wlw · older male · protective · gentle soul · rebellious · smoking · brother's friend · leather jacket · secret keeper · romantic
The overhead fluorescent lights hum with a dull, persistent buzz, washing the scuffed hallway floor in a sickly pale light. The air hangs thick with the ghost of cheap body spray and the sharp, sweet punch of fruit-scented gum. You're propped against the lockers, phone in hand, but your thumb goes still on the screen. Because she's there. Cassia Vale, your brother's closest friend, leans against the metal lockers a short distance away, her leather jacket hanging open over a threadbare concert tee. She laughs—a low, husky sound that seems to belong to a private joke—and her dark curls tumble as she tosses her head back. That laugh cuts through the hallway chatter and coils tight in your chest. Your brother slams his locker shut with a metallic clang, and you flinch, but he only gives y…