ON THIN ICE (PART 1)
pairing: college!hockey!Rafe x Reader
summary: you've heard the rumors about Rafe. aggressive on the ice and a sweettalker to any girl he lays eyes on. what happens when his next target is you?
wc: 2.5k
warnings: 18+ eventual smut/fwb, but this will be a series
a/n: inspired by my college experience since it's been almost a year since graduation! but Rafe is so much more fun and interesting ~
banner by @uzmacchiato
Where you sit in class at college usually determined where you would sit for most of the year, so it was a very important decision. Usually, you would pick a seat next to a girl who looked friendly. Rarely, you would sit next to a guy if he was incredibly hot. But unfortunately today, you were early.
The classroom had three tables arranged like a U. Chairs sat outside of the table, 15 total. Small class, but that was expected. It was only an hour, and supposed to be an easy A. It was basically a class on study skills. Time management, focus, motivation. A good way to boost your GPA.
But you were early enough that only one person was in the room. He was seated right in front of you, at the first table, his short hair dyed blue like he was fully committed to supporting the Duke Blue Devils. It felt wrong to sit far away from the only other person in the room, so you took a seat next to him, relieved when he smiled warmly at you.
The rest of the class filed in slowly, an almost even mix of girls and guys. One of the last to arrive sauntered in, taking a seat beside the guy next to you. They fist bumped, clearly recognizing each other. And you couldn’t help but notice he looked familiar. You’d definitely seen those piercing blue eyes before. But where?
The professor introduced herself as Ms. Smith. A boring name for an easy class, but she seemed very sweet. Her voice was soft as she called out attendance. You almost missed it when she called out your name. She moved through the short list quickly.
“Ah, Rafe Cameron?” She widened her warm brown eyes, searching the room.
“Present.” The boy with the blue eyes muttered. Rafe. That’s right. He was the hockey player the girls in your dorm talked about. Well, they talked about a lot of the hockey players, but you had been to a few games last year and remembered him well. He was a forward. Aggressive, mouthy, fast, and very, very, good. And apparently very good in bed. You quickly looked away from him, like he'd catch you staring.
“Alright, I want you to introduce yourself to the people to your left and right. Take a minute to get to know each other.” Ms. Smith announced, taking a seat at her desk on the other side of the room.
“Hi, I’m Evan.” The blue haired boy next to you spoke before it could get awkward. You introduced yourself, mentioning your major in finance. He tells you he hasn’t picked a major yet, but he’s a freshman playing soccer at Duke.
Next up was the girl to your left, her dark curly hair piled into a messy bun. Her green eyes were striking against her tan skin. She tells you her name is Meghan, a sophomore in communications.
Ms. Smith starts her lecture on time management, her voice the perfect cadence to lull you to sleep. You would have, if it weren’t for the athlete boys next to you chattering under their breath and chuckling at every little thing. Evan seemed nice enough, but you’d heard enough about male athletes to want nothing to do with them. Egotistical assholes who only cared about themselves. No thanks.
Ms. Smith had other plans, though. She divided the class up into their first group assignment, pointing out every other person. That paired you up with none other than Rafe Cameron. And knowing that he was the only hockey player you remembered by name, he probably had an ego the size of North Carolina.
Rafe introduces himself to you with a casual confidence that you envy, like he doesn’t expect you to know who he is but he wouldn’t be surprised if you did. He takes a moment to learn your name, and then oddly enough, he gets started on the assignment. You expected some goofing off with his buddies, or a complete disinterest altogether. But he takes charge, asking for your input now and then.
At the end of class, it feels like it will be easy enough to get an A and that you made the right decision signing up. The rest of the week, you focus on your new routine for the semester. When to get coffee between classes. The café you like to eat at that still takes your student card and is cheaper than the dining hall, even if it’s a bit further away.
You had no intention of including Rafe Cameron in your routine, but he seemed to have other ideas. Any time Ms. Smith suggested pairing up for class, he would corral you and Evan before either of you could speak. His excuse was that there had to be one group of three with the 15 students, so it might as well be you three. Nevermind the fact that you had wanted to get to know Meghan a little.
