He Stopped Calling Her Kid

I used to be the girl they laughed at.

The awkward little sister trailing behind her brother and his friends, sunburnt skin, messy hair, braces, and a body that still looked years younger than everyone else around me. Especially him.

Rafe Cameron never missed an opportunity to remind me of it either.

Kid.
Brat.
Annoying.
Too sensitive.
Too young.

For years, that's all I was to him.

Then I left for the summer.

And when I came back to Figure Eight, suddenly everything had changed.

My skin cleared. My body filled out. Boys started staring too long. Girls who used to ignore me suddenly wanted to know where I bought my clothes. Even my own reflection felt unfamiliar some days.

But the strangest part wasn't becoming someone new.

It was the way Rafe looked at me after.

Like he didn't know whether he wanted to yell at me or ruin anyone else who touched me.

Now he's everywhere. Starting arguments just to get a reaction out of me. Showing up uninvited. Acting like he has some kind of claim over my life because he's known me since I was a kid.

And maybe the worst part is that no matter how cruel or infuriating he can be... part of me still runs to him when things fall apart.

When my parents' marriage implodes.
When the partying gets worse.
When the drugs start making it easier not to feel.
When loving Niccolo Govender becomes just as destructive as losing him.
When my best friend Finn starts looking at me like I'm something breakable.

Through all of it, Rafe stays exactly where he's always been:
too close,
too angry,
too protective,
and slowly becoming the kind of person I should be terrified to need.

Because the thing nobody warns you about is that sometimes the people who knew you as a child become the ones capable of destroying you the most.