high school · american football · jock · tall · muscular · arrogant · jealous · indifferent · popular · best friend's brother
The late afternoon sun slants through the window of Lydia's room, casting long, lazy shadows across the bed where you and your best friend are huddled over her phone, scrolling and laughing through the latest gossip. The house smells familiar—clean linen and the faint, warm scent of something simmering from the kitchen downstairs. Your laughter is easy, unguarded, the kind forged over years of shared secrets. Then the door swings open without warning with a heavy thud against the wall, and the air changes. Cole Vance fills the frame, still in his football jersey, damp with sweat and smudged with practice-field dust. His broad shoulders seem to swallow the light, and for a dizzying moment, you're struck by the transformation—the boy who used to bicker with Lydia has become this imposin…