“JUST GIVE UP, OKAY?”
MASTERLIST
“i’m just not into you like that— what the fuck more do you want me to say?”
it was public knowledge that you’d been hopelessly in love with rafe cameron for the past two years. you had to admit you didn’t try to hide it at all, chipping into conversations that he was having, always hoping he’d finally notice you.
you also knew that people felt sorry for you because rafe never hesitated to tell his friends that you weren’t his type. that he felt he was “out of your league.” the words spread around the island faster than you could pretend they didn’t bother you, and before long everyone knew exactly how one-sided your crush was.
so when you asked to grab dinner with him for the second time he laughed, making sure everyone around heard his answer.
“i don’t know rafe, im just telling you how i feel. i like you.” you say.
“yeah that’s pretty fuckin’ obvious from how you keep stalking me okay? listen, let me make it clear to you.”
you brace yourself for the worst.
“i think you’re boring, alright? there i said it.” he shrugs like it’s no big deal. “and honestly, there are plenty of girls way hotter than you so just give up okay? i would never date someone like you.”
his words stung more than you would admit. you felt your soul getting crushed as you looked around to see everyone who was now shamelessly staring at the interaction, jaw dropped. some were even laughing.
but in that moment, something clicked in you. it was like the pedestal you put him on had finally collapsed, and you started to realize how much of an asshole he was. you would never date someone who spoke to you like that. someone who would belittle you and publicly humiliate you just because you had confessed your feelings.
“okay.” you say, nodding and walking away before people around rushed over with their fake pity as they pretended to care.
you actually felt the most alive the days following that. for the first time in two years, you weren’t checking to see if rafe had shown up somewhere before deciding whether to go. you weren’t finding excuses to join conversations you weren’t welcome in just to see if he’d talk to you.
you stopped caring. and with that came a kind of freedom you hadn’t realized you’d been missing.
you started saying yes to things you’d always turned down because rafe wasn’t there. spending time with friends, laughing more, you even slept better. rafe had been sucking the life out of your eyes and people around you started to notice the change.
even rafe.
at first it was the little things. how you weren’t at every party he went to. how you stopped trying to catch his eyes across the room. how empty his phone was when you weren’t texting him asking what he’s up to. there were no awkward smiles, no nervous waves, no desperate attempts to talk to him which he had found quite funny.
it was just quiet. he figured you had finally gotten the message. that you would leave him alone and stop embarrassing him in front of his friends. and that’s exactly what he wanted wasn’t it?
but then a week passed. then two. and he couldn’t help but notice you.
when he saw you at topper’s party for the first time in weeks, he couldn’t keep his eyes off of you. you laughed louder than he ever remembered. you looked so much happier. lighter. it was like a weight had been lifted off your shoulders as he watched you take a shot with your friends, throwing your head back and giggling carelessly at something someone had said.
people gravitated toward you now. guys who had never looked your way before suddenly lingered around you, maybe because you had always been turning them down for him, or maybe because you were just glowing. he couldn’t tell.
it shouldn’t have bothered him. how you were letting guys touch your hair, put their hands on your waist and drunkenly dance with you like nothing else mattered. but it did.
he knew it was unfair to you. he had made it painfully clear that you didn’t deserve him. he was the one that humiliated you. whenever he thought back to that day you had confessed your feelings, guilt gnawed at his chest and how badly he handled the situation. he could still picture the way your face fell, how you looked around only to realize people were making a laughingstock out of you. the way you swallowed whatever you were feeling before walking away. it left such a bitter taste in his mouth.
