A Chapter| Chapter Fourteen

"You're better off without her, Top. Trust me. I live with the bitch." Rafe said loudly from the passengers seat, higher then ever, a faint boom of the radio bouncing off the car.

"Rafe, don't call your sister a bitch, man. Come on." Topper scolded him as he drove with one hand, his mind racing just as his heart was.

"Yo, i'll call her whatever I want, man. All right." Rafe said with a sniffle of his nose, Kelces laugher loud in the backseat as Topper rolled his eyes.

"That'd be, like, me calling Lila a bitch, or something." Topper said, trying to get his point across as he saw Rafes head snap his way.

"What you say?" he asked, his voice calm but intimidating.

"Bad analogy, dude. Lilas not your sister." Kelce said as he slapped Toppers shoulder.

"No, but I just don't get, like.. what- what's the deal with y'all?" Topper asked with a clear of his throat, glancing over at Rafe who rubbed his nose with yet another sniffle.

"Man, whats it matter?" Rafe asked with a chuckle before turning the bottle upside down.

"She like your girlfriend or something? A summer fling? What's up there?" Topper kept on, not getting much information out of Lila earlier.

"Yeah, she is. Why do you care? You don't even know her." Rafe shot back at him a little more defensive then he intended to, tugging at the bow tie around his neck as it became harder to breath.

"Not to long ago you were going on about how much of a bitch she was, how she belonged with the Pogues. Now you're what... in love with her or something?" Topper asked him in disbelief, far from blind, seeing Rafes sudden change for the girl within just a few days.

"No, don't be a idiot, man. She's good, you know? She's good for me. We're good together." Rafe said, rolling his eyes as he tried to get the topic to drop.

"Yeah? You treating her okay?" Topper pushed even harder, Kelce looking between the two.

"Why wouldn't I be? She say something?" Rafe asked him with a stupid look, his mouth hanging open slightly.

"No, she didn't." Topper said as he put two hands on the wheel again.

"Well I like her! You know... aside from the fact that she kicked you in the fucking face, man." Kelce jump in, slapping Rafes shoulder with a look of disbelief.

"Just drop it. Both of you, don't go poking around her like a bunch of stupid fucking pelicans. She'll trip out and try to dump my ass again." Rafe said as he gave the two a stern look, Kelce putting his hands up in surrender as Topper stayed starring at the road.

"Should bring her around me, I like her. She's got sick dance moves, man. Now drink up!" Kelce said as he pushed two bottles over the front seat toward the two boys.

"All right, hit it boys!" JJ announced loudly as the van came to a stop, the door being swung open by the hands of Pope.

"Yo,uh... so, uh, I think i'm gonna do this one by myself..." John B trailed off as he looked back at the Pogues in the backseat, all staring at him.

"Really?" JJ asked with a eyebrow raise.

"What?" John B questioned, the look he was getting not sitting right with him.

"Nothin, brother." JJ shook his head and looked the opposite way.

"I don't want to spook Sarah with the peanut gallery." John B said as Lila frowned her eyebrows.

"We're peanuts now?" Lila asked confused his way.

"I just don't understand why we're involving her at all." Kie said loudly, still not over John B involving her enemy.

"Kie, we're not involving her, okay? It's just, uh, like a- a business meeting thing. Look once we get what we need, we cut her loose, all right?" John B asked as he looked around at everyone, his voice far from believable.

"Don't be a ass, John B." Lila defended the Cameron girl.

"Oh course you'd pick her." Kie scoffed as Lila rolled her eyes.

"I'm not picking her over you , Kie. No matter what she did to you or anyone else, no one deserves to feel used and that's exactly what he's saying he's doing." Lila pointed out as Kie fell silent, knowing she was right.

"Okay, Lila, I know you're on a power trip right now, maybe because you've got a shitty boyfriend-" John B began as Lila cut him off with a sarcastic laugh.

"This again? It's not about me or Rafe, it's about you involving Sarah willingly and then you're gonna act like a jerk about things." Lila said back to him with a point of her finger, feeling him put a hand on her leg that was spread out.

"Okay, okay, I see where you're coming from, all right?" he asked, clearly not wanting to get into it with her right now, infront of everyone.

"Promise me nothing's happening between you two." Kie spoke up with a raised eyebrow, crossing her arms.

"Me and Lila?" John B asked confused as Kie glared.

"No! You and Sarah!" the only other girl yelled as she gave him a look of disbelief.

"Nothing is happening, Kie." John B said with a shake of his head, avoiding eye contact.

"I'm being serious. This isn't about you, and this isn't about us. This is about her. Dude, she's gonna get inside your head. Just promise me nothings happening between you guys." Kie said as she stared at him. Kie's words made Lila stop for a second, get inside your head. Did that happen to her already? Was it a Cameron thing? Did Rafe get inside her head and blind her with his sweet side.

Yeah. He did.

"I promise." John B mumbled as he stared at her, JJ and Pope sharing a look.

"That was really believable." the blonde boy spoke up sarcastically.

"A hundred percent believable." Pope added in with a nod to his head, bouncing off JJs words.

"Anyways um... i'm gonna take care of business." John B spoke up, getting the conversation off of Sarah.

"You're gonna take care of that so well." JJ nodded as Lila nudged him for Kie's sake.

