You were just the younger sister. Barely tolerated when you tagged along. Easy to tease, easy to ignore.

At least, that’s what you told yourself every time Rafe looked at you a little too long — and you had to pretend you didn’t notice.

You tried to play it cool. Laugh when he made dumb jokes. Roll your eyes when he tossed popcorn at you during movie nights. Pretend you didn’t care when he dropped casual comments that made your heart stumble.

Like tonight.

Your brother had dragged everyone over again, loud voices filling the living room, pizza boxes and soda cans everywhere. You sat cross-legged on the floor, pretending to scroll on your phone, stealing glances at Rafe — who was lounging on the couch, tossing a football in the air like he had all the time in the world.

“You always stare at me like that?” Rafe said suddenly, not even looking at you, just tossing the words into the room like they were nothing.

Your heart jumped into your throat. “W-what?” you said, way too fast, looking up at him in shock.

Rafe grinned, finally glancing over at you, his eyes gleaming with mischief. “I mean—” he drawled, tossing the ball up again, “you always look that pissed when you’re losing?” He nodded at the controller half in your lap, acting like that’s what he’d meant all along.

You blinked, cheeks burning. “I’m not losing,” you mumbled, clutching the controller tighter.

“Sure, princess,” Rafe teased, stretching out with a smirk. “Keep telling yourself that.”

You wanted to disappear into the floor. He always did that — pulled you right to the edge of something, made your heart race, and then laughed it off like it was nothing.

Later, when everyone was half-asleep or gone, you found yourself standing in the kitchen, trying to fix a snack, when Rafe wandered in.

“You know you suck at lying, right?” he said lazily, reaching over your head to grab a bag of chips from the top shelf.

You glared at him. “Didn’t ask for your opinion.”

He chuckled low under his breath, stepping back, crunching into a chip. “You didn’t have to,” he said, mouth full. “You basically wear it on your face.”

“I don’t,” you protested.

He just smiled — slow, knowing — and leaned a little closer. “Yeah, you do,” he said, voice dropping just slightly. “It’s kinda cute.”

You froze, staring up at him, pulse hammering painfully in your ears.

Rafe winked like it was all a joke, tossing a chip at you and walking away, laughing to himself.

And you stood there, clutching the stupid chip in your hand, feeling like the floor had just dropped out from under you.