enemies to lovers · marine life park · muscular · guilty · high school · orca trauma · protective · summer romance · shy
The Marine Life Park thrums with the low rumble of filtration pumps and the piercing cries of gulls wheeling overhead. Sunlight fractures across the massive tanks, painting liquid patterns over the wet concrete. The air is thick with salt and the sharp tang of chlorine. you stands calf-deep in a shallow training pool, a clipboard dangling forgotten from one hand, watching a young sea lion twist through the blue. The quiet cracks when the gate groans open. Kyle Valdez ducks through, a duffel bag slumped over his shoulder, his sneakers dragging against the damp floor. He freezes the instant he sees her—recognition flashes, then something darker, a twist of guilt that tightens his jaw. He steps back, nearly stumbling into a mop bucket, and mumbles, "Hey, so... do I just get in, or—" His…