If Only Rafe Cameron X Reader

Toeing the Line

Rafe's POV:

"Bye Moron" Y/N says tossing my shirt at me. I watch as she grins and leaves the room. The door shuts. 

"What am I doing?" I ask myself quietly, sighing as I lay back on my bed. I watch as the ceiling fan spins lazily above me. I must not have said that quiet enough because Wheezy barges in my room.

"You love her!" She sing-songs with a smile on her face. I sit up, startled by her statement.

"keep your mouth shut, she probably isn't even out of the house yet." I say trying to hush her. 

"Well, you do!" She whines.

"I do not Louisa" I say with a groan while standing to shut the door she left open. She gasps clapping her hands over her face.

"That's my Government name, you're in deep" She makes her way to the chair in the corner of my room and sits, pulling her feet up to a crisscross. "I see why you do! We all love her. I mean, I like her that's for sure. She always includes me when you and Sarah don't. She like my sister but better. I mean she has always been there for-" 

Because it is clear that she is rambling, I cut her off. "Wheezy, stop, I really don't think that you understand. Y/N is my friend, just my friend." Its not like I hadn't thought of it before, I mean the whole reason we became friends was because I thought that she was attractive, I- well, she is attractive. Its not like I don't see that anymore. She's beautiful; the way her hair shines in the sun, the way her laugh echoes on Tannyhill's walls, I can almost hear it even when she isn't here. I look over to Wheezy as she breaks the silence and interrupts my thoughts.

"Sorry". She frowns and looks down at her lap. A moment passes and Wheezy gets up to walk out of the door. She stops at the doorway and turns back, "You know, if its because she is a Pogue just say that."

"That's not why- " but its too late to say anything because she is already out the door. The truth is, that is the reason, but its not that I feel that way about her. I mean, I did before. I used to sneak around to hang with her because I didn't want my friends to see that I was slumming it. I used to be a horrible person. I only hung around her in hopes that she would give it up. It wasn't until I saw what her father did to her, that I changed my perspective. 

She was just like me. Bruises and all. I stood outside that door as he yelled at her. Frozen in fear, his screams reminding me of my own father. It was the moment he laid hands on her that I finally made some movement. I stormed in that house with no idea or plan, but I knew I had to. In that moment she was me and I was her. I knew her soul was begging for a savior, just like I had been all these years. And if a savior is what she needed, that's what I was going to be.

That changed my perspective, changed everything really. I loathe the guy I was before then, but I don't regret him, If I took it all back, I would have never been there to help her. Would she have fallen into the same pattern that my father and I share? Would she wake up in the morning and fear walking through the house, as I do? I wouldn't wish this on her. I had to get her out, regardless of why I was there to begin with.

The reality of the situation is that dad doesn't like her. He thinks she is a disgrace to the family name. This is as close to her as I can be without him killing me. 

I lay back on my bed and once again, my gaze meets the fan. It lulls me to sleep and I wake to the chime of my phone. I roll over and check the time. Its 10:15am, and I have a message from dad.

We Need to talk, please make your way to the dock when you decide to get out of bed and be productive.

"Dad, Shit" I say to myself. I get up and grab that polo that Y/N slept in and a pair of shorts. It smells like her so I take it off and place it on the bed to grab another one. I don't know why but I want to preserve that for a little longer.