CHAPTER TWELVE
"i never loved anyone the way i loved you."

( episode six ━━ parcel 9 )

SCARLETT HAD A SMALL SMILE on her face as she made her way back to the Hall residence (as much as she wished, she couldn't hide away at John B's forever) and thought about her conversation with JJ.

It felt so good to finally talk about her feelings with someone, especially someone who gets it, but JJ's not ready to admit that yet so Scarlett definitely won't push him. She knew what that was like to be in the denial stage.

As much as she wanted to be included within the Pogues' antics, she knew that Kiara would never approve, meaning it was pretty much a no go. Even after admitting that she didn't care about the money (she was already rich as fuck anyways, why would she need gold) Kiara still didn't seem keen on letting go of their drama.

And Scarlett really couldn't blame her. If she was the Carrara girl, she'd probably be way more petty and rude within her presence.

Reluctantly, she walked through the front door of her house, wishing she had left earlier with Sarah and asked to spend the night at her's. She wanted to be anywhere that her father wasn't right now.

"Hi, where have you been all day?"

Turns out, the universe had other plans.

The sound of her fathers voice, the literal millisecond she walked into the foyer, startled her. William was standing there with his hands behind his back, studying his child as if he was waiting for her to lie to him again.

What she didn't know was that he saw her leave with John B, less than ten minutes after she promised she didn't really know him.

It made him wonder what else she was hiding, or how much she knew.

"At a friend's house."

Margaret came rushing towards the two of them. "What friend?"

That's it... Scarlett has had enough. "Okay, you two are freaking me out! You go from being decent parents, to barely here at all, to all of a sudden helicopter parents. Can you guys pick one and stick with it? Preferably the first one."

William and Margaret exchanged looks, both silently telling the other to just drop the topic. Neither parent was in the mood to fight with the small girl, so Margaret held out her hand and waited a moment for Scarlett to grab it.

"Come into the dining room," she starts, "we have a surprise!"

This instantly makes Scarlett's mood pick up. "Oh, it is one of those little purse dogs? I've always wanted one of those."

"Close your eyes."

Listening to her father's instructions, (for once) Scarlett closed her eyes and let her parents guide them to wherever they were taking her. She felt nervous, not knowing what in the world they were up to, but she trusted them.

"Okay, open now!"

On her mother's command, she opened her eyes and was met with a huge buffet of food on their dining room table. More specifically, all of her favourite foods, and that just confused her more. She knew they were obviously trying to apologize and make up for practically ignoring her the past year.

So why did she still have a pit in her stomach?

"I mean, it's not Kale or Caviar—"

Scarlett interrupted the older woman and sighed. "Why must we be those stereotypical rich people?"

"We wanted to have your favourite food made tonight as a way to say we're sorry. It's time we have the first family dinner that's been long overdue."

Margaret smiled down at her daughter after finishing her thought, and that made Scarlett feel a little more at ease. "Well, I appreciate this guys. Thank you."

They all gather around the table, pulling out the chairs at their usual spots, with WIliam sitting at the head of the table and his wife and daughter next to him.

Eating dinner with your family was something that was so common, but now felt like a foreign concept to Scarlett. She didn't even know what to say in order to start a conversation. Judging by the the silence that surrounded the Hall's right now, her parents had the same issue on their mind. It felt like they were all practically strangers.

Margaret clears her throat. "So, your father told me that you told him what you told me yesterday. I'm happy that you felt comfortable enough to do that."

"Yeah, I—"

The doorbell rings (thankfully) interrupting Scarlett and the girl was quick to jump out of her seat. "I'll get it."

"Honey, sit down." William laughed, attempting to hold back a scoff. "We have people for that."

It was moments like these that really solidified to Scarlett why she didn't enjoy being around her father.

Resisting the urge to roll her eyes, she puts on a fake smile, answering him with, "it's okay, it might be Sarah. It was a long tense day, and I think she had a mini fight with her new boyfriend."

"Oh, invite her in! I'll set another place at the table." says Margaret.

