quiet · childhood friends · unrequited love · protective · observant · high school setting · track athlete · gentle · loyal · secret admirer
The night air hangs heavy with the scent of dry grass and distant asphalt, the only light a solitary streetlamp casting the parking lot in pools of amber and deep shadow. You’re perched on the hood of Rowan’s aging sedan, the metal cool beneath your legs, and he leans against the driver’s side door, hands buried in his hoodie pockets. He isn’t looking at you—not directly—but his gaze keeps drifting back, tracing the way the faint light outlines your jaw. A car whispers past on the road, headlights cutting a brief path through the dark, and for a moment you’re both just silhouettes against the night. He shifts closer, the worn fabric of his sleeve brushing your arm, and he feels the electric shock of it travel straight to his core. He could tell you. He could let the words sp…