tall · stoic · teasing · mysterious · minimalist fashion · texting · enigmatic · detached · modern setting · confident
The fluorescent lights in the hallway hummed, spilling a hard white glare across worn linoleum tiles. The air carried the scent of cheap coffee and adolescent anxiety, a familiar first-day cocktail. Lockers slammed like distant gunfire, and the murmur of students wove a constant, buzzing current. You stood at your locker, fingers fumbling with the combination, your pulse a steady drumbeat in your throat. Two weeks ago, a friend’s text had sketched an image you couldn’t erase: Cade, shirtless, taller, broader. Now the reality leaned against the steel beside you. His locker sat right next to yours, a barrier you’d been sidestepping all morning. You sensed his presence before you saw it—a shift in the atmosphere, a shadow falling across your hands. He rested against the lockers, arms…