𝐒𝐞𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐭𝐬| 𝑅𝑎𝑓𝑒 𝐶𝑎𝑚𝑒𝑟𝑜𝑛

twelve

As the morning sun streamed through the curtains, casting a warm glow across the room, Banksie stretched lazily in her bed, feeling the soft comforter enveloping her tired body. She had heard from Sarah that morning, John B was okay, and now living at Tannyhill.

She was happy he was okay. She hadn't made any contact with the Pogues just in case they asked where she went.

With no urgent plans for the day, Banksie had opted to spend the morning lounging in her room. She wore a loose-fitting, tie-dye t-shirt hat tied at the front, paired with high-waisted denim shorts, her hair long with small intricate braids spread out across her head in different layers.

Just as she was about to head out to meet John B and the rest of the Pogues, something about an 'urgent meeting,' but she didn't think it was actually urgent.

She was walking down her driveway before she came to a stop.

She was surprised to see Rafe standing there, holding his wrist with a pained expression. Her eyes widened as she took in his appearance.

"Rafe, what happened?" Banksie asked, her voice laced with worry and a hint of confusion as she noticed the redness on his wrist.

Rafe hesitated for a moment before reluctantly showing her his injured wrist. "I, uh, had a little accident," he mumbled.

Without hesitation, she ushered him inside her house, guiding him upstairs to her bedroom.

Entering the bathroom, Banksie retrieved a first aid kit from the cupboard and lifted herself up on the counter, just so that she could be somewhat eye level to the boy.

She reached out for his hand, but he quickly recoiled it.

"Rafe," she said sternly. "Give me your hand," she said, her face having no emotion.

"No."

"Rafe."

"No."

Banksie rolled her eyes and snatched his hand towards her, and she quickly noticed how tense he was. She raised a brow but gently began to treat Rafe's burn.

"So, are you gonna tell me what happened...?" She trailed off, applying a cold, wet cloth to his wrist.

Rafe ignored her, noticing as she worked with a delicate touch, her fingers moving with precision as she applied some sort of cream and wrapped his wrist in a bandage.

Rafe had always heard she was the best person to know. She was kind to anyone who was kind to her, but if she were to be rubbed off the wrong way, she wouldn't want to even look at you. She wasn't afraid to speak her mind, especially if she was defending someone. She practically wore her heart on her sleeve.

But one thing that did really confuse him was the no secret thing.

Has she truly never kept a secret? And why? No one ever really knew. She always kept Sarah's secrets, though. And the Pogues. Maybe there were some limits.

Perhaps he could show her how fun secrets are.

With all the thinking he had been doing, he hadn't even realised he had been staring at Loey's face the whole time. He got to see how long and full her eyelashes were, the little swarm of freckles on her nose and cheeks, no doubt from being sun kissed.

He hadn't even noticed how totally relaxed he had gotten.

Banksie wasn't an idiot. She could feel his eyes on her. It actually made her a little uncomfortable, just because she wasn't really used to Rafe staring at her.

Despite his past behaviour, there was something about seeing him vulnerable that softened her opinion of him.

But right now, all she could think about is how she's going to have to keep him a secret.

"Okay," Banksie smiled. "You're all done," she said, putting away her kit and throwing away any opened bandage wrappers.

She looked back up to him. Even though she was sat on the counter, he was still slightly above her eye level.

Rafe was just looking at her, and Banksie couldn't figure out what it meant. But one thing she did notice was the fact that he didn't pull away from her grasp. She couldn't help but feel a flutter of something unfamiliar in her chest (for Rafe Cameron, of course).

"Thanks, Loey," Rafe murmured, his voice soft and almost hesitant, a stark contrast to his usual confident demeanour.

"Why do you call me Loey?" She asked.

Rafe looked at her a second. "Because it's my name for you," he said at once.

Banksie furrowed her brows.

His name? For me?

Banksie nodded in response, feeling a strange sense of closeness between them that she couldn't quite explain, and yet, there was something about the way he looked at her that made her nervous.

But as quickly as the moment had come, it seemed to pass, and Banksie found herself pulling away from Rafe's touch, the physical touch she initiated now making her feel unsettled.

"Well, uh, I should probably get going," Rafe said, breaking the silence that had settled between them. "Thanks again for, you know, helping me out."

Banksie nodded, offering him a small smile as she watched him make his way out of her room. As she stood there alone, she couldn't help but feel a sense of unease lingering in the air.

RAHHHHH hello.

So technically, this is a filler. But I didn't want to add anything from the episode because then it would get long asf, and I couldn't be bothered LMFAOO.

Thank you... uh, I think it's 1.60 something thousand reads.

I don't think I'm working next week, so I'll get to writing 🙏🙏

I hope the whole like, Banksie having a mixed accent isn't actually frustrating, I think it's rather fun, and it helps me since I'm Welsh 🤗

But uh, yeah. I think that's all I have to say rn.

So, eat, drink, take your meds if you need them.

And I'll see you next chapter.

BUH BAI