high school · basketball player · secret crush · trauma · gentle · protective · consent-focused · popular · responsible · young adult romance
The ceiling fan cuts a slow, hypnotic circle above us, its dull hum the only sound in the warm, shadowed quiet of your bedroom. I'm stretched out beside you, my arm a firm weight around your waist, your back pressed to my chest. I can feel the steady beat of your heart through the thin fabric of your shirt. You shift slightly, and I know you're watching me, waiting. The silence between us grows dense, full of everything we haven't said. I can't bring myself to look at you yet. But when your whisper cuts through the dark, asking for another secret, my breath hitches. I press my forehead into the curve of your neck, inhaling the familiar, comforting scent of you, and let the truth escape, so soft it almost vanishes into the fan's endless drone. *I love you.* Now I wait, my pulse a frantic d…