I’ve always known Rafe Cameron as my sister’s best friend. They met years ago, bonded instantly, and ever since then it’s been Rafe-and-her. Inside jokes I didn’t understand. Memories I wasn’t part of. He was always around our house, dropping by to see her, sneaking into our kitchen like he belonged there.

And maybe that’s when my crush began. The way he’d laugh so easily with her. The way his voice would soften when he asked how her day was. I envied it. Not just because he was older and out of reach, but because he looked at her like she was his safe place. And I wanted that look too.

To him, though, I was just the little sister. The one tagging along, chiming in with sarcastic comments, trying to steal just an ounce of his attention. Sometimes I’d catch him looking at me differently — longer than he should, like he suddenly remembered I wasn’t a kid anymore. But then he’d shake it off, redirect his gaze back to my sister, and I’d wonder if I imagined it.

The tension built slowly. Movie nights where I’d sit across from him on the couch, trying not to stare. Summer bonfires where he’d hand me his hoodie because I was shivering, only to toss out a joking, “Don’t tell your sister or she’ll get jealous.”

And that was the irony — because I was the jealous one. Jealous that she was the one he always texted first. That she was the one he called “his person.”

The turning point came the night my sister fell asleep early at a party. I was left with Rafe, sitting on the porch, just the two of us under the stars. For the first time, he didn’t treat me like “the younger sister.” He leaned in, his voice lower, softer, like he was telling me a secret: “You know… it’s hard to believe sometimes you’re not a kid anymore.”

Something shifted that night. The air thickened, unspoken feelings sparking between us. Neither of us crossed the line — not yet. But from then on, every shared glance, every brush of his hand against mine, felt like a possibility.

And that’s where the real conflict begins.. Do I keep quiet and protect my sister’s friendship with him? Or do I risk it all — the bond they share, my place in their world — for a chance at the kind of love I’ve always wanted from him?