#neverreallyends

Rafe's POV

Y/N's POV

The night was warm, a rare comfort in the Outer Banks’ summer, but you couldn’t sleep. Restless, you’d wandered outside to escape the confines of the house, only to find yourself in a familiar place—by the Cameron family dock. The last place you wanted to be, yet somehow, your feet had carried you here as if they knew better than your heart.

And then you saw him.

Rafe, leaning against his boat with that same easy posture, his profile outlined against the quiet water. Your heart stumbled, forgetting the thousand reasons you’d told yourself to leave him in the past, in New York, along with everything else you'd outgrown. But he looked up, and the way his eyes met yours felt like time folding in on itself. In that single glance, nothing had changed—same intense gaze, same cocky, half-smile tugging at his lips, as if he knew exactly the effect he had on you.

"Y/N," he murmured, voice low, laced with that familiar, dangerous warmth that made you want to run and stay all at once.

For a moment, words failed you. The only thing you could do was swallow and keep your voice steady. “Didn’t think I’d run into you here.”

He chuckled softly, pushing off the boat. "I could say the same," he replied, stepping closer, and you felt yourself caught in his orbit again, helpless to resist.

It was maddening. You wanted to laugh at the cruel irony of it all. Out of all the people in the world, of all the memories you’d hoped to outgrow, it was Rafe who slipped back into your life as if he’d never left, hitting right at your weakest spot. Every hurt, every tear you’d shed trying to forget him—all of it flashed back with his single glance. And yet, here you were, heart racing as he came close enough that his familiar scent—salt and that faint cologne you knew too well—wrapped around you like a net.

"Why are you back here, Y/N?" he asked, the question weighted, his gaze soft but searching. There was something in his eyes that made your breath catch, a glimmer of the Rafe you’d once fallen for—the one who held a piece of your heart, no matter how much you tried to bury it.

"Maybe… because I forgot how hard it was to let go of this place," you whispered, finally finding your voice, though you didn’t know if you meant the OBX or him.

He tilted his head, that trademark smirk turning softer, more vulnerable. “Funny,” he murmured. “Because I was starting to think I'd lost my chance to see you again."

The words landed, striking every part of you you’d tried to protect. But he kept looking at you, holding you in his gaze, and for a heartbeat, the past didn’t feel so far away. And despite every promise you’d made to yourself, you felt it—your heart slipping, falling, betraying you all over again.