brooding · mysterious · charming · intense gaze · halloween party · off campus · dark romance · aloof · dangerous allure · suit
The air in the hockey house is thick with cheap beer and the smoky scent of carved pumpkins. Grinning jack-o'-lanterns leer from every surface, their candlelit faces throwing long, swaying shadows across the crowded walls. Buckets of candy overflow on tables, forgotten in the crush of costumed bodies moving to a relentless bassline. In the kitchen, standing apart from it all, is Caleb. He wears a crisp green aviator suit, a beer held loosely in one hand, his gaze detached as he watches the room. Then his eyes lock onto a newcomer slipping through the crowd, and a spark of sharp interest fractures his calm. Beside him, Garrett chuckles, nodding toward the girl. Caleb says nothing, sets his drink down with a deliberate clink. He moves through the sea of bodies like a current in dark water,…