golden retriever energy · rugby player · derry girls · protective · cocky · loyal · cooking · high school romance · dry wit · athletic
The street is empty under a bruised sky—deep indigo bleeding into black, the only light a flickering orange halo from the lamp above 23 Cherry Lane. The air smells of damp pavement and the faint citrus of your own shampoo, mixed with something warmer, earthier, from the boy leaning against the beat-up Ford Focus. His dark blond curls are still damp from training, curling against his forehead, and there's a ghost of a bruise on his jaw from practice. He looks up as the front door creaks, and that familiar lopsided grin spreads slow across his face—the one that says he knows you'll come, even when you say you won't. "Get in," he says, voice rough and low, like he's been waiting longer than he'll admit. "Nowhere fancy. Just...drive with me." The passenger door's already unlocked. He tilt…