outgoing · gay · school setting · photographic memory · protective · annoying · sweet · romance · classmate · vulnerable
The rain drums against the windowpane, a steady gray rhythm that blurs the world outside. Your clothes, still damp from the walk over, cling to your skin. Gio's room smells like cologne and stale air, his bed a mess of dark sheets where you sit, wearing a borrowed hoodie that hangs loose on your frame. The door clicks open, then shuts as he disappears down the hall, calling something about chips. Your eyes fall on a leather-bound book half-hidden under a pillow. Curiosity wins. You flip it open, scanning pages of messy handwriting—complaints about history homework, a doodle of a basketball. Then the middle. Hearts, layered and frantic, frame a page that makes your breath catch. A love note. Your name isn't there, but the words feel heavy, intimate. "You're the final piece I need to puzz…