RAFE CONFRONTING ME - (OUTER BANKS DR)
melodic notes and guitar strings squeaking underneath aurora’s fingertips filled the comfortable silence of the belmont family’s backyard. there was a house party – and by extension, a beach party – going on behind her, celebrating the discovery of the city of gold, el dorado. rory was part of the crew that found it; her, john b., pope, and the rest of the pogues found it, even after getting chased down by some greedy guy who wanted it for himself.
usually, aurora was all for parties and celebration, but tonight? she wasn’t feeling it.
not when she had to see rafe with his arm around someone else’s waist. not when she had to get unlucky and glance over at him right when he pressed a soft peck to sofia’s lips.
just thinking about it made her play the wrong note, the discordant sound startling her out of her thoughts. a grimace crossed over aurora’s face, her hands stilling against the six-string. rafe was taking up too much of her brain, just for him not to be thinking of her at all. love was cruel that way–unrequited love, anyway. there was a certain dread in knowing that the person you loved had someone else occupying their thoughts, someone else taking up their quality time. someone else seeing them at their highs and lows.
she knew she shouldn’t be dwelling over something she knew was over, but the girl couldn’t help it. rafe was just too good at weaving his words, too good at creating a fantasy in her mind with looks alone. she fell for it completely, and nothing could beat the utter feeling of stupidity that kept cycling through her mind. aurora placed her guitar on the grass beside her; plucking at strings and jumbling nonsensical lyrics together wouldn’t fill this emptiness she felt.
instead, rory decided to watch the stars–the various constellations that twinkled and blinked in the night sky, begging for someone to watch them shine. tonight, they had a spectator. a lonely girl searching for an answer in a sea of lights that couldn’t talk back.
aurora had a spectator, too. one she really didn’t want to see at the moment.
“didn’t take you as the brooding type. sitting all alone out here with your little guitar. don’t you think it’s late for writing love songs, aurora?”
rafe spoke from behind her, each of his words slicing at her heart individually. rory didn’t even want to look at him, in case his new girlfriend had tagged along. she wasn’t in the mood for introductions.
typically, when people didn’t respond to someone, that was a sign to leave them alone. but rafe was persistent in his jabs, obnoxious with his constant presence. that used to be a blessing in rory’s eyes, but now she felt like she couldn’t breathe. not with him around.
“come on, rory. the hell are you doing out here? i came here for you, remember? you know i can’t stand being around those dumbasses for more than five minutes.”
aurora’s eyes fell from the luminescent mosaic above her, hesitant to face the source of her pain. they did, nonetheless. glancing at the man standing behind her, trying their best to convey any other emotion other than anguish.
“i didn’t think you’d actually show,” she spoke quietly, taking her time to stand and face rafe. a chill passed over her brown skin, raising goosebumps across her arms. “could’ve skipped out on it. i wouldn’t have been mad.”
rory could see the gears working in rafe’s head, could see the confusion flickering in his gaze. she knew she was acting weird. there was no interaction between the two of them that lacked the back-and-forth banter and the side comments. his lips twitched, and he shoved his hands into his pockets.
hadn’t they passed the stage of awkward encounters?
“sofia wanted to support you guys,” rafe replied, his words a tad too sharp for the mood of the conversation. he was just as out of his depth as aurora was. “plus…i had assumed you at least wanted to see me. maybe rub your victory in my face like you usually do.”
“...what’s going on with you, aurora? did i do something? is someone bothering you? ‘cause this isn’t like you.”
at that, aurora bristled. the more he spoke, the more her emotions acted against her. her emotions were telling her to rip open her chest and bare all her feelings for rafe, her dignity be damned. she could tell him how much it fucking hurt to see his smile shine the brightest when he’s with her. how much her chest ached when sofia was all he could talk about during their time together. there was so much aurora was holding back, and all she wanted to do was scream at the top of her lungs, to get rafe to finally realize he should be with her and not sofia.
none of that came to the surface, though.
instead, aurora blinked once, twice, then three times. her brain searching for a reply that didn’t show how desperate she was.
she came up empty-handed.
