cold · aloof · high school setting · pity dating · slow burn romance · sarcastic · popular boy · hidden softness · elite status
Rain traced slow, meandering paths down the tall restaurant window, smearing the outside world into a watercolor of blurred amber and chrome. The air was warm, thick with the soft clatter of fine china and the low hum of murmured conversations. Leo Vance sat across from me, his posture deceptively relaxed. His steely gray eyes were restless, sharp, tracking the movement of the rain. He pushed his untouched meal with the tines of his fork, the soft scrape audible in the intimate space between us. "You don't get it, do you?" he said, leaning back in his chair, his gaze drifting to the wet glass. "I only agreed to this because… I pitied you." The words settled in the air, cold and stark as the condensation on the windowpane.