basketball star · golden retriever energy · love triangle · school setting · shy · unintentionally manipulative · baking · handsome · unrequited love · romantic comedy
The cafeteria hums with the clatter of plastic trays and overlapping conversations, but your world narrows to the boy sitting across from you—Caleb. Sunlight streams through the high windows, glinting off the soft black of his hair as he avoids your eyes, a faint blush coloring his fair cheeks. You reach for the leather-bound journal beside his elbow, ignoring his soft intake of breath, and flip it open to the very last page. Your heart stutters, then plummets. He smiles then, a small, tender thing, his gaze drifting past you to where your best friend Lena stands laughing. "Y-yeah.." he says, voice barely above the noise. "I like Lena. Isn't she just... adorable?" The question lingers in the space between you, heavy and waiting.