“how do you know what i’m really like?” she whispered, her words barely reaching rafe’s ears before the summer breeze snuffed them out.
rafe scoffed, his eyes landing on the roaring party going on behind him before they returned to aurora. he didn’t know what the hell was going on, but it was clear she wasn’t okay. even when she was stressed, aurora knew how to recover. it was something she prided herself on, and something rafe reluctantly admired her for. so he seriously didn’t understand why she had that look on her face–a look that showed she was bottling up far too much.
“are you fuckin’ kidding me, rory? i– we’ve spent so many nights together, and now you’re trying to say i don’t know you?” rafe asked incredulously, his fingers twitching at his side. “i mean, come on. let’s not act like we’re not friends now. i don’t know what the hell you did, but…you got me to like you. you got me to…to…i don’t know, like having you around. and we joke, sure, but i thought it was obvious that none of it meant anything.”
rafe continued to stare at aurora, his eyes scouring her expression for an answer. a reaction. anything.
“look, i know sofia has been takin’ me away from our usual meetups, but…but that’s my girlfriend, rory. she’s amazing. and i thought you would be happy for me, with how you reacted when i first told you about her. i didn’t think you’d become so distant.”
rafe shoved his hands into his khaki shorts, his polo’s collar suddenly a bit too snug to his neck for his liking. it was starting to get hot and uncomfortable.
“look. i don’t know what the hell’s going on with you, but i don’t fuckin’ like it. so whatever you need to say…whatever you need to get off your chest? just say it. because you’re…you’re acting weird, and i don’t know what i did wrong.”
their gazes met each other’s, and for a second, it seemed like the world stopped spinning.
for a second, it felt like aurora didn’t have to breathe, nor blink.
it felt like time paused, allotting her some time to decide whether she was going to ruin the friendship she had spent so much time building, or destroy herself.
rafe wasn’t making it any easier, either. with that confused, almost desperate glint in his eyes, begging her to open up and finally spill everything she’d been holding in for months. the temptation clawed at her ribs, prodding at the pounding organ underneath.
she was going to fuck this up. for the first time in years, aurora was going to fuck something up royally. and rafe cameron was the one taking the fallout.
her lips parted on a sorry explanation on everything rushing through her mind at mach speed, the words not nearly enough to suit this confrontation. she could already feel the imminent rejection surging through her like a bullet, searing through her heart and tearing its way through the countless walls she had built to protect herself from something like this.
i should’ve listened to the pogues. this was a mistake.
but just as the first syllable fell from rory’s lips, the rest of her sentence lodged in her throat. her eyes drifted towards the woman jogging over to them, her radiant smile and friendly chestnut eyes too gorgeous to ever forget.
“rafe, come on! they’re doing shots out on the beach.”
aurora’s eyes went straight back to rafe, and much to her dismay, he was already being pulled away from the conversation. rafe turned to face sofia, a crooked, almost nervous smile severing the tension between him and aurora.
“baby, give me a second, alright? i’ll be out in just a bit,” he spoke softly, pressing a few kisses to sofia’s forehead before sending her back towards the belmont estate. he didn’t turn back to aurora, which only made this moment feel ten times worse.
“…i’ll give you some time to think on it. to figure out how you want to say it. but…you don’t have to take shit on alone, alright? i got you, rory. always have, always will. no matter how much you want to think otherwise.”
the silence stretched between them, with rafe not moving an inch. he didn’t want to leave her behind. not when aurora was so vulnerable, so lost on what to do.
but he had to make a choice. and right now, his girlfriend wanted him there with her.
at first, he only took one step. aurora’s eyes were starting to glisten now, her body instinctively turning away from anyone watching her. she didn’t need rafe to see her cry right now. her pride and dignity were already in pieces at her feet.
one step became two, two became four, and four became enough steps for aurora not to hear him anyway.
she had gotten out of the sudden confession, but at what cost? it was only a temporary respite, a brief buffer from the heartbreak that was destined to hit her like a truck.
aurora glanced up at the stars again, tears blurring her vision too much for her to see any signs they were sending her. she bit her lip, stuffing down the sob that was about to claw its way from her throat.
in the end, no one else could handle this except her, and the only way out of this was through.
END OF POST - HAPPY SHIFTING!
note… this is old, but i didn’t post it i think! if i did pls let me know…i don’t wanna make a fool of myself. the third one is in progress…but i’m rusty. trying to get out of writer’s block once again smh
tags… @avelineshifts @julianasversee @visualcve @miaojune