"We'll just sit here... in the hot ass car." Pope said with a huff as John B crawled out and headed into the woods.

"You can literally have anyone you want, Lila. You're really gonna settle for Rafe Cameron? A Kook jackass?" JJ asked her with raise eyebrows, the conservative turning to Lilas choices the second John B left.

"Can you just drop it, JJ?" Lila asked with a knowing look.

"What do you even see in him anyways?" Pope asked her with frowned eyebrows, still not understanding how Lila, the girl he'd grown to bond with, was into Rafe, the asshole who made their lives miserable.

"It's different when it's just me." Lila tried to defend herself as Kie rolled her eyes.

"That's a shitty answer." the girl said as JJ hummed in response.

"You guys just don't understand, okay? And I hope you never have to because all three of you deserve the best human beings in the world. But I can't just end things with us, not now at least. I should have listened to you guys, I know this. I wish I would have too. And what Kie said earlier about being being blinded is really accurate. I wish I could give you guys a better answer but I really just don't have one." Lila answered honestly, tired of having to beat around the truth about her emotions. So she told them, because she trusted them more then anyone, more then Rafe.

"You deserve the best human being too though. You have to know that, Lila." Kie spoke softly to her, pressing her hand on top of Lilas. The blonde felt a pang in her heart, not knowing if it was a pang of reality or a pang of hurt or a pang of love, either way, she felt it.

"Wait, do you guys here that?" Kie spoke up, cutting Lila off before she could speak up.

"Someone help!" Sarah's voice yelled as Lila shot up.

"That's Sarah." she said, quickly getting out of the van and running off toward the sound of the girls voice, the trio not too far behind her. As they got closer the four could see Sarah cradling John B's limb body in her arms, sobbing.

"Sarah, what happened?" Pope yelled as he fell to their side. Lila froze, staring at his body. She tried to get her legs to move, not being able to link her limbs with her brain.

"I don't know what to do. He needs help, Topper shoved him." Sarah sobbed as the name of the boy brought Lila back to reality, falling to the ground with Sarah as she looked over John B's body. Putting a hand to his neck, she felt a pulse.

"Where the hell is he?" JJ asked as he looked around for the blonde boy.

"Please, please, get help. I don't care who. Just call someone." Sarah sobbed as Lila put a arm around her, putting her other hand on John B's chest to let him know she was there.

"Go, go!" JJ rushed Pope off for help as the tall boy took off in a sprint.

"Pope, hurry!" Kie yelled out to him before looking back down at John B.

"John B, stay with me." Sarah sobbed as she leaned down and kissed his lips. Lila blinked as she did so, looking at Kie who held the same look she did.

The Pogues stayed in the waiting room of the hospital, Sarah calling her dad a few feet away. John B arrived at the hospital about twenty minutes ago, no news sense. Lila sat with Kie, holding her hand as JJ and Pope sat across from the two. Lila left a chair open next to her incase Sarah wanted to sit down.

Ward rushed into the hospital a few minutes later, him and Sarah disappearing down the hall. Lila almost rolled her eyes at that, knowing they'd get news on him first because of their title in the town. Just when she was about to speak up a familiar voice cut in.

"Lila." Rafe said as he walked through the doors, his eyes bloodshot red as his blazer was missing, the button up and dress pants his only attire. Lila blinked up at him, not expecting Rafe to be here. And he was high, and drunk.

"What are you doing here?" Lila asked, standing to her feet and rushing toward him, knowing if he got closer someone would snap at him and cause a fight, which is the last thing anyone needed right now.

"Uh, Sarah called. She-uh, she said you'd be here." Rafe lied, leaving out the part that he was in the car with the same guy that threw her friend off of fifty feet.

"Let me take you back home, okay? You don't need to be here." Rafe shook his head quickly, sniffling as he rubbed his nose, cocaine, Lila assumed.

"I need to stay for my friends." Lila shook her head quickly, wishing like hell he was sober enough to comfort her right now.

"You can come back in the morning." Rafe continued to tell her, barely staying up right.

"Why? So I can go home and comfort your drunk ass?" she asked him with disbelief and hurt in her eyes. Rafe stayed silent for a second, knowing she was right and seeing the trio staring at the two.

"Do you- do you need anything?" Rafe now asked her, sniffling again as he coughed slightly. Lila shook her head, not wanting to talk.

"All right, i'll, um, i'll pick you up later." he said to her as Lila nodded her head, not being able to hold herself back as she hugged him tightly, her arms staying around his waist for a moment longer.

JJ looked away from the scene, Kie continuing to stare, and Pope looking at his feet. When Lila pulled away Rafe left a kiss to her forehead, the slight open of his mouth enough for her to almost chock on the smell of alcohol. And then he was gone, having Lila to turn around and sit back in her chair.

The silents between the Pogues was the worst it had ever been. No weird facts from Pope, no humor from JJ, no sass from Kie, no random phrases or jokes from Lila. It was just silents.

Lila found Kies hand again, giving it a squeeze as she leaned forward some, reaching across the aisle to wave her hand at JJ. He was confused at first, seeing her waving her hand at him before he grabbed her free hand, see her nod toward Pope as the blonde grabbed his before Pope reached across and grabbed Kies.

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soft.