

When the ferry came to a halt in front of the dock, Red took a breath, climbing off the large boat. The energy in The OBX was a lot different than the energy in Charleston.

Now, she just needed to find Rafe. So without trying to think about it, Red went home to where her car was before making her way over to The Cameron Estate.

Rafe's bike was out front, which was good enough of a sign that he was home. The side door of the back yard was wide open, which allowed Red to slip inside the house.

It was quite a mess from the party a few nights earlier, but she could still make her way around the house. She climbed up the stairs to the second floor of the large home. Rafe's room was just around the corner from the stairs.

Red stepped into the seemingly empty room. His bed wasn't made, and there were clothes all over the floor. Red's eyes landed on a gun laying on the edge of the bed, just before she reached out, she turned around quickly at the sound of footsteps.

"Red?" Rafe questioned, confused as to why she was in his room. Red turned around, meeting his eyes.

"Rafe." Red muttered. He'd just come out of the bathroom. She tried to find exactly what to say to the boy, but instead of saying anything, her eyes landed on the bruises all over his face. She approached him, laying her hands on the bruises. "Is this from..."

Rafe nodded his head, stepping away from the girl. "What do you want, Red?"

"I don't know..." Red sighed, beginning to walk away from the boy. "I guess I just wanted to... thank you. I saw the video." Rafe hung his head down. "You stood up for me, why?"

"I wasn't just gonna stand there and let him do all those things to you." Rafe explained. Of course, he didn't want to be straight forward and tell her the real reason. Because the kiss had gotten to his head. "Believe it or not, I still care about you."

"I care about you too." Red replied. Rafe scoffed, as if the girl was lying. "Rafe I am so sorry. About everything. About pushing you off that boat, about... literally everything. I shouldn't have done that to you. I shouldn't have messed with your head like that. I was angry about everything you'd done that I wasn't thinking about how much I missed having you around."