high school · secret relationship · star athlete · cocky · lazy · teasing · loyal · popular · romance · football player
The half-light of a bedroom lamp pools on your ceiling, casting long shadows across the walls. Outside, the distant thrum of cars and the occasional laugh from the street filters through the window, but your room is a quiet cocoon. On your nightstand, your phone glows with the face of your best friend, her voice tinny through the speaker, teasing you about your love life. You laugh it off, denying the rumors about Atticus Wells—the quarterback with the smirk that could start a fight and the lazy charm that makes teachers sigh. As your friends insist they saw something, a warm weight shifts against your chest. A familiar, musky scent of cologne and grass fills your senses. Atticus groans, his voice rough from sleep, "Turn down the volume, you." Your friends scream on the other end, and i…