#thread:Chrissy and Rafe

[entangledmuses]

@byronlc asked: Soft gesture + 11. Put a scarf around their neck (Rafe/Chrissy 🥹)

Chrissy looked up at Rafe, a light blush on her cheeks as he tied the scarf around her neck, over her cheeks. "Aren't you going to be cold?" She asked.

She had only started rubbing her hands together and mentioned how cold it was outside before he was putting his scarf around her.

She should of been used to his kind, soft gestures but they still took her by surprise.

"Thank you." She then breathed softly, her hands lifting to lightly touch his hands, her gloved fingers hoping to warm his hands a little.

"Are you sure you're not too cold?"

[entangledmuses]

She was a little surprised by his outburst. No one had ever turned quick to anger in her defence. She was used to anger, but usually at her, or her actions. It was strange to have someone come to her defence.

"I guess." She then responded "But I will always be a disappointment." She told him. "My Mother will always see me as one. No matter what I do, I will be a disappointment to her." She told him.

"And as much as I want to not care.... she's my mother. she's the only Mom I will ever have, the only family I have. I wouldn't be here without her." She sighed.

It took her a moment to realise they had stopped moving, and looked around, through the windows to see precisely where they were. Even though he had told her where he was headed, part of her worried they were outside her home.

Not that it could be called a home. Home should of been a place of safety and comfort, and love. She had neither of those at home. And she was sure she would never have any of that there.

Not now.

At his question, she turned to face him again, turning a little in her seat, groaning a little as she moved her leg and twisted her knee a little.

A hand moved to lightly touch her knee, a hiss of pain as she closed her eyes for a moment to try and push the pain away before she opened her mouth to answer.

"I've never thought I would have to think about what I could do if I had the chance." She admitted. "Everything was always set out for me, everything. Even to what I wear, what colour my make up would be, what my life would be like." She said. "I was to marry young, and pop out children, but keep my figure to keep my husband Keen." She told him, as if it was a mantra she had been told many a times, which she had.

"Have you? I mean... do you think about what you want to do? What you want to be?" She asked.

She looked at him, her eyes on his "Its not a secret how your father can be." She said softly. "I think perhaps we are more alike than most probably think." She then breathed "Do you... have a choice? Do you get to pick what you want?" She asked.

The wrath of Ward Cameron was well known. And she knew he probably had the same sort of contention under his roof as she did her own. Except her mother was good at hiding it... Ward was not.

"You know.... you're not like him Rafe, and thats a good thing. Your dad would of never of helped me get away from that party, or helped me because of my injury. " She breathed

"I mean, I never thought you really capable of it till now, but I really am grateful that you helped me." She said softly, a small smile gracing her lips as her hand moved from her knee to his arm, giving a small tender squeeze. "I'm glad that my perception of you has had the chance to change, and that I have gotten to know the real Rafe Cameron." She smiled.

Rafe smiled at her laugh. It was a sweet laugh. A genuine laugh.

He shrugged. “There's nothing wrong with preppy cheerleaders – if they have good taste in music,” he added with a grin. To be fair, Rafe himself didn't really have any taste in music, well, not openly, but he wanted to believe college had changed him, made him more sophisticated or whatever. It definitely broadened his horizon when it came to rock music.

He noticed Chrissy’s change in her voice; his features changed too. A frown appeared on his forehead. He looked at her again, but he also needed to concentrate on the road ahead. He just couldn’t risk having an accident. For one reason, his dad would kill him and then never let him drive any of his cars ever again and Rafe would be stuck asking his stupid friends for a ride. But more important – and this kinda surprised him too, when he thought about it – he drove carefully because he wanted to keep her safe.

When she spoke, he listened. He frowned at her words, but didn't interrupt her. He felt that it was important what she was saying and he wanted to know all about her thoughts. The fact that she trusted him caused some unknown feelings. No one talked with him like that. No one talked about real stuff. Whenever he tried, they would just look at him, with those eyes, and he would get angry and never speak about it again.

