𝐬𝐩𝐲 𝐠𝐚𝐦𝐞𝐬 / 𝐫𝐚𝐟𝐞 𝐜𝐚𝐦𝐞𝐫𝐨𝐧

twenty-five✰

For some reason, when I woke up this morning I had this strange feeling. A feeling that something was going to go wrong today. Things never seem to stay good for me for very long.

Okay, maybe I was wrong?

"Morning, Peanut." Rafe hummed from beside me, his eyes barely open. I softly smiled at the sight of him, his hair pointing in every direction. "How'd my girlfriend sleep last night?"

I choked on my saliva, sitting up quickly. Rafe's eyes were now open normally, the boy looking at me with a concerned expression on his face. "Did... did I say something? What's wrong?" He seemed genuinely worried.

"You called me your girlfriend." His eyes went wide, almost as if he hadn't realized that the word had come out of his mouth. "Shit." My eyes searched his, I couldn't tell if he was hurt by my reaction to him labeling me as his girlfriend or just embarrassed that he had said it before we had a conversation about it. "Is it... is it really that bad that I called you my... girlfriend?"

I shook my head, taking one of his hands in mine, and rubbing the back of it with my thumb. A small smirk showed itself on my face, "No, no. I just was unaware that Rafe Cameron had girlfriends." He scoffed and looked down at the bed, a laugh leaving his mouth. "I usually don't, but you're different Marley Redfield. You'd be my first girlfriend."

My mouth went dry. I, Marley Avery Redfield, would be Rafe Cameron's first girlfriend. Me, a Pogue. I would've never thought I'd see this day coming. "Okay." He turned his head up, furrowing his eyebrows at me, "Okay?" I nodded, smiling back at him. "I'll be your girlfriend."

Probably the biggest smile I'd ever seen from Rafe Cameron stretched across his face at my words. "I'm your boyfriend." He leaned forward, connecting our lips. This kiss was different from all of the others we've shared before. This one definitely meant more, more passion flowed through it. I could get used to this.

Rafe pulled away, pressing a quick kiss to my forehead, before getting up from his bed. He mumbled something about putting clothes on for the day, disappearing into his bathroom with clothes he'd grabbed from his dresser. Knowing that'd it be a good idea for me to also put clothes on, I crawled out of his bed before stripping off the clothes I'd stolen from him the night before. After pulling my shorts on, I still needed to slide my shirt on over my bikini top. "Wear this."

I felt something soft hit my body. My eyes located the culprit, one of Rafe's light orange tshirts laying at my feet on the floor of his room. I squatted to pick it up, standing up to stare at him, "You want me to wear your shirt?" He smirked at me and nodded. "Why wouldn't I want my girlfriend to wear my clothing?"

He had a point there.

I slid the tshirt on over my body, tucking the front of it into my shorts so it would actually look like I had pants on. I knelt down to the ground and shoved my own shirt into the backpack of my Dad's that I'd retrieved yesterday. With a playful smirk on my face, I also shoved the sweatshirt of Rafe's I'd worn the night before inside the bag. He wouldn't miss it, would he? I loved the way he smelled, his cologne coming off of the shirt I was wearing and filling my nose. Had he sprayed it before giving it to me?

Wait, love.

Rafe had told me he loved me last night. He thought I was asleep, but he definitely said it. That was why I'd stayed awake for most of the night. "Rafe?" I had said his name before fully thinking through whether or not I wanted to actually address his words or continue to pretend I hadn't heard them. "Yeah, Marls?"

I let out a shaky breath, I couldn't really back out now. "Did you... uh, you said you loved me last night." All of the color drained out of his face. Clearly he hadn't wanted me to hear his confession.

Maybe I shouldn't have brought it up.

"Uh... yeah, I guess I do. I thought you were asleep... but you obviously weren't since you heard me." We both just stood there in silence. I had no clue as to what to say now. This was big. My hands found themselves in the back pockets of my pants as I stood there awkwardly, "So-" I was cut off by Rafe, "Do you?"

I furrowed my eyebrows at the boy, "Do I, what?" He rubbed the back of his neck, his eyes looking anywhere but me, "Do you love me?" My mouth went dry. I had never even thought about the possibility of him asking me if his confession was going to be reciprocated or not.
Was I ready to admit this? Truth be told, I had no clue how I truly felt. "I, uh-" Rafe shook his head, his mood shifting dramatically. "It's a simple question, Marley. Do you, or don't you?" I was dumbfounded. Was Rafe seriously trying to force me into admitting my love for him?

"I don't know, Rafe. This... this is all so new to me! You didn't give me enough time." I frantically grabbed the backpack from the ground, sliding my shoes on as well. "Maybe in time I'll have your answer. But you can't just force me to say it now! It won't be genuine and I don't fuck around with feelings like this." That was when another thought popped into my mind and I couldn't help but become even more anxious.

I started my path toward the door of his bedroom. "Where are you going?" Rafe's attitude now a mixture of sadness, confusion, and anger. I paused with my hand on the door handle, looking back to him. "I've got unfinished business at the Chateau." His eyes widened at the sound of the location.

"You're just going to leave in the middle of this conversation? Do you even fucking care, Marley?" I ran my hands through my knotted hair, "Of course I do, Rafe! But I don't know what else you want from me right now. I'm not ready to say it and you should respect that! If you truly loved me you'd be willing to wait."

He let out a shaky breath, "Why're you going to the Chateau?" Of course, he completely ignored what I had just said. "I need to talk to JJ." I mumbled my response, knowing that Rafe wouldn't be happy with my reasoning. I avoided eye contact as I waited for him to talk again. "JJ? Seriously? The dirty fucking Pogue that can't handle a simple rejection? The one that instead of fucking dealing with the fact that you don't see him the same way decided to throw away your entire friendship? That JJ? Really fucking classy, Marley. Going back to the trash that hurt you."

I just stood there in shock.

Yeah, JJ hurt me... a lot. But we've been friends for the majority of our lives and I wasn't just going to give up. I needed to at least attempt to work things out with him. I owed him that.

"What?" I asked the boy who was supposed to be my boyfriend. "You heard me. That piece of shit doesn't deserve any of your time." Tears stung my eyes as I listened to Rafe trash someone who used to be the one person who knew me the best. "I... I have to go."
And with that, I left Rafe's bedroom. I ignored his calls for me to come back. I even ignored the calls of Sarah and John B who just so happened to be in the hallway at the time of mine and Rafe's fight. I needed to talk to JJ, no matter what anyone said. That stupid blonde boy had worked his way into my heart all of those years ago and I wasn't just about to let him go that easily.

Turns out I was right about things going to shit today.

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☯︎☯︎☯︎☯︎☯︎☯︎☯︎☯︎☯︎☯︎☯︎

A/N!

sorry for that emotional roller coaster lol