my internet girl {rafi!}

[juliette eliza bloom]

outfit!

Juliette stood outside the library, chewing her lip. She had been wanting to meet Rafi in person ever since they had met, but she wasn't sure that this was exactly the safest way to go about it. Every cautious bone in her body was screaming that going to a strange bartender's sketchy apartment was one of the top five worst ideas in the entire world, but inviting herself over to cheer him up had been reactionary to his sadness and she refused to regret that decision. She just wasn't going to think about it because Rafi seemed very nice and, if anything bad happened, she had Hugo on speed dial and he would come rushing in the cop car.

To prepare for her visit, she had excused herself from her date the second after sending the text to Rafi, explaining the situation--and altering it to make her seem reluctant to leave. She had since rushed around compiling a sadness bag for Rafi. In addition to her purse, she had a beach bag with her that was stuffed to the brim. She didn't know him very well, so she couldn't put specific things like she would have for Lily or Emily, but she had tried to find some things that she thought he would at least like. There was, of course, a spoon, since that's what she had come for, as well as two romantic comedies, a sandwich bag full of Dove chocolates, a blanket with superheroes on it that she'd acquired for five bucks at the drugstore on her rush to her room, two green tea bags, and two packets of hot chocolate. She was prepared for anything that his sadness threw at her.

She had intended to change out of her date clothes, but since she'd stopped to buy the blanket, she'd only had time to root through all of her food items when she got back to her dorm. By the time she was finished, she had just enough time to get downstairs with the bag and her purse and wait for him. She didn't want to be late and have him think that she was standing him up when she promised to cheer him up--that would have been even worse than leaving him alone. No matter how wary she was of what was about to happen, she was much warier about leaving him in the lurch when it seemed like he needed someone the most. So she'd lugged her bag to the library and was now standing outside, rocking back and forth on her heels and chewing on the corner of her lip.

[rufino león araya]

Everything about Rafi was entirely docile. Even his walk, which was normally so dynamic and ebullient, lacked the certain childish charm. With the clocks nearly striking nine, the young man strolled along the otherwise empty sidewalk, hands deep in the front pockets of his dark wash jeans, watching his feet as he walked along. The passing of lights checkered him with shadows across the beige skin—he was moving sluggishly, wondering if this was really a good idea at all. After all, he had never met Juliette in person and meeting her for the first time in his current state of mind made him slightly rattled. Rafi had always been the type to not like admitting his own weaknesses and very much preferred to make believe that he was inviolable by normal human fallibility. Recently, he had been staring at his own reflection more and more and asking himself: “who the fuck are you?” and realising that he was actually just like everybody else and he was a sucker.

Of course, the text conversation he had had with an old friend a few days ago hadn’t much eased the situation. If anything, it opened old scars that shouldn’t have been touched and reminded him of everything he had once been—young, talented, and so full of promise—and what he was now. He had begun to realize that no one had aspirations for him and he was beginning to lose interest in his future, as well. The more he thought about his prospects, the bitterer he became, and so bitter that he was eventually brewing in self-hatred. That’s why, at this very moment, he tried not to think. It was a calm, inky sort of night with a cool breeze that tugged playfully at the hem of the pale red t-shirt he was wearing, but not enough to bring a chill to his skin. Infact, he was quite comfortable. It wasn’t a long walk from his apartment to the library, but just far enough to give him time to walk and compose.

Rafi turned the final corner and soon found himself in front of the library, approaching the only person in the vicinity with a curious look blazing across his facial features. Out of respect, he didn’t approach quickly nor did he get too close, “Juliette?” he asked, his husky voice breaking the quiet night, “I’m Rafi—“ he finished. Not that he needed to clarify, but he felt obligated to introduce himself at least a little bit. Upon closer inspection, he confirmed that this was, in fact, Juliette—after all, what were the chances another girl, alone, would be standing in front of the library in pink jeans? He couldn’t help but commend her bravery. As a young woman in a very savage real world, meeting people off the Internet was not something just anyone could do and he could tell she was skittish from her actions. Still, there wasn’t a malicious bone in Rafi’s body; he was a dog that was a whole lot of bark, but not any bite and even his bark had gotten faulty as of late.

[juliette eliza bloom]

Juliette saw someone approaching, but since she only knew what Rafi looked like from his pictures, she didn't want to say anything just in case it wasn't actually him. Under normal circumstances, she'd have waved or tried to catch his attention in some way, but even from afar, he looked pretty tall and if he wasn't Rafi, she didn't want some random, tall stranger to think she was trying to get his attention.

As he approached with more purpose, though, and she was sure it was actually him, she gave a small wave, smiling. He was much more attractive in person than she'd been expecting as well as much taller and more muscular and Juliette had to immediately switch her attention to a point near his left ear so that she wouldn't blush. She hoped that she could keep herself from doing so if she just got used to his presence, which would theoretically only take a few minutes, but until then, she didn't want to look at his face.

Then, however, there was the problem of not wanting to be rude and, as soon as he said her name, Juliette snapped up to look at him and immediately felt her cheeks flushing. She was glad it was dark out, with the glow from the library only enough to illuminate her features in a vaguely grey sheen. "Hi!" she chirped, beaming at him. She clutched the straps of her bags tightly in front of her, comforted by the fact that all she would have to do to get her pepper spray was reach into the front pocket of her purse. Or, she could just swing the bags at him and run--they were heavy enough and the library was right there.

"It's nice to finally meet you in person," she said, her accent strong with her nerves. She took a step forward, not exactly toward Rafi but more toward the direction in which she assumed they were headed while still managing to keep relatively the same distance from him. She lifted the bag as though to display it and wiggled her eyebrows. "I brought you a spoon!" She smiled at him, willing him to not be sad, even though she couldn't exactly read his emotions yet, being that they had been visually acquainted for all of then seconds.