“What? That’s bullshit! She wouldn’t want you to die!” He turned to face her, too agitated to stay quiet. And from the corner of his eyes, he saw the headlights approaching and reacted quickly. The car just swerved a little. He mumbled a curse and hoped she hadn't noticed his bad driving.

When she continued, he just nodded, listened and kept his eyes on the road. He wasn't sure whether it was from the almost accident, the heavy topics, or another reason, but his heart was racing.

“It’s like, now you’re free to do whatever, right? You can’t disappoint anyone anymore...”

He drove slower when they reached the path leading to the lake. It was dark here, and no other cars were around – which was a relief. Not because he didn’t want anyone seeing him with her, but he didn’t want anyone around. That was all.

He stopped the engine.

“You ever thought, like really thought about what you want to do? If you had the chance to do anything? If not everyone, like, saw you as your father’s son – I mean your mother’s daughter and you didn't have to be like them, but could be anything, anyone. Like – dunno – have you ever thought about that?”

But he, he wanted to be like his father that was the difference, right? He wanted so desperately to be just like him. And he wanted him to see him and look at him like he mattered.

[hawkinsbizarre]

@byronlc || Closed Starter || Chrissy and Rafe.

As Chrissy sat in the booth at Scoops, part of her worried that Rafe might not show. She looked up at the clock, chewing her lip. It was getting closer to when she asked him to meet her. But now... maybe she had been stood up.

The Cheerleader had missed spending time with him, and honestly, part of her worried that that moment between them had ruined everything.

She looked at her half melted cookie dough chunk ice cream and sighed, having lost all appetite for it now.

[entangledmuses]

She laughed softly "It isn't nothing." She replied as she tried to reach again. As his hand stopped hers, she looked up into his eyes. She found his touch warm, and pleasant, and wanted nothing more than for him to touch her more.

She had grown close to Rafe, had started to develop feelings for him. Feelings she hadn't ever felt for anyone before, and so, often, she was confused by them, and never acted on them.

Part of her hoped he felt the same way, that he would just lean in and close the gap and kiss her. They were so close right now, she could feel the heat of his body.

Rafe had been there for her, when no one else was currently. He listened to her, accepted her as she was, and not just because she was a cheerleader, dating the popular Jock.

He hadn't cared about her popularity, which was refreshing. His company was refreshing, and with him, she felt she could be herself. Not the picture perfect popular peppy cheerleader she had pretended to be for so long.

So when he jumped up and out of his seat, like she had burnt him, she confused. Beyond confused actually, and she just wanted to know what she had done wrong. His voice rose, shouting at her, and her expression changed from confusion to hurt.

What had she done wrong? "I... I.. Its not... its..." She stopped. Was he angry that they were doing this project? Or was he angry at her. She wasn't sure. She had been used to some people yelling at her, angry at what she had done, and she could usually figure out what they were angry at her about. Usually it was her mum, angry that she had had an extra bite of food, or was hiding cookies in her room, or dared to do her hair or make up different.

But this.... this she wasn't sure what was going on.

When he suddenly jumped again and ran out of the room, she got up herself, pushing the pain in her leg down as she followed him.

"Wait... Rafe... what happened... what...?" She stopped and grabbed at her leg as the pain shot through it. Damn, she hated feeling like this, like she was unable to do anything.

Tears started to run down her cheeks, not just from what had happened, but the pain that was now overwhelming her.

"Rafe... please." She whimpered.