Scarlett exits the dining room, practically racing over to the foyer ready to throw open the front door and beg her best friend to stay and save her from the current awkwardness happening with her parents.

Only, it was the wrong Cameron standing on her front porch.

"Rafe?" Scarlett said slowly. "What the hell are you doing here?"

The boy looked like a mess. His eyes were bloodshot, a clear indication that he'd been crying, along with his nose running. Her eyes trailed over to his arm, catching a red mark she was sure hadn't been there before.

He quickly placed his hands in the pocket of his shorts, not wanting her to see the burn Barry had given him. "Please Scar, let me in. I have nowhere else to go."

"Try home, now bye."

She goes to close the door, but he was quick to grab it. "No wait. My dad kicked me out. He found out about the coke, about Barry and all the money I owed."

"That's not my problem."

"Please just wait and hear me out."

Scarlett sighed, knowing she had no other choice or else he would continue to whine all night. "You have 2 minutes staring now, so speak fast."

"I miss you, a lot. I really messed up what we had—"

She resisted the urge to laugh at his words. "Rafe, we didn't have anything. We were just fooling around, something that will never, ever happen again."

The blonde girl watches as Rafe's face falls, wondering if she should feel bad for being such a bitch. Until every horrible thing he had done came flashing back to her and that small part of her that felt guilt, was gone.

Now she was just resisting the urge to laugh.

"What? But— but I love you."

"Wow, that kinda sucks. I wasn't even remotely attracted to you, so..." she trails off, "this is awkward."

Rafe felt his heart break. "I— this is the part where you were supposed to accept my apology. I come in, you hug me, and we get back together."

"We were never together in the first place. I wasn't your girlfriend."

"I just said I love you!"

"You know, this is just getting really sad and embarrassing for you, I think you should just call it quits while you're ahead."

"What do I have to do to prove it to you? I'll do anything okay? I'll do—"

Frustrated, Scarlett interrupts him. Yelling the words that had been on her mind for a while, not caring how harsh it sounded. "Rafe I don't care! I don't care that you love me! I never felt anything for you and I never will."

This was quick to shut Rafe up. He stood there, with his mouth wide open and astonished. Something told him Scarlett wasn't lying and that she was being honest, and that hurt even more.

After a moment of silence, Scarlett clears her throat, finishing her thought. "By the way, in case you can't pick up on subtext clues, I don't love you back. Your two minutes are long up, so get off my front porch please."

Rafe stands there in disbelief, unable to speak, unable to move. He felt like his whole body hurt. First his dad kicked him out, and now the girl he loved was not only kicking him out of her house, but her life too.

For the second time.

"Do I need to call security? Get out."

Rafe turns around without a word, obeying her order and listening to what she says for once. Scarlett stood in the door frame, watching him walk away and concerned that she still felt not a single ounce of guilt at all. If it was anyone else? Maybe, but not for Rafe Cameron.

Slowly shutting the door, she marches back into the dining room, concerned that her parents would ask why she was gone for a while, but their only concern was wondering why Sarah was.

"Who was at the door? It wasn't Sarah?" a confused William asks.

"No, just someone who had the wrong house." Scarlett lies, taking her place at the table. "I had to give them directions."

☆

Although this may sound sort of rude, Scarlett always thought that every guy Sarah has dated was a downgrade from the last one. They were all over possessive losers that never deserved her and she could have done way better than like seventy five percent of them. John B was the only one she felt different about.

Well.. that was until he randomly decided to lock Sarah and her under his boat. Yeah, she takes back what she said. She's never liked any of Sarah's boyfriends.

"John B! John B, let us out!"

Sarah continued to scream for the Pogue to come and get them, but it was no use, meanwhile Scarlett was busy plotting the boy's murder in her mind. "Baby John I'm gonna kill you." She mutters.

Finally, after what felt like forever, the entrance opened. Only to find someone she was not expecting staring back at her.

Kiara?

"What the fuck?" Scarlett wasted no time quickly climbing out towards the front of the boat, pushing Kiara out of her way and seeing the boys already leaving, chuckling to themselves.

