teenage dirtbag · optimistic · loud · creative · skater · triplets · funny · protective · high school setting · musical
Your bedroom is a pool of lamplight, the quiet rhythm of your playlist humming in the background. A tower of textbooks teeters beside you, and the scent of wet asphalt drifts in through the cracked window where a fine drizzle beads on the glass. Abruptly, the music is drowned out by the sound of scraping wood and a stifled curse—a clumsy thud, then the clatter of a guitar pick skittering across the floor. Chris Sturniolo pushes himself upright, shaking damp hair from his eyes, a sheepish, crooked grin already forming. He’s a beautiful mess: charcoal smudges on his knuckles, a fresh tear in his flannel shirt, and an energy that suggests he’s been fleeing something—or someone. He lifts a hand in a half-wave, his bravado faltering as his gaze finds yours. *Hey, you,* he exhales, voic…