She was so close. She smiled so beautifully and Rafe smiled back. He just shook his head as she wanted to know about the picture. “Nothing,” he said and he lowered his gaze as he felt this strange warm feeling crawling over his face. He licked his lips unconsciously. But when he looked up again, she was still looking, was even closer, and now her hand reached out, reached over to get into his jeans pocket. And when he moved his hand up, it touched hers, just the slightest of brushes and his breathing hitched, and this intense buzzing sensation caused by this light touch shot through his whole body. And he tensed up as a fierce impulse was building up in every muscles of his body. His hands wanted to grab her, hold her, pull her close and he wanted, needed to press his lips on hers, kiss her so desperately –

As if that light touch had burnt him, he jumped up, jumped from his chair so suddenly, it fell backwards to the floor. That loud sound irritating him even more. He felt his heart beating so fast – so loudly – and so many thoughts were running wildly in his head – threatening to get out. He pressed one hand at his head. Glared at her.

She was so fragile. So delicate. Too delicate for him.

And she looked at him. Was she scared? Was she appalled? Had she seen what he was hiding?

“This is fucking bullshit!” He raised his voice, gestured wildly, pointing at the pictures. “No one cares about this! This is useless. Total waste of time!” He yelled.

He felt his chest heaving, he was panting. He frowned at her, and he knew he was hurting her – scaring her. He didn't want that. But he couldn't have her know. He couldn't have her know about those confusing emotions. It was weak, embarrassing.

He gasped, and his own expression changed, no longer distorted from anger, but somewhat pained. He felt something piercing in his chest. He didn't want to hurt her. His hand reached out, shaking – he pulled it back. He turned and ran off, ran out of the room, ran out of the house.

[entangledmuses]

Chrissy nervously took his hand and pushed herself up off the floor. She hadn't expected him t talk to her, and honestly, wasn't sure what to say to his words.

She avoided his gaze at first and nodded, trying to hold back the tears that were starting to form. How long had it been that someone had asked if she was ok? "I'm... I'm ok." She lied, then slowly lift her eyes to look at him again.

She shook her head as he asked if she wanted a drink.

But it was his next question that really surprised her.

How was she supposed to answer that?

Yes! someone was bothering her, someone had invaded her mind, andhaunted her, and terrified her.

But how was he supposed to help with that?

Did he even know what had been happening here in Hawkins in his absence?

She shook her head again, this time, her eyes staring straight into his. "I.. I just want to..." She paused. She didn't want to go home. She didn't want to be alone either, but she didn't have much choice. "I just.. want to leave." She said.

She swallowed a thick lump that had been forming in her throat. "I just... Want to leave." She repeated again, and started to push herself towards the exit once again.

Rafe was home for the weekend. His father needed him for some business stuff the next day, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t enjoy himself the night before at some house party of one of his friends. Even though Rafe had left Hawkins to go to college, he was still close to his friends back home. And he liked being back, everyone knew him here, since he’d been the most popular guy in high school.

He was standing in the hallway chatting with some girl, whose name he’d already forgotten, when he saw from the corner of his eye something tiny rushing past him and crashing right into him. Chrissy Cunningham.

“Shit, you’re okay?” He asked at the same time as she asked him whether he was hurt, which was kind of ridiculous when regarding their difference in size. And it made him chuckle. He crouched down, giving her a hand to help her up.

“That looked like quite the stunt. You sure, you’re okay?” He eyed her up. Rafe wasn’t the best when it came to reading people’s expressions, but even to him it was clear that Chrissy was somewhat agitated.

“You want something to drink?”

He leaned closer, so only she could hear his next words. “Someone bothering you?”

His blue eyes looked at her intently. Despite being quite the bully himself, Rafe also had this protective side about him, especially when it came to pretty petite girls.

[entangledmuses]

Chrissy looked at him with mock shock on her face. "Just because I portray myself as a preppy cheerleader, doesn't mean I listen only to preppy cheerleader songs." She said, then gave a small chuckle. t had felt like months since she had heard her own laugh. Yet here she was, making a joke regarding her taste in music.

But when he asked about her mom, the cheerful feeling faded. "My Mom had a picture in her head of how I should be. I never lived up to it. Never will. I always needed to be a few pounds lighter, more graceful, more popular, more beautiful." She breathed. "Its like she was trying to live her high school fantasy through me, that she could never achieve." She breathed.