"What the hell you guys!" shouts Scarlett.

It was one thing for them to try and rope Scarlett and Sarah into their plans for finding the gold, but now trapping her on a boat with them? Kiara was so pissed off and the boys were lucky that looks couldn't kill.

"Get your asses back here!"

"We can't. Not till you all figure it out." John B explains.

Scarlett had to give them credit, it was a good plan, but she just wished she wasn't involved in it. It was funny they assumed anything positive would come out of this, they would be lucky if by the time they came back, all three girls were still here alive.

"I will kill every single one of you!"

"Y—You can't just leave!" Sarah chimes in, sounding more frightened than pissed off.

"There's food in the cabin and JJ rolled a blunt."

Oh bless. "Well thank fuck there is at least weed here to get me through the night." says Scareltt softly.

"This is ridiculous."

Sarah finishes complaining, beginning to strip down to her bikini and preparing to jump into the water after the boat, hoping to catch up to the boys.

"Well, I would rather drown than stay here with you two, so..." Kiara made sure to lock eyes with Scarlett, so she'd know that the majority of the sentence was meant for her.

For once, Scarlett was silent, not wanting to start another fight and growing tired of arguing with Kiara. So Sarah jumps in. "Fine, be my guest. Maybe you'll finally shut the hell up."

Jumping off the boat before the Carrera girl had a chance to reply, she aggressively swam after the others. Waving her arms and shouting for them to come back.

Kiara rolls her eyes. "You don't even know where you're going."

Sarah ignores her, continuing to go after the boys. Scarlett was half tempted to join her, but knew that wouldn't do much. They weren't coming back anytime soon, no matter what.

"Good luck with the oyster beds." Kiara mutters, irritated.

"Wait!" Sarah continued to shout from the water. "Wait! John B, you asshole!"

Scarlett sat on the floor of the boat, defeated. "They're not coming back for you Cameron."

"Love you, guys! Bye!"

And that was it, their boat took off, leaving the three girls stranded.

Maybe... maybe this could be a good thing? No. Who was Scarlett kidding? There was no way this could turn positive. She was trapped on a boat with her best friend and a girl she was hopelessly in love with, who hated her.

There was absolutely no way this could turn out positive, so Scarlett figured what else did she have to lose? May as well confess a few things today.

She watches Kiara, completely oblivious to the blonde girl's eyes on her. "Kie—"

"Guys!"

Of fucking course. She should have known the universe was gonna interrupt her, again. "What?"

"I got stung by a jellyfish! Shit!"

Sarah climbs back onto the boat, dropping down onto a set and clutching her torso in pain.

"Dramatic." says Kiara.

"Why don't you go get stung by a jellyfish and see how you react?"

"Can you two please not fight right now?" Sarah begs, turning the attention back onto her.

Kiara sighs, crossing her arms. "Well, you swam right into a man-o'-war. Don't know what you thought would happen."

"Thanks for your help."

Scarlett bends down next to her friend, gently touching where she was stung and Sarah cringes in pain.

"Does it hurt?" Kiara asks, clearly with fake concern.

Sarah clears her throat, looking between both girls. It was obvious what idea was on her mind right now, and the Hall girl almost cringed in pain herself just thinking about it.

"Hey, guys. You know what they say..." she trails off and pauses. "...about curing jellyfish stings?"

Scarlett stands up, moving away from the injured girl. "No way."

"Oh absolutely not."

"One of you has to pee on me."  Sarah finishes.

"I have a better idea."

Kiara left the room after speaking, coming back within the next few minutes and holding up the blunt JJ mentioned he rolled for them. Scarlett had never felt more grateful for anything in her life right now.

"It's for the pain."

Kiara sat down and lit the joint, taking a drag herself before passing it to Scarlett. While she hadn't gotten high in a bit and felt excited, she also felt nervous for Sarah. The girl had never smoked a day in her life and she didn't know how she'd react to it.

But really, that seemed like the least of her problems right now.

