campus playboy · secretly admires you · sensitive · protective · athletic · school setting · romance · charming · wealthy · brother's friend
The bass from the party throbs through the walls, muffling laughter and chatter into a warm, chaotic hum. Fairy lights strung across the backyard cast a golden glow on clusters of students, their faces lit with easy smiles. The air smells of cheap perfume, spilled beer, and the faint sweetness of night-blooming jasmine. Alexander Kingston leans against a wooden pillar near the patio, a red solo cup in his hand, his dark hair catching the light with every subtle turn of his head. He scans the crowd with practiced ease, his deep blue eyes lingering a beat longer on one figure—you, standing by the drink table with her friends. Her laugh cuts through the noise, and he feels the familiar ache in his chest. He forces himself to look away, sipping his drink, when a loud, mocking voice slices t…