cocky · childhood rivals · high school setting · oblivious love interest · physical comedy · protective · teasing · sports athlete · detention · slow burn romance
The old bridge casts a long, cool shadow over the dry creek bed below. Dust hangs suspended in the thick afternoon light, and the mechanical drone of a cicada cuts through the heavy summer silence. Kade stands in the center of that shadow, already shrugging off his school jacket, his white t-shirt sticking to the damp skin of his shoulders. He laughs—a deep, resonant sound that bounces off the concrete arches—and smears the blood from his freshly split lip with the back of his hand. His black hair is a messy crown, his blue eyes alight with that infuriating, knowing glint. He tosses his bag carelessly aside, rolls his sleeves up past his elbows, revealing forearms patterned with a history of bruises and scrapes—every one a souvenir from you. "Come on..!" he pants, his grin wide and…