"Bless JJ." Scarlett comments, handing it over to Sarah who wasted no time taking a huge puff.

"Go easy." Kiara reminds her. "It's JJ's cousin's Cripple."

"Yeah Sarah maybe you shouldn't—"

Her warning gets interrupted by Sarah continuously coughing. It was clear she didn't listen to either of their warnings. Anytime they tried to get a word in, Sarah would continue coughing.

Scarlett and Kiara shared a look, obviously both of them were trying not to laugh, knowing how mean it would look. If the rest of their time on the boat was like this, perhaps this night wouldn't be as bad as she thought.

☆

When Scarlett thought she'd had no idea how Sarah would handle smoking for the first time, continuously laughing and saying nonsense was not on her bingo card.

It was funny at first, with Sarah providing them with entertainment and making sure there were no awkward silences, only now there was no silence. She had kept talking for hours and hours, and now it was starting to get on their nerves a bit.

"Hey, guess what?"

Neither girl answered at first, until Scarlett finally spoke up. "What?"

"Would you rather... have..." Sarah clears her throat before continuing. "I was imagining you like this just now. It was pretty funny."

There was another long pause before the Cameron girl kept talking. "Would you ima— would you rather— have nipples for eyes or eyes for nipples?"

Scarlett gives her a weird look. "What the hell are you talking about?"

"Imagine if you get really old and your nipples... Your boobs get saggy, and your nipples, if they were your eyes, you could see if your shoes were untied."

She chuckled again, completely oblivious to the weird vibe with the three of them right now. Scarlett was willing to play long, but not Kiara.

"Is this like your first time smoking or something?"

"No."

"Yes." Scarlett answers for her.

"Hey, Kiara—"

"Oh, my God. Enough of the Hey Kiara bullshit!" The curly haired girl had finally snapped. "Why'd you two do it?"

Despite contrary belief, Scarlett wasn't a fool. She knew there was no way they would have gone the rest of the night without bringing this up. She wished Kiara didn't, but she knew better.

"Why did we do what?" says Scarlett quietly.

Kiara rolls her eyes. "C'mon, don't play dumb. You guys were my best friends. We— we stole beers from your dad's fridge, we watched movies together, we cried about boys."

"Yeah, we did."

Sarah looks down at her hands, feeling ashamed for what she did. Exchanging a look with Scarlett, as if silently asking for permission to give the girl an explanation, but the blonde only shakes her head.

"And the next thing I know, I'm watching your birthday party happen from Instagram." Kiara continues.

"It was one party."

"You invited everybody except me. And then you told everybody I was the reason that the party got busted."

"Okay, well, who else would've called the cops?"

"You never asked. You just let the rumor go that I was a rat. Then you both just ghosted me, and I don't even know why! I mean, really, what did I do?"

Scarlett was silent the whole time, watching as Kiara and Sarah talked out their differences, but also feeling too tongue tied to speak. She had no idea where this conversation was going, but if it was anywhere she thought...

A lot of secrets were probably coming out tonight.

"Look. When people get... close to me, I feel trapped. And... I bail." Sarah starts. "And then I blame them for it. I'm really sorry..."

She looks over to Kiara, taking a deep breath before continuing. "And I miss you. Do you think there's a chance that we could be okay again?"

"Honestly... I don't know."

Scarlett emerges from her spot on the ground, finally adding to the conversation as she leaves the area. "Well, you two killed my high with all your sappy bullshit. Gross."

Kiara watches the small girl as she exits, wondering what on earth was her problem now. Her and Sarah had (sorta) made up, didn't Scarlett want to start fresh with her too?

"What's that about?"

Sarah presses her lips together, shrugging her shoulders as if she had no idea. "I think you need to talk to her about that, not my place to tell."

Taking this as an invitation, Kiara gets up from where she was sitting, following Scarlett to the other side of the boat. She was standing quietly, looking out at the water in front of them and unaware of Kiara's presence yet.

She looked so... sad. Almost like she was in pain. And this made Kie wonder what on earth was going through her mind right now. "Hey, what's your problem?"

