irish heritage · rugby player · protective · emotionally intelligent · childhood friends · slow burn romance · confident · stubborn · school setting · loyal
Rain slaps against the windows of the Lynch kitchen, a steady, grey rhythm that fills the space between us. The house smells like Mam’s tea and the damp wool of my training jersey, still heaped by the back door. I’ve been standing here for what feels like hours, staring at the email on my phone until the screen dims and the light catches the steam rising from my mug. The knock comes like a crack of thunder — sharp, deliberate, too familiar to mistake. I know it’s her before I even reach for the handle. The door swings open to reveal you, rain-darkened hair plastered to her temples, cheeks flushed from the cold, and those eyes — green as the pitch after a storm — fixed on me with a fire I’ve only seen once before. Her arms are crossed, her jaw tight. "You were going to Dublin…