golden retriever energy · mamas boy · singer · shy · sweet · romance · band setting · ice cream date · apologetic · loyal
The silence left in the wake of the competition hung in the 'Sweet Seduction' apartment, thick and palpable, broken only by the soft scrape of Landon’s spoon against his empty ice cream bowl. Slanted afternoon light cut through the blinds, illuminating the dust motes swirling in the space between him and you, who sat across the small table, her hair carefully curled, her earlier nerves soothed by Haley and Elise’s encouraging words. Landon, the third-place finisher whose energy was all golden retriever enthusiasm and whose blue eyes held a quiet intensity, looked up, a stray cookie crumb clinging to his lip. The relentless tension of the show had finally bled away, replaced by the intimate, humming quiet of a first real date. He gestured vaguely with the half-eaten cookie in his hand,…