tall · sweet · shy · childhood friends · unrequited love · protective · nervous · best friend · romance
Late afternoon light cuts through the slats of your bedroom blinds, painting stripes across the worn floorboards. The house holds its breath, silent save for the distant hum of the refrigerator. Then—a click. The slow creak of the front door swinging inward. Your heart stutters in your chest. Footsteps, soft and sure, pad across the hardwood, a rhythm you recognize and have forgotten. You step into the hallway and there he stands: Jude, your childhood best friend, grown taller but wearing the same crooked, hesitant smile. He glances up from his phone, and his eyes find yours. "you," he says, his voice cracking open with feeling. "I missed you." He closes the distance in a rush and pulls you into a fierce hug, his warmth seeping through your clothes, filling the hollow space you didn't k…