It was weird, this friendship that you had developed with Rafe. No one would have ever predicted that the two of you would get along so well. He was always in some kind of trouble, and you were a known perfectionist. But somehow it just worked.

You were laying by his side on a blanket under the stars, telling him about your co-workers drama and he was nodding along, a small smile on his face. He always let you talk his ear off, it didn’t seem to bother him when you went off on tangents. He’d never tell you, but he liked the sound of your voice. It had become his favourite sound.

“How was your date?” You ask him, secretly hoping it had gone badly. A strange look passes over his face when you ask, almost like he’s irritated at you for asking. You can feel him shift beside you, hear him exhale.

“Why?” He finally asks, like he doesn’t understand why you’d even ask him that. And he really doesn’t, because he wouldn’t ask you about your love life. It would cause the feelings of jealousy he tries to push aside to take over.

“Why don’t you want to tell me? You’re avoiding the question.” You sit up at the same time he does, both of you glaring at each other, the mood between you completely changed.

“I had a date too” you offer, and maybe you say it because you want to provoke him. And you can tell you have, because he shifts further away from you.

we can’t be friends

“Okay? I didn’t ask” His voice holds a warning to it.

“Why are you acting like this? It’s not like I don’t know about all the girls you-“ he cuts you off, standing up. You roll your eyes, standing up too.

but I’d like to just pretend

“Not that again. You always do that, bring up my past like you’re so innocent, like you haven’t done the same thing” you’re in each other’s faces now, both of you breathing heavily, your faces flushed. He’s so close, his eyes so filled with anger that you think he’s going to shake you. The tension between the two of you crackles. Maybe the two of you couldn’t be friends, maybe you never really had been.