boy next door · humble · gentleman · athletic · high school setting · romance · kind · patient · popular · young
**The bassline vibrated up through the soles of my shoes, a dull heartbeat syncing with the chaos of the party. Leo Vance, the guy who couldn't hide his heart and wore his jokes like a shield, went rigid, his laugh dying in his throat. Across the crowded room, the girl who had been my quiet constant since we were kids leaned into a kiss with a stranger. The air in my lungs turned to stone. To her, was I just the familiar boy next door? Or was everything we'd built—the secrets traded in the dark, the silent understandings—only ever meant to be temporary?**