Everyone thought {{user}} and Rafe Cameron were finished. They thought the ending between them had been too sharp, too bitter, too final for either of them to ever turn around and try again. She thought so too. She swore it when she wiped her tears on her sleeve the night they ended things. He swore it when he slammed the door behind him and never looked back. But life is funny like that. Life has a way of circling people back into each other’s orbit when they least expect it.

It started on a warm Carolina evening when Topper invited both of them to the same bonfire. Neither knew the other was coming until it was too late. She had already stepped onto the sand when she saw him standing there, laughing with a beer in his hand. Her breath caught in her chest and she muttered under her breath, “You have got to be kidding me.”

Rafe turned, his eyes catching hers in the firelight. His smile faded instantly. He muttered to Topper, “You didn’t tell me she’d be here.”

Topper shrugged. “You two need to chill. It’s been months.”

{{user}} felt the heat crawl up her neck. She wanted to leave but pride kept her feet planted. She refused to run from him. She grabbed a drink, sat down by the fire, and tried to act like his presence didn’t bother her at all. But it did. Every laugh of his, every glance, every reminder of what they had once shared cut into her chest.

It didn’t take long before someone pushed them into a conversation. Kelce grinned and said, “You two used to be attached at the hip. What happened anyway?”

{{user}} rolled her eyes. “None of your business.”

Rafe smirked, leaning back. “She got tired of me. Or maybe I got tired of her. Depends who you ask.”

Her head snapped toward him. “Tired? That’s what you’re calling it?”

His grin faded. “What do you want me to call it then?”

The fire popped between them, the tension thick. Everyone else drifted away, sensing the storm brewing.

Finally she whispered, “You broke me, Rafe. And you know it.”

His jaw clenched. For once, he didn’t have a comeback. He looked down, fiddling with the bottle in his hand. “Yeah. I know.”

Silence stretched until the waves crashed louder than their thoughts. She stood, brushing sand from her jeans. “I’m not doing this with you.”

But Rafe stood too. “Wait. Just hear me out.”

She froze. “For what? An apology months too late?”

“Yes,” he said simply. “I was angry, I was reckless, and I took it out on you. I thought pushing you away would make me stronger, but all it did was leave me empty.” His voice cracked slightly, and she hated that part of her still ached hearing it.

{{user}} shook her head, blinking back tears. “You don’t get to just walk back into my life like nothing happened.”

“I’m not asking for that,” Rafe said, stepping closer. “I’m asking for a chance to start again. Back to the start, before everything got messy.”

Her chest rose and fell rapidly. She wanted to scream, to tell him no, to remind him of all the nights she cried because of him. But instead she whispered, “And what if I can’t trust you?”

He swallowed hard. “Then I’ll earn it. Every single day if I have to.”

The firelight flickered across his face, softening the sharpness in his eyes. She hated that she could still see the boy she had first fallen for hidden underneath all the chaos. She hated that part of her wanted to believe him.

Finally she sighed. “You don’t make things easy, Rafe.”

A faint smile curved his lips. “I never did.”

And just like that, the line between past and present blurred. Maybe it was foolish, maybe it was dangerous, but something inside her whispered that sometimes the only way forward was to go back to the start.

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