Kiara was conscious to speak in a soft tone, hoping that it came off that she didn't want to start another fight.

"Until you wormed your way back into my life, I had no problems."

Guess her tone wasn't soft enough.

"I wormed my way back into your life?" She scoffs, dropping her nice act.

"Yeah, that seemed to be what happened."

"You are impossible."

"Thank you, I try."

It was very clear something was bothering her, and Kiara was determined to get the truth. She wanted to know, no... she needed to know. "I got an explanation from Sarah, as half assed as it was. Am I ever going to get one from you?"

Scarlett finally turns around, facing Kiara. "There's nothing to explain. I just didn't want to be around you anymore."

"That's not what Sarah said. She told me that I should talk to you myself, that this is something you should be the one to say."

Shit.

"God, Sarah can't ever learn to keep her damn mouth shut." Scarlett runs her hands through her hair, stressed out.

"What—"

"I was getting along fine. Sure, I wasn't happy, but I was fine. I was doing everything I can to try and forget you, and here goes Sarah—"

Kiara interrupts her rambling, feeling both curious and also concerned since it looked like her former friend was doing her best to hold back tears. "Wait, try and forget me? Why?"

It was time. It was time for the truth to come out. Scarlett turns away before continuing, "I'm the one who told Sarah not to invite you to her party. She was planning on it, until I practically begged her not to. I'm also the one who told her not to clear up the you calling the cops rumor."

"You did all that?"

"Yeah. I needed a reason for you to stay away from me, and knew that would only happen if you absolutely despised us. I did what I had to do."

"Why?"

Any slight shred of confidence she had a moment ago was gone. Scarlett didn't think she'd ever felt this nervous for anything in her life. "I... fuck, I didn't think it would be this hard to say."

Kiara steps forward, offering her words of encouragement. "It's okay, just say it."

"Alright well. I uh— started to feel things for you. Beyond the point of friendship, like way, way beyond the point. I got scared because I had never felt that way for anyone before."

Well... the truth was finally out.

Scarlett felt like a huge wait had been lifted off of her shoulders. In a way, she almost felt happy that she didn't have to walk around with this huge secret anymore, but she also knew better. Now... she'd have to deal with the consequences.

Kiara fell completely silent, mouth falling open and unable to find any words for what she was feeling right now. Out of all the things, all the reasons for the girl to ignore her and attempt to cut her out of her life, this was not at all what she was expecting.

It seemed clear Kiara wasn't planning on speaking anytime soon, so Scarlett continued. "I had heard Sarah talk about the boyfriends she's had, how they made her feel. Butterflies in her stomach, heart skips a beat, all that cheesy stuff. I never had that, or felt like that with any man ever. I just acted like I did because I thought that's how I was supposed to feel."

She let out a few tears that she was trying to hold in fall down her face. "Then you came along, and it was like everything clicked into place. I finally understood what Sarah was talking about, and it was great, until I realized you would never feel that way about me."

"Scar..."

Kiara trailed off, still not finding any words. Her mind was completely blank. She tried so hard to yell at herself, trying to come up with anything to reply with, but her brain didn't seem to be connecting with her mouth right now.

Scarlett was now fully crying, not bothering to hide it anymore. "I loved you Kie, and not like how you say I love you to your friend when you end the phone call. In a way where I just want to kiss your forehead and hold you close forever. I really loved you, so much, and I still do. I've never loved anyone the way I loved you."

"I—"

"Don't." Scarlett interrupts. "Don't say anything. Please Kie, I'm begging. Right now, I actually would prefer silence."

The moment Kiara finally finds her words is when Scarlett wants silence... typical.

However Kiara obeyed, deciding that what just happened was a lot for Scarlett to admit and talk about. If she needed time, Kiara would give it to her. "Okay. If that's what you want, we'll talk later."

She turns to leave and proceeds to stop in her tracks. There was one thing she needed to know before she left Scarlett be for the night. "I just want to ask one question."

The Hall girl sighs before saying, "Fine, go for it."

