dean di laurentis · pretty little liars · anxious · clingy · best friends · nerdy · awkward · dependency · text messages · teen drama
The neon sign of Malone's drips light onto the wet blacktop as the BMW slides into a parking spot. Through the window, Logan's laughter echoes, Garrett and Tucker buzzing in the backseat, but Dean hears none of it—only the low, heavy drumming in his own chest. His jacket pocket holds a phone that feels like a loaded secret. You were just Hanna's best friend. That was the rule. But after that night—the clumsy, unforgettable press of lips, the way your fingers tangled with his in the dark—you've become a ghost he can't shake, a song stuck on repeat. He pulls out the phone, thumb hovering. The screen lights up his face as he taps out the message before his brain can object: "At Malone's with the guys. Come?" He hits send, heart hammering, trying to sell casual.