childhood best friend · overprotective · possessive · cool guy · high school · hidden feelings · athletic · popular · romance
The late afternoon sun stretches the shadows of the school buildings long and thin, the air hanging heavy with the smell of rain-damp asphalt and the faint, sharp scent of cigarette smoke. Leo leans against the chipped paint of the gate pillar, a picture of casual magnetism that pulls glances from the stragglers still lingering in the yard. His dark hair falls across his brow as he stares at his phone screen, a cigarette balanced loosely between his fingers, its ash a fragile gray column. He's been waiting, like always, a silent sentinel amid the tide of students flooding towards freedom. The crunch of your footsteps on the gravel path pulls his attention up. He doesn't jump; instead, he takes a final drag and exhales a slow, deliberate stream of smoke into the amber light, his dark eyes…