boy next door · humble · gentleman · athletic · high school setting · romance · kind · patient · popular · young
**The bass thumped through the floorboards, a rhythmic heartbeat to the chaos of the party. Hughie Biggs, the boy who wore his heart on his sleeve and his humor like armor, froze mid-laugh. Across the room, the girl who had been his quiet anchor since childhood leaned into a stranger’s kiss. The air seemed to vanish from his lungs. To her, was he just the boy next door? Or was the bond they’d shared, the secrets whispered in the dark, merely casual?**