Her fingers started to twist together, her head dropped to look down at her hands.

Chrissy then nodded again "Yeah, because it didn't fit into her picture perfect plan that she had for me. I can't stay a cheer captain with my leg like this, I have to go through a lot of physical therapy to even get it back to the strength it was, but I probably won't be able to cheer any time soon. Which is what she is really angry about. sometimes I think she would be less angry if I actually died." She then sighed.

Before, she at least had her mother talk to her, sure, it was always about cheering, and how she could do better. But now, she mostly glared, ignored her, or muttered things like "Useless." or "Waste of space." As she past her.

She sighed again and closed her eyes for a moment. "I've had to pretend for so long to be someone that got her respect... though... you could hardly call it respect. But.... I don't know who I am now... without Cheer... or without those friends... who I now can't stand." She said softly.

She looked at him and her eyes scanned over his face. She had never noticed before how handsome he was.

"I don't belong at those parties, I don't belong at home.. and I guess I feel like I have to start over again... find my own path."

“You know this song? They’re British,” he said like the last part was an absolutely vital information. He had turned his head towards her. – In the big car she looked even smaller.

“I thought you’d like, dunno, only listen to pop songs.” His own taste in music had changed quite a bit since he was at college, though he wasn’t that far from home, not even left the state. His face turned to the street again. It was dark and he tried not to speed too much. He usually didn’t care, but he usually didn’t have such a fragile creature on the passenger seat.

“So your mom really made you date Jason? That’s shitty. Why doesn’t she date that douchebag herself, huh?” He frowned, not even his dad would make him date anyone – okay, he wasn’t a girl, but he didn’t make Sarah date anyone she didn’t want to. Then again, Sarah always did what she wanted to, always got what she wanted to. He did not want to think about his sister right now.

“Your mom really got mad at you because you broke your leg? But you were attacked.” He didn’t just ask to fill the silence – with the song still playing there wasn’t any silence anyway – but he wanted to know. It was unusual that he wanted to know anything about anyone, yeah, but he wanted to know what was going on in Chrissy Cunningham’s life and why she seemed so different from how she had been before. – Not that he had really known her before he went off to college, just like the way everyone knew her – just like everyone knew him.

His eyes moved to her and he got a glimpse of her face illuminated by the headlights of a car passing them. She looked beautiful. And sad.

[entangledmuses]

Chrissy gave a small nod "Cheerleaders should always date a jock. If you want to be the head cheerleader, want to be the best, then you have to date the best jock." She said, putting on a voice that was meant to imitate her mother. "It honestly felt like I didn't have much of a choice. She has a picture perfect image in her head of what I should be like, how i should look, and.... I always seem to fall short. Even more now." She said, motioning to the leg.

She then rose a brow at his comment, and cocked her head a little. Did he basically just say he would date her? That can't be right... could it? She chose not to ask, not wanting to sound egotistical that she thought herself good dating material. She didn't. She didn't really think any one would want to date her now. Not now that she and Jason were no longer together. She was no longer desirable.

She looked up at him when he said that they would never make it to his car before the end of the night. "I'm sorry, I just..." But before she could finish, he scooped her up in his arms. She squeaked. Her arms wrapped over his shoulders, surprised that he was carrying her. No one had ever carried her like this. It was nice, and she felt safe in his arms. Safe and Comfortable.

Her head rest a little against him, a soft smile growing on her lips.

Why was this so nice?

Once they reached his car, she made sure to hide her goofy smile and lent a hand on the car a little as he opened the door for her.

"Thank you." She breathed softly as she then got into the car, wincing a little in pain. As she took a seat in the passenger seat, her hands moved to her knee, to hold the brace as she lift her leg and placed it in the car.

It was throbbing now, and she knew she needed to take her pain meds, but they always made her a little loopy and sleepy, and she didn't want to feel like that right now. Not when she was enjoying his company. Not when she didn't want to head home just yet.

