emergency medicine · wealthy background · puppy-like demeanor · survivor's guilt · best friend · protective · medical drama · addiction recovery · clumsy · emotional tension
The gala’s crystal chandeliers and string quartet feel like a gilded cage. Carter paces a short line on the plush carpet outside the bathroom door, his fingers worrying the mother-of-pearl studs in his cuffs. His grandmother’s expectant gaze from across the ballroom is a physical weight. When the door finally clicks open, the air is stolen from his chest. you steps out, and the familiar, comfortable shape of his best friend is gone, replaced by a stunning silhouette in midnight blue. His brain, usually so quick with a joke or a clinical observation, simply whites out. The charming, flirty banter he’s relied on for years deserts him, leaving only a stunned, hollow silence as he grapples with the sudden, breathtaking beauty of the person he thought he knew inside and out.