'Safe with Rafe' Y/N x Rafe Cameron

Chapter LI

"Can I...." Rafe begins, leaving your side to approach Jj, "can I talk to you? Privately."

Jj takes a few steps forward, adding to the animosity of the situation.
"Whatever you wanna say, you can say it to me here." Jj's says sternly.
Rafe flashes a looming smile as he shakes his overhanging head, "you don't want me to do that."
"Oh, I think I do."
"Fine, suit yourself." Rafe says, stopping his body directly in front of Jj's as he staunches taller above him.
"It's obvious that you're desperately in love with Y/N but cut her some slack. She can't help anything that happens to her and you're just taking your big baby tantrum out on her because you feel like you're losing her." He says in a monotone voice,
"and that's not fair."

Jj stands speechless, his mouth slightly agape as his eyes dart around to his friends while they stare pitifully at the blonde boy. He avoids looking at you for as long as he can before finally glancing over to meet your heartsick eyes, last of the bunch. Your rare show of this particular expression makes his heart drop to his stomach, unsure if he should feel humiliated or apologetic.
The uncertainty tears him into two.

"What?" You murmur under your breath.
"I..." Jj struggles to find the words, shaking his head in defeat before averting his gaze back to Rafe in front of him.
"They- we are sick of your shit." Rafe says, causing your hand to rise up to his, pulling him back because you know all too well how Jj tends to be when he's upset.
"Don't insert yourself into our group as if you belong here." Jj says, silence looming over the beach.
"What he said, Jj...is it-"
"So what?" Jj interrupts you as he swiftly averts his attention towards you,
"Would it matter if I was, princess?" He says, fed up with the facade.
You say nothing in return as Rafe upholds his hand in yours, hiding it slyly behind his back which Jj quickly takes notice of.
Jj puffs a fake laugh before beginning to turn his body away from the group and storming away towards the edge of the sand bank where the sand meets grass.
"Whatever, man."

Jj walks away from the group, making his way into the surrounding bushes around the parking lot beside the beach, his head set on going home. Even if that meant being with his old man. He needed out.

You embark on following Jj before both John B's and Rafes hands fly to your torso, causing you to pause in place.
"Hey, wait a minute." John B says.
"Just...let him go." Kie adds.

Rafe downturns his gaze from Jj to towards you who was visibly stressed. He knew it had to be done to save your own feelings. After all, how Jj was treating not only Rafe but you as well, it was unfair; and although he did it for you, he couldn't help but feel guilty. For everything.
Kelce.
Zane.
His father.
And now one of your own best friends, Jj.

You shrug out of the boys restrain after feeling Rafes loosen slightly as he became increasingly aware of his own emotions.
"Just, I'll catch up with you guys later." You say.
"Aight." John B says.
Rafe only watches as John B's hold on you loosens, Wishing that it wouldn't at all.
John B had released you completely, causing Rafes body to jolt forward to follow you until both John B and Popes hands find their place on his torso, holding him in place as you take off towards the upset Jj.
"Let them go, only she can fix it." John B says.
"Dude, if you wanna prove yourself trustworthy to either of us, now is the time." Pope adds as they all collectively watch you disappear after Jj.

Rafe wants so bad to make you happy, even if that meant getting along with pogues. But in this moment of time, the overwhelming feeling of losing you was becoming too much as he thinks about all the possibilities that come with you following Jj.
So he shrugs your friends hands off of himself before turning around to meet their eyes. His gaze flashing them a look of warning which made their restrain on him to fall almost instantly.
"Rafe." Sarah demands, trying to get her brothers undivided attention.
"Sarah, can you just not be a pompous little princess for once in your life? I don't need you- or your boys telling me what I can and can't do, alright? I need to watch out for Y/N." Rafe blurts out in a hurriedly tone.
"What the hell are you talking about?" Pope asks confused, earning himself another threatening glance from Rafe before he takes off in the direction of you and Jj.

You try to catch up to Jj but his taller stature allows him to walk a lot faster than you, making it difficult to catch up as you trip slightly over the sand every now and then.
"Jj!" You shout towards him as his pace finally slows down to a halt.
He turns around with his hands on the sides of his head, almost as if he was trying to block your voice out.
"Jj-" you start before being cut off abruptly by the surprising clash of his lips. The unexpected kiss leaves you astonished, frozen in place with eyes wide open until he pulls away at last.
"I officially have nothing left to lose now so just tell me Y/N, straight up..." his chest visibly starts to rise and fall hastily as he feels himself begin to hyperventilate,
"Do I have a chance? Against him?"

You look into his eyes painfully, the look on his face makes it near impossible to be honest with him. The broken boy in front of you was already far too broken without your help, how could you possibly break him any further?

"I love you Jj..." you watch as his features light up, his frown straightening almost into an upturned smile before it vanishes again at the continuation of your words.
"-but not like that."

Jj's eyes sparkle at yours, not with relief like you had hoped but with tears.
He scrunches his nose as a single tear falls down his cheek, signalling for his cue to leave.
He nods his head in understanding, knowing there was nothing he could say now to change your mind.
"Right." He sighs, turning away from you fully before crossing the road and disappearing into town, out of sight.

The sound of a stick snapping under something heavy causes you to turn back behind you, your eyes meeting with Rafes blue ones as he stands only a couple of meters down from your spot on the lot. His face ridden with a troubled look, a look that could only be read as anguish.
"You saw that, huh?" You say jokingly with a pathetic attempt of a phony laugh when in fact, you felt nothing but despair.

He says nothing, biting his lip, supposedly to stop it from shaking.

The frustration of Jj's forced upon confession and the confusion of Rafes puzzling reaction towards it presses an undeniable feeling of rashness and impatience, making your body move on its own, fuelled by anger itself.
"Forget it." You say, walking past him in a rush. 
"Y/N." Rafe says gently, his hand landing in yours.
"Just!-" you snap, "just, I need air, Rafe."
"Air?" He asks surprised, his voice cracking slightly.

It killed you to say, but you needed space.
It was suffocating.
All of it.
The drama with Kelce, with Zane, and now Jj.
Rafe was the only good thing to come out of it all so it pained you to admit, but you needed air.
Even from him.

You stand silently before him, his face turning into a miserable one which crushed your heart, causing your eyes to shut at the sight.

"So..." he pauses, confusion plastered on his face as his eyebrows furrow sadly, "you're leaving..."
"I'm not leaving you, if that's what you mean, Rafe.
I just need time by myself for a while, you know? I'm being hounded by people I don't want and I'm losing the people I do want."
You look up towards his glistening blue eyes as they mirrored his emotions right back towards you, blue.
The exchange fell silent before he finally speaks,
"Did he say something? That changed your mind?" He asks in a heartbreaking tone of voice, softer than you've ever heard it before. 
"What? Don't even say that." You reply, laughing nervously as your nerves start getting to you, which Rafe took notice of, elevating his own nerves.

Rafe feels his heart shatter into a million deep cutting shards as he reminisces the kiss between you and Jj. He was far too distant to listen in on the conversation between the two of you, but that kiss, it was clear as day, almost as if it was there on show and Rafe didn't know what to think of it while you, you had assumed he was there for the whole thing, so you take no interest in explaining the whole commotion to him any further than what you had thought he had witnessed,
which was nothing more than a kiss.