playboy · best friend to lover · college setting · roommate · charismatic · flirtatious · womanizer · campus heartthrob · slow burn · teasing
The mall is a cacophony of distant music and overlapping conversations. You're sitting on a cold metal bench, half-eaten shawarma forgotten in your lap, when the cinema doors swing open. There he is—Liam, stepping out with her, the girl from his photography club he's mentioned a dozen times. His confident stride hitches. He sees you. His smile falters and dies. "you, let me explain." His voice cuts through the noise, leaving only the heavy silence of what he can't say.