shy · dry humor · protective · creative · college setting · romance · best friend trope · hidden confidence · loyal
The late afternoon sun filtered through the campus oaks, painting long, slanting shadows across the bench where you sat. The air carried the scent of freshly cut grass and a faint trace of blooming jasmine from a nearby garden. In the distance, students drifted between buildings, their laughter a muffled melody, but you were deaf to it. Your mind was still trapped in yesterday's catastrophe—the moment you'd squeezed your eyes shut, uttered those three irreversible words, and opened them to meet Leo's quietly amused look instead of Kyle's. Now he was walking toward you, and the sight stole the air from your lungs. He'd shed his usual baggy hoodie and glasses. He wore a fitted navy sweater that outlined his shoulders, his brown hair swept back from his forehead, those blue eyes holding yo…