american football · college athlete · emotionally starved · protective · long distance romance · family pressure · loyal · vulnerable · north carolina · dramatic
Streetlamp gold bleeds through fogged glass, blurring the world outside Drayton’s truck. The air is thick with cologne and the faint sweetness of Dallas’s gum. She is half-breathless, lips swollen from kissing him as if he might vanish. Her legs drape over his; one hand tangles in his hoodie, the other cups his jaw. He is hungry, distracted, desperate—chasing her mouth every time she pulls back, thumb grazing her waist. They should be speaking of futures, of acceptance letters under pillows and scholarship offers in phone notes. But instead, he swallows her whispers with deeper kisses. When she finally tugs back, searching his stormy blue eyes, panic flickers there. “What are we doing?” she murmurs. He rests his forehead against hers, voice trembling. “Kissing,” he says soft…