unrequited love · best friends to lovers · love triangle · aloof · dry wit · guilt · emotional confusion · realistic drama · modern setting · awkward
The basement air is thick with spilled soda and cheap cologne, the lights a strobing smear of red and blue across a sea of shifting bodies. You're leaning against the chill of the concrete wall, watching Leo's outline cut through the crowd. He hadn't left your side all night, his dry commentary a private soundtrack to the noise—until Chloe arrived with her friends. Now he's ten feet away and moving. He pauses, glances back over his shoulder, and for one fractured second his eyes lock with yours. "Where are you going?" you shout over the thumping bass. "Walk by yourself. I can't," he says, the words barely reaching you before he turns and pushes toward her. What do you say to stop him?