Date: 30th June, 2017.

Fayth and Caiden walk the streets of Vancouver with a muffin box clutched in Fayth's hand. Caiden had trouble walking and he was limping a little as he walked. Axel had got him good. Purple and black bruises scattered his face with a black eye, which was swollen shut. There was no doubt that his stomach was contused too.

"Do you want to go to a hospital?" Fayth inquired.

"No, I'm alright."

"C'mon. Let the doctors have a look," she tried persuading him.

"Fayth," he gave her a look.

"I mean, you could have broken something!" She lamely said, knowing that nothing was broken.

"Don't worry, I've got into worse fights."

"And lost them all?" Fayth half smirked, teasing him.

"It was just this once I lost,"he grumbled under his breath, so quietly that Fayth almost missed it.

"Are you sure you don't want to get it checked?"

"Yes, Fayth" the elder boy sighed, irked.

"Okay then."

Fayth kept asking him if he was okay to walk every few minutes and although her concern was fair, it was getting a little irritating.

"I'm fine, Fayth. Seriously," Caiden answered, a little angrily and Fayth got the message. She didn't ask him again.

They walked towards the safer part of the town where there were no people lingering around and there were hardly any cars on the road. One car whooshed past occasionally, but other then that, it was dead silent. The air was crisp and the moon was shining bright, and Fayth wrapped her arms around herself feeling cold.

The sound of their chatter filled the chilly night. Fayth laughed at Caiden's horrible pick up lines which made his stomach hurt as he laughed along.

Goosebumps arose on Fayth's body and Caiden noticed it. Being the gentleman he was, he took off his racer jacket and he hung it around Fayth's shoulders. She then slipped her hands in the sleeves and pulled it closer to her. It smelt heavenly–– just like him.

"Thanks," she muttered shyly and Caiden half smirked.

"Looks good on you, keep it."

Soon enough, The Hideout appeared in front of them and Caiden held the door open for Fayth. She slipped in thanking Caiden.

Caiden slid into (the dm's, haha) the booth and the younger girl made her way towards the main counter to get some ice.

A few minutes later she returned with some cubes of ice wrapped into a cloth and handed it to Caiden. He pressed the bag to his face and whimpered under his breath. He winced a bit but after a while, it did feel good. They sat in silence until Caiden broke it.

"How do you know Axel?"

"Promise me you won't judge me?"

"I wouldn't, ever. You can tell me anything," Caiden said and he meant every word.

"When I was seventeen, my best friend– Sarah, moved states. I was lonely. People looked down on me because I would be alone so often. I basically had no social life so when Sarah left, I was neglected. She was the 'cool' and 'popular' one out of us. A few weeks after, I got into the wrong crowd. Did wrong things, bad things. I've almost got arrested for vandalism, Caid. We spray painted a wall. And that was just the beginning.

I got really bitchy and was rude to everyone. I treated them like the dirt beneath my shoes. I thought I was somebody really great and others had to bow down to me. My personality was the worst.

Anyway with the bad crowd comes the bad habits, so I got into smoking and drinking. It wasn't a big deal to me. I just wanted to fit in. I used to get wasted every other day and I was a mess. My grades started dropping, I stopped going to classes. Then, one of my 'friends' from back then, introduced me to drugs. It was nothing serious first. Just some weed. But then a few months later, I got into heavy stuff like Cocaine. I took them in heavy doses. I spent all of my saved money on drugs.

Axel was my dealer. He used to get me anything I wanted to. He hooked me up and I wouldn't stop."

Fayth paused and took a deep breath. She did not dare look into Caiden's eyes. She was ashamed.

"Soon, my parents, who were never home started noticing all the changes. My grades, me. They started noticing me. It was all for the wrong reasons but they finally paid attention to me. I was happy. But then they shipped me off. They shipped me off to some Rehabilitation Centre in New York. I was there for months. I completed school from there. I lost everything. I did not even get to have a graduation ceremony. I had always dreamed of being a valedictorian, but I fucked that up. I regret that every day.

After a while, everything was falling back into place. I didn't even think about drugs and worked my ass off and improved my grades. I went home after spending five months there. When I got home, my parents and I talked. They started taking days off to spend time with me, taking care of me. Just like when I was little. We were a family again. I finally had my parents back.

Axel and I were good friends but then I stopped visiting him. I stopped going to that part of the town. I wanted to forget. I wanted to run away from all the bad now that I was happy. Clean. I haven't been there in over a year. 

When I got accepted in Adler, that's when my life really changed. I made these great friends– Michael and Kabir who actually care for me and want me to grow as a person, and not just have fun and get wasted, you know? Sure, we do that occasionally, but I've not been near drugs for a long time. I've put everything in college. I just want to become something and make my parents proud, you know?"

Caiden sat there, silent, his eyes wide. That was a lot to process.

Fayth was a drug addict?

But all that mattered to him was that she was here, in good shape and she'd left everything behind. She was a better person now. That was all in the past. So he told her. He told her that it didn't matter to him. He told her that he was incredibly proud of her, and he was glad that she was okay. He was glad that she had left her demons behind, and was fighting them with whatever she had. He told her that he was happy for her, and he was happy that she had such good friends. He told her that he still wanted to be friends– even more.

Fayth smiled and considered herself lucky because Caiden was so understanding. He didn't judge her.

Kabir and Michael knew this, too and they too were very supportive of her. It made them overprotective of her. She was like the sister they never had. They sat in silence, enjoying each other's company.

"Caiden?"

"Yes?"

"Thank you," Fayth smiled a genuine smile, and the boy returned it.

"Also, Caiden?"

"Yeah?"

"What did Axel mean by taking your sister away again?"

Caiden released a breath. He had to tell her sooner or later so why not now?

"You see before I joined street racing, Axel was in the top position. Nobody could beat him, he was that good. But then I entered. I beat him. In. Every. Single. Race. He was obviously mad. The money and the title had been taken away from him.

So one night he followed me home and I wasn't aware. He waited for everyone to fall asleep and then he broke into my house and took Casey away. We had no clue to who had taken her. After three days we'd got a call saying that if I quit racing, we'd get her back. So I quit. Axel dropped her off the next day. I didn't race for a year. When Casey got home, she was so scared. She wouldn't talk to anyone for days. It was all my fault, I blamed–"

Fayth took Caiden's hands in his.

"Stop. It's not your fault. Axel is just a jerk who knows how to get under your skin, and he cannot deal with losing. If it is anyone's fault, it's his."

That was what everyone had told him but this was the first time he had listened to someone and believed them.

"Thank you."

"Always."

The spent rest of the hour talking and laughing like two people in love.

And maybe, it was love. They just hadn't realised it yet.

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Omg, this was so bad.

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