outerbanks imagines.

sounds like heaven-rafe.

"don't you know who that is?"

"don't you know what he's done?"

"why would you waste your breath on that bastard?"

"do you have a death wish?"

but all y/n do is stand there with a smile of disbelief.
"he's not that bad, is he?"
"he thinks the sun comes up just to hear him crow,"
kie states.
y/n is sure she's heard that phrase slip from their southern mothers lips,
but she says none of this.
instead,
she widens her smile and proclaims,
"he's not that bad."
sarah cameron rolls her eyes.
she loves her friend,
but when she has her mind made up,
there's no changing it.
better to let her live her life than waste a good friday night worrying over nothing.
so,
sarah cameron raises her cup and cheers,
"to y/n and her kindness that does not discriminate!"
red cups clink to celebrate before friends collapse into their laughter,
where y/n's lively chime will make its travel to rafe cameron.
the boy who has devoted his entire self to her since the beginning.
***
"well, what god do i have to thank for bringing you here?"
y/n looks up from the book propped against her knees to find barry standing just mere inches away,
smiling wide in her presence.
she eagerly returns the smile accompanied with a wave,
then calls,
"wanna join me?"
so, he does.
barry takes his seat beside y/n,
who's spent the better half of her morning on the edge of the lake,
surrounded by high grass and bees who hum in her ear.
if barry didn't know any better,
he might think y/n was a doe reincarnated.
"what are you doing out here so early?"
barry asks.
y/n shrugs and toys with the pages of her book.
"i come out here to read before starting my day. helps to restart my mind, you know?"
barry doesn't know,
but he nods his head anyways.
"you?"
barry hasn't been to sleep since the night before and it's clear in his eyes,
but y/n doesn't ask.
"just getting a head start,"
he fibs.
there's a glimmer in y/n's eyes that awakens this insatiable hunger in barry.
he cannot explain it nor put words to it,
but it's there all the same.
of course if he'd said this aloud,
y/n would have the answer.
she's seen it plenty of times to know:
"it's a man's will. all of you see something bright and innocent and want to watch it die beneath your foot."
so the silence stretches between them.
the girl who sits patiently,
unknowingly a new victim to his games.
and the boy,
who wants to know how far he can take this.
"hey, y/n...would you mind doing something for me?"
could she say no to eyes as sharp as his?
of course not.
watch how his blinks are calculated in anticipation,
watch as he gazes over her and drinks her in,
watch as she comes alive beneath his praise.
"sure. anything."
a wide grin grows on barry's lips.
he couldn't have imagined a more perfect response to encourage these sick desires.
"i have a friend who's waiting for me to give him something soon. i'd like you to come with."
corruption lingers in the air and y/n sucks it into her lungs with a head held high.
"yeah. let's go."

