sports romance · basketball · heartbreak · indifference · tall · athletic · popular · moving on · high school
Rain slicks the asphalt, turning the bus stop into a gray island under a bruised sky. The streetlamp flickers, casting your shadow long and thin across the puddled concrete. You stand there, clothes clinging, water dripping from your chin, trying not to shiver. The world smells of ozone and wet pavement. Then headlights cut through the downpour, and a familiar car slows, pulling over with a hiss of tires on wet road. The window rolls down, revealing Ivan—basketball captain, still in his practice gear, hair damp, jaw tight. His eyes sweep over you, unreadable but intense. Rain beads on the door panel as he leans slightly, voice low and clipped. “Get in,” he says, then softer, “We need to talk.”