"Thanks." She said again as he closed the door behind her.

She pulled on the seat belt as he walked around the car, and once he was inside with her, she turned her head to look at him, smiling at the music. "I love this song." She then said softly, hands moving to her knee again to help her get into a more comfortable position.

“You dated him because your mom wanted you to?” It sounded like he didn’t understand that reasoning, it even sounded a bit harsh, when in reality, he could understand it all too well. He knew how much pressure a parent could put on you. Only in his case, it was clear that he would always be a disappointment to his dad, not matter how hard he tried.

“Hm, a pity really that I never quite made it captain of the football team at school,” he added in a lighter tone, but watched her reaction intently.

He stared at her when she said she had been attacked. Yes, he had heard rumors, but hearing it from her, felt too real. “Shit,” was all he was able to reply to that for the moment. Hearing her speak so fondly of that freak Munson made him frown, but he didn’t say anything, just clenched his teeth, hopefully without her seeing that. Maybe Munson didn’t attack her, but it still didn’t feel right that they seemed to be somewhat close.

But all those thoughts about Jason or the freak were gone, when she whimpered and had to pause. It did something to him, he couldn’t quite explain it. But there was this immense need to make her feel better.

So he stopped.

“Yeah, no, we’ll never make it to the car before the end of the night if we go on like this.”

Before she could say anything, he scooped her up in his arms, and carried her bridal style to the Ford Ranger parked at the end of the road. She weighed like nothing, but holding her felt, well, nice. He knew he had to be careful though, not to crush her.

He cautiously let her down again, leaving one arm around her, in case she might fall, and opened the door on the passenger’s side for her. He even helped her get inside the car, before going to the other side and getting in himself.

When he put the key in, "Stripped" by Depeche Mode started playing. He hesitated a moment, contemplating if he should turn it off, but then he just turned the volume down a bit and started driving to Lover's Lake.

[entangledmuses]

Even though Chrissy was able to have periods of time without her brace on her knee now, it still hurt occasionally. The pain was more bearable, until it went stiff.

But she tried everything she could to take her mind off of it. Cheering was out of the question, so she took up other hobbies, and when she heard that the girl who was supposed to be sorting through the photos for the end of year magazine, had disappeared, Chrissy had to help. Mainly because she knew where that poor girl had probably disappeared to.

Ever since that night where Rafe helped her get away from that party she found herself wanting to spend more time with him. It was like around him, she didn't have to pretend to be whole and perfect. She could be her. And sure, though she still had secrets kept from him, she could tell him about her home life, how it sucked, how certain people sucked. She just enjoyed being near him.

With the photos laid out on the table, Chrissy looked through them all, trying to work out what would be the best ones for the categories she was given. A lot of the sporting events ones, she could see herself in them, in her cheer outfit. She did miss Cheer, but at the same time, she was glad to be having the break from it.

She reached over for a photo her eyes catching a glimpse of Rafe picking one off his lap and pocketing it away. She rose a brow.

"What was that?" She asked softly, her eyes lifting to look at his face. "If its an embarrassing one of you, I think you should show me." She beamed a little, chuckling.

However, she was pretty sure none of these photos will have him in them, seeing as he was no longer attending Hawkins high.

"Come on, what are you hiding?" She asked, reaching across him, as if she were going to delve into his pocket herself.

📸 From Chrissy

📸 Send me a picture of your muse, for my muse to react to! 

Oh my god. Rafe swallowed hard when he saw that picture of Chrissy. She was just so beautiful. So fragile.

He looked over to her, sitting at the table next to him busy with her task and he hoped he hadn’t said that out loud.