wouldn't this be the funniest thing to rub into loverboy,
rafe cameron's,
face?
the only person in the outerbanks who is ignorant to rafe's love for y/n is the girl herself.
she sits comfortably in barry's passenger seat,
dancing her fingers to the sound of the music playing.
all he can do is watch.
she is beautiful,
there's no denying that.
but there's something about those cheeks bright with the possibility of life that are begging for a poisoned kiss.
so what does barry do?
the moment they're sitting at a red light,
he leans over the console and lays his undeserving, yet hungry, lips to her cheek.
y/n becomes undone the moment he parts from her,
leaving a trail of heat in his wake.
"you're beautiful, you know?"
he wonders with a look of curiosity;
the way a scientist might look at it's greatest creation.
"thank you."
her voice is soft with the influence of flattery,
but it's soon interrupted by the stopping of barry's car.
"take this, will you?"
barry asks as he hands y/n a wrinkled brown paper bag.
she doesn't look inside it for her sake;
better to leave the unknown as it is.
"behind this house, there's a porch. sit on the step and wait for the guy to show up and buy it."
y/n nods in understanding,
but before barry completely releases the bag into her clutch,
he warns,
"you get the money before he gets this, okay?"
why is he speaking to me like a child?
y/n silently wonders,
but speaks nothing of this.
she nods her head instead.
"who is this man? he won't hurt me, will he?"
"oh, no. never."
barry's smile is something sick,
but y/n notices nothing of this.
she finds the bit of adventure rather thrilling;
something sweet to take home to her friends.
though she can already see their judging looks and words following a sigh,
nothing can hide the eyes that come alive beneath gossip.
it's a woman's favorite treat and she would never deny her friends the glory of a good story.
so, y/n waits on the porch step for the sounds of an arriving man who will trade her a good sum of money for whatever lies in this paper bag.
though never,
did she expect it to be rafe cameron.
"y/n?"
he claims incredulously upon his arrival.
his voice sounds accusing,
but y/n brings him into a hug and releases a sigh she didn't know she had been holding.
"oh, my god. i didn't know it was you!"
she informs,
buried into his neck.
where the words of y/n hum against his skin,
follows a bout of chills throughout his body.
"i thought he might've been tricking me, but he wasn't!"
it takes all the strength in rafe's arms to pull her away.
"barry? you're talking about barry?"
"yeah. i suppose he wanted me to surprise you."
rafe can't decide if that innocent smile on her lips is infuriating or breathtaking.
can it be both?
"jesus christ,"
he groans into his hands.
there begins the surge of anger.
"you shouldn't be here, y/n."
y/n furrows her eyebrows at this.
"neither should you. sarah told me you were sober."
"i am!"
he hadn't meant to yell,
but how could she doubt his sobriety when it had been her mere existence that encouraged him to find it?
"doesn't look like it."
"goddamn it, y/n."
rafe rips the bag from her hands,
where she warns that he's supposed to pay first.
but he hears none of this,
only pulls out the plastic bag holding tiny stems of a green plant.
"it's a little bit of fucking weed. anything else you want to accuse me of?"
y/n softens at this and shakes her head.
"no, that's not what i meant. i'm sorry."
she takes a step closer to him and the warming blood in his veins finds tranquility.
her scent stifles him,
but he finds silent enjoyment in the suffocation.
"i just...i mean, what am i supposed to think when you're buying from barry?"
"you're not supposed to think anything because you're not supposed to fucking be here."
y/n doesn't flinch away at his firm voice or his cursing.
she knows rafe and the tender heart caged in his chest.
how could she be scared of the boy who taught her what love was?
who encouraged her softness and never once shamed her for those tender feelings?
"you don't have to talk to me that way."
she isn't criticizing him,
but merely reminding him.
rafe could drop to his knees and kiss her godly feet for bringing him alive and pardoning his sins without so much as a second glance.
"you're right. i'm sorry. just...please...just please go home,"
rafe practically begs.
"barry isn't bad, rafe! he's actually sweet."
hearing her speak so highly of the man who is less than deserving of it sends a piercing pain throughout rafe's body.
he turns away from y/n and makes way to where he knows barry is waiting.
lo and behold,
barry rests against the hood of his car with an evil smirk plastered across his face.
"rafe! my man. good to see you."
"the hell are you playing at?"
rafe demands to know.
barry simply shrugs,
as if he doesn't know what rafe is referring to.
"the girl wanted to come. how could i say no to such a pretty face like that?"
"you're lucky she's here right now or i'd slam your head into this fuckin' road."
barry narrows his eyes at rafe's threat.
he's surprised to hear how genuine it is and to see his eyes aflame with such fury.
a man in love,
barry figures with a grin.
if he plays his cards right,
he might be able to drag this out a little while longer.
all so rafe cameron can squirm beneath his thumb.
"do it, rafe. and watch her hate you for it."
"she doesn't give a damn about you, barry. stop overplaying your role in anyones life. you're worthless."
barry shrugs the insult off to say,
"she was willing to sell my shit to some random man. what else do you think i can get her to do?"
rafe breaks beneath the image of it and pushes barry back,
which forces y/n to intervene with a sharp yell.
"rafe cameron, have you lost your damn mind?"
"yeah, have you?"
barry questions with that same sick grin.
y/n turns her attention towards barry to demand,
"you shut your mouth, too. both of you are being childish right now."
the silence thickens until rafe interrupts it with a tender,
"come home with me, y/n. please."
barry doesn't want to let go of her so soon,
not when they are just beginning.
despite his ulterior motives of angering rafe,
he rather enjoys y/n's presence.
she is easygoing and understanding.
god knows when barry will find company like that again.
"y/n, don't let him boss you around. if you want to ride around with me, then do it."
so here she stands,
in the middle of this dispute that has no right answer.
y/n is at an impasse.
she makes no noise,
no sound of agreement,
she doesn't even look at either of them.
then rafe steps forward with eyes of heavy desperation.
like if y/n doesn't go with him,
the rejection might cause him to collapse.
and well,
y/n has to face it:
barry is practically a stranger.
sure,
the thrill of it all was nearly addicting and wringing barry of answers might have been fun,
but she couldn't ensure her safety in his presence.
he took advantage of her kindness in the mere hour he'd known her,
there's no telling what he might do using his silver-coated tongue.
besides,
how could she deny rafe anything?
especially when his palms were always wide open for her?
so with a heavy sigh that often follows y/n's deciding words,
she declares,
"come on, rafe. let's go home."
***
rafe had dropped her off at home after the debacle and she hadn't heard from either of them since.
even when she relayed the story from beginning to end to her friends,
did sarah cameron say,
"i don't know. i haven't seen him all day."
it worried y/n some,
but she knew rafe could handle his own.
if he ever needed her,
all he had to do was call.
then kie groaned and claimed,
"he's never going to get over you."
"over me?"
y/n echoed in surprise.
"you can't be serious,"
sarah began with a laugh.
"you didn't know?"
"know what?"
sarah cameron and kie exchanged knowing looks then began to spill over on their laughter,
all while y/n sat in confusion.
"tell me!"
she begged her friends,
until sarah found the breath to inform her,
"rafe has been in love with you for, like, years! i thought you knew."
y/n shook her head and dismissed the claim with,
"no way. he's like...like a good friend."
"a good friend who wants to bed you, maybe,"
kie added with raised eyebrows and a giggle.
y/n would be lying if she denied ever thinking about it,
but to reach out and make it true?
the thought was too exciting,
it made her nauseous.
"i thought you knew."
y/n shrugged at sarah's words.
"how was i supposed to know?"
"uh, maybe because he never, ever stops looking at you! he never shuts up about you either. he only goes to parties when you're there and he's never as nice to anyone like he is to you. i mean, he literally asked you to his prom, y/n!"
"as friends!"
she defended,
though the point fell flat. 
rafe cameron was in love with her and y/n finally awakened to it.
if he asked her,
y/n would fall into the world of bliss awaiting them.
"i can't believe it."
"well, start believing,"
kie said.
"cause it's true."