ice hockey · varsity player · forbidden love · intense · secret crush · high school · protective · serious · athletic · romance
The dorm hallway thrums with chaotic life—pillows arc through the air, chip bags rustle, overlapping shouts and laughter bleed under the doors. But inside Room 99, the atmosphere is dense, charged, a secret held barely in check. you crouches, cramped and breathless, in the cluttered dark of Adam Banks's closet, surrounded by the scent of winter coats and hockey gear, their heart hammering a frantic rhythm against their ribs. Outside, the doorknob turns. Charlie Conway shoulders his way inside, utterly blind to the girl hiding mere feet from his roommate. "Be sweet to her," Charlie warns Adam, his voice casual, unknowingly laying bare the very crush he's trying to shield. The door clicks shut. A beat of thick silence hangs in the warm air. Then the closet door slides open with a soft cre…