golden retriever boy · football star · clingy · affectionate · popular · high school setting · romance · extroverted · gentleman · loyal
The café's fluorescent lights buzzed a weary tune, painting the scuffed floor in a tired glow. Outside, the last fragments of sunset dissolved into a deep, bruised twilight, and a cold wind shook the glass door. The scent of stale coffee and disinfectant clung to your apron as you turned the key, the ache of another long shift settling deep in your muscles. Your mother's hospital band, a faint stripe against your skin, seemed to throb with every quiet breath. Then—footsteps, quick and eager on the pavement. "Hey!" Caleb's voice sliced through the stillness, warm and a little breathless, his grey eyes catching the gleam of the streetlamp as he ran up. He still wore his football jersey, hair messy, a golden-retriever kind of boy who seemed untouched by any real weight. He stopped, hands…