Two weeks later, you tried to be quick when Ms. Smith asks you to pair up. You turned to Meghan, hoping she would turn to face you, when someone to your right cleared their throat. You turn to Evan, who looked at you sheepishly. Rafe, on the other hand, was faking a pout.
“Not gonna join us, partner?” He accused.
“I-” You looked over at Meghan, who was already pairing up to the blonde girl who always sat next to her. “Don’t you have a hockey friend you’d rather have in the group?” You nod at the ginger guy next to Rafe.
“Holiday? He’s my roommate. I see enough of him.” Rafe shrugs. Holiday. So, the guy with orange hair came from a hockey family. His dad definitely played: Roger Holiday. Maybe his grandpa, too, if you remembered right. You could bet his ego was worse than Rafe’s.
“Fine.” You say, crossing your arms. You give Evan a gentle smile, not wanting him to think your irritation was at him. The assignment was simple enough, and as soon as class was dismissed, you nearly sprinted to Meghan to chat with her. You hadn’t been out yet, and were craving a night out with some girls.
Lucky for you, Meghan agrees, and the two of you hit the bars on Friday night. Your roommate and few other girls from class are supposed to meet up with you at the only club on campus later, but you take Meghan to your favorite bar. It has a ton of retro arcade games, and you used to come here whenever you visited your older brothers before they graduated.
“Wanna play against me?” You ask Meghan, sticking some tokens in for the Mortal Kombat game.
“Um, sure,” She smiles hesitantly. “It’s like boxing, right?”
“Yeah. Those buttons say what they do when you press ‘em. But no pressure.” You tell her, sifting through the characters.
“Oh! The hockey team is here!” She practically squeals, turning her head to the entrance.
“Nice.” You comment, picking Kitana as your player.
“You’ve been talking to Rafe, right? He’s so cute.” She gushes, and you finally glance away from the screen. Meghan’s actually blushing, her cheeks matching the lip gloss she had put on.
“Uh,” You stammer, her enthusiasm catching you off guard. “Not really.”
“Oh, come on! He always picks you as his partner in class.”
“He picks me and Evan.” You remind her, shrugging.
“Well, I saw him make a big stink when you tried to match up with someone else.” She wags her eyebrows suggestively, making you laugh. “If you won’t talk to them, I will. I’ve got a bit of crush. Is it okay if I go say hi?” Her green eyes widen, glancing back at the screen for a second. You could tell she didn’t seem super interested in playing video games, and didn’t want to keep her from talking to any boys she liked.
“Yeah, go for it! Good luck!” You try to match her enthusiasm, and she grins before sauntering off. You turn back to your game, choosing to go against the computer this round. You were rusty anyway. You get into a rhythm, starting another match when a voice interrupts you.
“Now, what kind of guy would leave a pretty girl like you all by yourself at this game?”
You freeze. You knew that voice.
Sure enough, when you turn your head, Rafe Cameron is standing behind you. For a moment, he seems taken aback, like he didn’t fully recognize you in a full face of makeup. But then his smirk returns. His eyes quickly skim your outfit, and you try to stand a little taller and more confidently.
“Hey, partner. Mind if I join you?” He asks, nodding at the game.
“Sure.” You take a moment to let the computer win before adding some tokens for another match.
You can feel adrenaline starting to simmer under your skin. Growing up with two brothers had made you competitive, or you were born that way and never grew out of it with them around. You could feel your fingers tense in anticipation as Rafe chose his character. After an excruciatingly long time deliberating, he chose Sub Zero. You picked Kitana again, going with your most comfortable.
At the start of the first round, you landed a couple hits off the bat, getting your confidence up. Rafe cursed under his breath, noticing that you were all in. He cleared his throat, and landed a few kicks. You blocked one, and started to attack again.
“Jesus, do you just button mash?” Rafe commented, voice low.
“What?” You scoff. “I know what buttons I’m pressing.”
“Doesn’t mean you’re not button mashing.” He replies, and your focus is so thrown off that he wins the round.
“You bitch.” You mutter, glaring at him.
“Watch your language.” He smirks, getting ready for the next round.
This time, you force yourself not to be distracted by him. He tries to make a few more comments, but you ignore him and win that round, and then the next. With the match won, you look up at him in satisfaction. You expect him to look angry or annoyed, but his bright blue eyes are glinting like you just stepped up to the challenge.
