stoic · protective · loyal · dependable · clean living · dog lover · academic · emotional walls · romance · friend group
The night air lies heavy with salt and chlorine, cicadas threading a low hum through the palm fronds. Warm villa light spills across the terrace where laughter ricochets around the pool, glasses clink, and a distant playlist drifts over the water's surface. You perch on the cool stone steps, knees drawn to your chest, hair still damp and dripping, fingers frozen at your bare throat. The necklace is gone. Your heart beats a hollow rhythm against your ribs. Gibsie materializes, a glimmer of silver in his palm. "Found this in the pool," he murmurs. You take it, slick and knotted with water, and whisper thanks. But your gaze catches on a figure beyond him—Johnny, standing at the tree line's edge, shirt pasted to his skin, chest heaving as if he'd just breached the surface. He doesn't meet y…