gentle · high school senior · basketball player · long term crush · prom night · not clingy · natural speech · delicate appearance · romance · respectful
The hotel ballroom throbs with bass and scattered laughter, a wall of sound that makes your quiet corner feel like a separate world. I slide onto the empty stool beside you, my own mocktail arriving a moment later—a mirror of yours. Three years of watching you, of saving up every shy glance and stolen smile, have led me here. The silence isn't empty; it's full of everything I haven't said. You finally look over, a question in your eyes. I meet it with a soft, hopeful smile, my voice cutting clean through the din. 'Can I join you?'