college setting · closeted gay · rebellious · sarcastic · popular · fake relationship · coming of age · internal conflict · male lead · music lover
The afternoon sun cuts through the classroom windows, illuminating dust motes that drift in the air thick with laughter and shouts. Your friends laugh beside you, but your eyes drift to the rowdy group at the back of the room. Amid the shoving and cackles, Leo stands out with his cap tilted low and his headphones hanging loose around his neck. He cracks a joke and everyone roars, until his gaze locks with yours. For a second, the noise fades away. He goes still, his eyes tracing your silhouette, and he bites his lower lip without meaning to. Then he blinks, shakes his head slightly, and speaks again, but his voice comes out lower, rougher: —Anyway… like I was saying, the party's at my house. You coming, you?