“My turf next.” He nods his head over to the air hockey table.
“Shouldn’t that be an easy win for you?” You raise a brow.
“Why don’t you find out? Unless you’re too much of a pussy.”
“Please, don’t say that.” You roll your eyes.
“Chicken.” He counters.
“You’re on, but I need to buy some more tokens.”
“I can-” He starts before you cut him off.
“Nope. I do not want to owe you in any way.” With that, you walk over to the token machine, eyes scanning for Meghan. She’s talking to another hockey player, a super tall one with tanned skin. When she catches your eye, she gives you a thumbs up, and you can’t help but smile. Once you scan your card and grab the tokens, you start to make your way back until shrill laughter stops you in your tracks.
A group of girls have surrounded Rafe at the air hockey table, all trying to talk to him and fiddling with the pieces of the game. They’re all fairly tipsy, but clearly happy to have run into a hockey player that they know. You find yourself standing there, tokens in hand as you hear some of them ask if they can play the game with him. And honestly, they’re stunning. Beautiful, confident girls that Rafe would probably be more than happy to drop you for. You start to head back to Mortal Kombat when you hear Rafe speak up.
“Actually, I was playing with her.”
You turn to Rafe, meeting his eyes as the gaggle of fangirls stares at you. He tilts his chin up, as if urging you to ignore them and come back. And for some reason, you do. The girls get flustered, saying goodbye to both of you and wishing him a good night as they scurry away. And then it’s just you two, facing off over the air hockey table.
Unsurprisingly, Rafe wins all three rounds. He’s too quick, his reflexes too fast. It’s not even close, and if he weren’t an athlete you’d be a little embarrassed. You roll your eyes when he celebrates like he just won the rival game in overtime.
“Okay, ready to get back to your teammates?” You try to bring him back to reality.
“What? No. They don’t give a shit. They’re down to leave without me.” He says dismissively.
“Watch your language.” You retort, and that gleam in his eyes is back.
“Besides, partner, we’re now 1 to 1 at these games. We gotta play at least one more to see the real winner.”
“Fine. Pick a game that’s not basically what you do for a living.” You tease, secretly loving the challenge. He pretends to be annoyed at you, shaking his head. Walking around the arcade, he slows in front of the basketball hoops. What he doesn’t know is that you played for a few years. Not good enough to be a college athlete, but good enough for high school. You try to play it off and act nervous.
“How about this one?” Rafe’s smile grows.
“I don’t know…” You trail off, pretending to scan the arcade.
“We’re doing this one. Give me the tokens or I’m buying.” He insists, and you do everything you can to hold back a smirk. Hook, line, and sinker.
You make the most shots each round easily, giggling at Rafe’s grunts of frustration. You shrug as if it was an accident, as if you got lucky. But he’s not buying it, his mouth set in a thin line.
“That how you wanna play, partner?” He growls in a way that makes your cheeks flush, and you work to keep your composure.
“It’s only fair. You made me play air hockey.” You bat your lashes, playing innocent. “Looks like I win.”
“Nah,” He shakes his head, marching up to a racing car game that’s nearly enclosed. “One more. Let’s go.”
“Rafe,” You hesitate, looking back at Meghan. She seemed fine talking to the other boys, and some of the girls from class had shown up. But you weren’t planning on ignoring them all night.
“What, afraid you’ll lose?” He already knows that’ll get under your skin. Of course it does. You sigh, taking a seat at the racecar next to him. Dropping in the tokens, you wait for him to pick a race course, but he’s just looking at you.
His blue eyes are still confident, amused, determined. But he doesn’t say anything. It’s like he’s finally taking you in now that you’ve both paused. Suddenly, you’re aware of how close together you two are in this stupid arcade game. And suddenly, it feels too hot, his gaze too intense, yet you can’t look away.
A loud smack on the back of the racecar seats startles you both. You turn to see some of the hockey boys peering in, and you try to look as unassuming and normal as possible.
“Cameron!” One of them calls. “Let’s go. Reyes is looking for you.” “Ah, shit. Sorry.” Rafe says to you, chuckling as he slides out of the racecar seat. “This isn’t over, okay? Find me tonight.” He leaves you with a wink.
next>