“bro what the fuck are you thinking about? you good?” kelce interrupts his train of thought, passing a bottle of beer. “yeah-yeah i’m fine. just tired.” rafe replies, chugging the bottle as he continues to stare at you flirting with another guy across the room.
for the next few days, rafe contemplated texting you. apologizing about what he said, asking for forgiveness. ‘just to make things right,’ he convinces himself. he pulled out his phone countless times throughout the day, opening your chat. it really didn’t help that his last chat with you was when you asked, “i’m watching this tv show i think you’ll really like it! what are you up to?” to which he replied, “nothing.”
eventually, he gave up on the idea of texting and decided he would start finding you in person instead. it was never intentional. at least that’s what he told himself.
he’d stop to say hi when he passed you at the country club. strike up a conversation while you waited for your drinks at the bar. wander over if he saw you sitting on the beach with your friends. if there was an empty seat beside you at a bonfire, somehow he’d end up taking it.
and you were always polite. nothing less, nothing more. you always smiled at him, answering his questions like nothing had ever happened between you two. but that was it. no lingering conversation. you treated him exactly the same way you treated everyone else.
that stung him more than if you’d ignored him completely. and somewhere between those brief conversations, rafe started noticing things he and never paid attention to before. the way you thanked every server by name. how you remembered everyone’s birthday. the way you laughed so hard you had to grabs someone’s arm to steady yourself. how easily people gravitated toward you without you ever having to try.
he couldn’t believe he had spent the last two years reducing you to ‘the girl who had a crush on him.’ there was so much more to you than that. and the more he noticed, the heavier the guilt became.
his friends started noticing the shift in his demeanor toward you as the weeks went on. one afternoon, while driving to the golf course with topper and kelce, rafe’s eyes landed on you across the street. you were sitting at an outdoor café, an iced coffee in hand laughing with a guy he didn’t recognize.
“who’s that guy?” he asked, pointing his finger through the car window.
“some new guy who just came to town. ruthie said he’s ‘super charming’” topper answers, rolling his eyes while quoting the air.
“why’s she even talking to him?” rafe mutters, topper and kelce sending each other looks of confusion.
“why do you care? you’re the one who rejected her.” topper says.
“yeah in front of everybody too.” kelce starts. “honestly bro she’s pretty fucking hot if you look at her so i don’t know why-”
“shut up i know it was fucked up okay? i’m just saying, she could do so much better than that guy.”
“what, are you like in love with her now?” topper teases, giving rafe a shove in the shoulder jokingly.
that same night, rafe decided he had to talk to you. properly. so he called you after hours of pacing his room, phone shaking in his hand as he dialed your contact nervously. it rang three times before you picked up.
“rafe?”
his heart starts to pound as he tries to gather the words he wants to say to you.
“hey uh..what- what are you doing right now? you busy?”
“no i have time. why?”
“i-i wanted to talk to you about something.”
“sure, what’s up? is everything okay?” the concern for him in your voice after everything he’s put you through makes him wince.
“yeah, no everything’s fine. i just wanted to apologize for that day-”
“it’s fine rafe. it doesn’t matter anymore.” his heart drops as you quickly shrug it off as if it never happened.
“no-no it’s not fine. i’m really fucking sorry i acted like that,” he starts to ramble. “it was so fucked and i should have never treated you like that you know? you-you’ve always been nice to me and i just don’t know what happened but i messed up and i feel terrible-”
“i forgive you, rafe. don’t worry about it okay?”
“don’t-” he cuts himself off with a frustrated laugh. “don’t say it like that.”
“like what?”
“like it’s nothing.”
“it isn’t anymore.”
the words knock the air out of his lungs.
“no, it is something,” he says quickly. “it was fucked up. i treated you like shit.”
“you did.”
“so why are you acting like you don’t care?”
you pause for a moment before answering.
“because i don’t. not anymore at least,” your voice is calm. “it hurt for a while. then i got over it.”
rafe presses his lips together, his jaw tightening. your words hurt more than if you’d screamed at him.
“so-so that’s it?” he asks quietly. “you just… got over me?”
you let out a small laugh. “i had to eventually, rafe.”
he closes his eyes for a second. he’d spent weeks building up this conversation in his head, convinced that if he apologized, maybe he’d undo some of the damage.
“can’t we just- just talk it out in person? i can take you to dinner or something nice-”
“i would never date someone like you, rafe.”
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