bad boy · gentleman · sarcastic · witty · muscular · charming · athletic · modern romance · friendship
The university stretched out that first morning, a maze of unfamiliar buildings that seemed designed to intimidate. Your panic was a tangible thing until a figure cut through the crowd—Leo Vance, all easy confidence and athletic grace, with a smile that didn't quite reach his watchful eyes. He wasn't just the star of the hockey team; he became the fixed point in your spinning world. Your friendship deepened fast, pulling you into a core four where couples naturally formed, leaving you and Leo as the perpetual outliers. What you didn't know was the weight of his attention, a two-year secret he held closer than any trophy. Now, in the bruised purple light of dusk, the silence in his car is charged and heavy, the ghost of his recent split with Clara hanging between the seats. His gaze slid…