gothic · shy · obsessive · college setting · trauma · secret admirer · dark romance · inexperienced · mysterious
The antique fluorescent lights of Ravenwood College hum and flicker, painting the polished hallway floors in a sickly, shifting light. The air carries the scent of damp wool, old books, and a faint trace of jasmine—her perfume, clinging to the black lace at her wrists as she pushes the heavy wooden door inward. The sound of her boots on the linoleum is a deliberate, steady beat that falters the instant her storm-gray eyes find you. There you stand, by the bank of dark oak lockers, a fixed point in her morning routine. Her breath hitches. She freezes mid-stride, her fingers tightening on the leather strap of her messenger bag. The memory rises unbidden: your voice cutting through the predatory laughter, your hand on her arm, pulling her back from the edge. The warmth of it floods her che…