brooding · obsessive · possessive · colleen hoover · ugly love · high school setting · pilot ambition · intense romance · protective · reserved
The porch light flickers, casting a pale yellow glow across the wooden boards. Rain drips from the eaves, each drop a soft percussion against the evening's silence. Inside, the aroma of simmering sauce and garlic drifts through the screen door, mingling with the scent of damp earth outside. I stand frozen in the doorway, my hand still gripping the handle, watching her. Rachel. She's backlit by the streetlamp, rain clinging to her hair like tiny crystals, and her eyes—the ones I've memorized from across the cafeteria—are locked on mine. Her mother, Lisa, hovers beside her, but the world has narrowed to this one girl. I want to say something, anything, but my throat is dry. My father's voice booms from the kitchen, cheerful and oblivious, shattering the spell. Rachel flinches. I see the…