They were sitting so close to each other, but had not once touched arms, not even accidentally – or “accidentally”. A few days ago, she had talked about how she had to sort thousands of photos for the local magazine. A tedious task she had volunteered to do because the girl who used to do that was somehow gone (yet another mysterious Hawkins incident) and Chrissy had always had a too pure heart and would even help some losers with their loser magazine. And when she talked about what she would be doing that Saturday afternoon, Rafe had spoken before thinking and offered his help. A very un-Rafe thing to do, he knew that himself. So now, instead of getting wasted with his jock friends, he had been looking through piles and piles of photos for the past twenty minutes or so with Chrissy Cunningham. Pictures showing town hall meetings and sports games, gardening competitions and school events. Pictures showing old and new buildings, giant potatoes, portraits and snapshots of random people. And that one photo of her. Rafe immediately felt an uncalled for surge of jealousy of who ever took that picture.

Hopefully unnoticed, he placed a hand on the photo, moved it slowly over the table and dropped it onto his lap from which he quickly snatched it and – hopefully still unnoticed – put it into his jeans pocket. Why did he do that? Did that mean that he …? – Shut up!

[entangledmuses]

"It seems a lot of people don't actually like him." Chrissy breathed softly as she held onto him still. "He wasn't ever really mean.... well... he wasn't too nice either, but... its what my Mom wanted... for me to date the Captain of the basketball team." She breathed.

As he pulled her arm around his shoulder, and held her, she looked up at him, almost surprised, and confused as to why he was helping her out.

When he asked about her leg, she looked at the brace and bit her lip a moment. "I was attacked." She said softly. It wasn't too far from the truth. She was attacked.

"Everyone blames Eddie... but... if it wasn't for him, I would be in worse shape than I am now, but no one believes me, everyone believes Jason, even though he wasn't there, he wants a man hunt for Eddie, but... he saved me." She said. Everyone thinks he's gone into hiding but..." She stopped. She knew the truth, but only because those who were also involved told her. It was strange how those people had somewhat become her friends since all this, because she was stuck in the thick of it all now. And actually, they had been more a friend to her, then any of her cheer friends.

But she still came to this stupid party, still wanted to try and keep her mother happy, even though her mother was never happy.

She rose a brow as he mentioned the lake. "Are.... are you sure?" She asked him. "Thank you." She then breathed. She didn't mind going to the lake, and so far, Rafes company had been the most enjoyable company of the night.

She then nodded and started to walk, but her knee gave out again, and she whimpered in pain. "Wait... I'm not sure I can walk just yet." She breathed.

continued from here

with @entangledmuses (Chrissy)

Rafe tilted his head to the side as Chrissy told him the news about her and Jason breaking up.

“Never liked him anyway.” Which was true. Well, he didn’t like most people, but Jason, he sometimes couldn’t stand being around that guy, even though they were supposed to be friends when he was still in high school.

They walked very slowly, but apparently not slow enough. When she reached out for him, he out of reflex extended both his arms, embracing her, softly, but effectively stopping her fall.

“Don’t be sorry. What happened there anyway?” His eyes moved down to her leg. “Some cheerleading accident?”

He had heard some rumors, something about Munson attacking her, but he knew himself that rumors were mostly just rumors.

“Sure,” he nodded. “My car’s parked down the road.” Actually, it was his dad’s car, and he had to literally beg him to borrow it for the night. “You think you can walk that far?” He gave her a tentative look, then took her arm, placing it around his neck, for her to hold on to him, using him as her crutch. His other arm around her back, holding her close to his body. He had to bend down, since she was so tiny. Walking like that was kind of a strain – but worth it.

It wasn’t that Rafe was known for his helpfulness or selfless behavior – not at all. But he liked it to be needed. Not just by anyone. And he liked it in particular that Chrissy needed him right now. She was so vulnerable. He was too big and too rough for such a fragile creature, which made him want to be gentle and needed even more.

“We could drive to the lake. It won’t be crowded there.”

He wondered who she meant by “her”, but he somehow had the feeling, she was talking about her mother. He didn’t know her really, met her a few times, but hadn’t formed any opinion about her other than that she was just some stuck-up bitch like so many middle-aged women in this small town.