"Do you really still love me?"

It takes her a moment to respond, but eventually Scarlett nods her head sadly. Whipping the freshly fallen tears away. "Of course, even more now than I did before."

☆

For the rest of the night, Kiara spent it honouring Scarlett's wishes. She didn't bring it up again. Instead, she spent the majority of her time catching up with Sarah. As much fun as hanging out with the boys was, she really missed hanging out with girls her own age.

It felt so good to reconcile with her, even going as far to admit that she was indeed the one who called the cops on them the night of Sarah's birthday party, and the girl laughing it off afterwards. She really did miss having girl time.

She especially missed Scarlett.

Of course she missed Sarah as well, but she always felt, well, slightly different around Scarlett, and she never understood why until tonight. Kiara was dying to talk to her, but she was afraid she'd get shut down again.

Screw it, she thought. Turning over on her side and facing the blonde girl, who was doing a terrible job at pretending to sleep.

"Hey you." Kie whispers, almost laughing after getting no response. "I know you're not sleeping."

"Alright, you caught me."

Scarlett opens her eyes, locking them with Kiara's and the two just layed there silently for a moment, just looking and admiring each other.

Kiara cleared her throat, almost scared to talk about it in fear of ruining their vibe right now. "I know you said that you didn't want to talk about it, but you never really gave me a chance to say what I wanted to say."

"There's nothing to talk about anymore, secret's out."

Scarlett sighed and rolled onto her back, looking up at the sky. More importantly, breaking their eye contact.

"C'mon, don't do that. Don't shut me out again, I just got you back."

This surprised Scarlett, and she let it show on her face. "You still want me in your life after what I told you?"

"Of course, why wouldn't I?" Kiara moves slightly closer towards her, swallowing her nerves.

"I don't know." Scarlett shrugs, placing her hands on her stomach still glancing at the stars. "I thought you may be weirded out and would never want to speak to me again. That's part of the reason why I never told you, I knew I couldn't handle the rejection."

"Who said I was going to reject you?"

The Hall girl tilted her head, finally looking back at Kiara again with an unsure and pleading look. "Kie, don't say things you don't mean. Please."

"I meant it. I mean it. Even now, I wouldn't reject you." Kiara shuffles closer to her once more. "So, ask me."

"Huh?"

"Ask me."

Finally, it clicked in her head what she meant. With the biggest smile on her face, Scarlett said, "Kiara Carrera, would you like to go on a date with me?"

"Absolutely."

There were no words even close to describe how she felt right now. Scarlett felt like she just won the lottery. No... even better than that. She'd have to find a better analogy when her mind and heart weren't racing a million miles per second.

"God, you have no idea how happy I am to hear you say that."

"I'm happy you're finally happy." says Kiara, grinning at her.

"Tell you what, after we get the gold, let's figure everything out with you and me."

"No way."

"Huh?"

The curly haired girl shrugs. "Why wait? I think we waited long enough."

"Yeah, I think you're right."

It was silent again. This time, it was a comfortable silence, nothing awkward in the moment. Truthfully, the best moment of Scarlett's life.

"So, are you going to stare at me all night? Or are you going to come closer so I can throw my arm around you. I kinda wanna kiss your forehead and hold you close."

Embarrassed, Scarlett turns away and runs her hands down her face, laughing quietly so she doesn't wake Sarah. "You are never gonna let me live that down are you?"

"Never, I'm gonna get that printed on a t-shirt."

Scratch that, being in Kiara's arms under the moonlight, stranded on a boat in the middle of the marsh was the best moment of Scarlett's life.

author's note.
kiarlett nation... how are we feeling rn????

also yeah suprise one of the only reasons i originally wrote rafe and scarlett in that "situationship" was so i could have a scene of her breaking his heart and saying she never actually loved him<333333333 bc it's what he deserves hehehe

lastly ty guys so much for 21k on this story holy i'm actually in shock ily all so much!!!

(i can't take credit for this meme i stole it from eImstreets when she sent it to me dhsjdj ly lila<3)