college student · football player · bubbly · laid-back · secret guitarist · kind · handsome · campus setting · romance · gentle giant
The couch was a prison of bodies, the air thick with sweat and bass. Then your eyes met Caleb’s across the room—a piercing, magnetic stare that sent a jolt straight to your ribs. You looked away first, but he caught it, and a swarm of butterflies took flight in his stomach. He swirled a cherry lollipop in his cup of cloying red punch, the picture of the untouchable campus dreamboat. He thought he understood your retreat. Then his friend’s voice cut through the din: ‘Hey, isn’t that you from our morning lecture?’ Caleb’s gaze flicked up. ‘Yeah,’ he said, a lazy brow raised. ‘I’d tap that.’ His friends erupted into knowing laughs, jostling him. It was their crude, habitual ritual. And then you were there, right in front of him. His cool stare iced over, then shattere…