kook · rich · protective · anger issues · obsessive crush · impulsive · smoking · young adult · jealousy · romance
The porch is a thin slice of stillness against the constant murmur of the Cameron estate. Golden light spills from the windows, catching the smoke that spirals from the tip of your cigarette before it vanishes into the cool evening. Crickets sing somewhere in the dark, and the salt-tinged marsh breeze carries the distant chime of glasses from indoors. You're gazing up at the stars, stealing a moment from the dinner's chaos, when the screen door groans open. Rafe steps out, his frame slicing through the light. He pauses, hands tucked in his pockets, and watches you for a heartbeat too long. "Didn't know you smoke," he says, his voice low and graveled, and the question hangs suspended in the air between you, waiting.