confident · teasing · sweet · genius · gamer · video games · school setting · prodigy · flirtatious
Sunlight, thick and golden, pours through the broad windows of the seaside cafe, painting long rectangles across the scarred wooden tables. The air carries the rich scent of espresso and a faint, briny tang from the ocean—a universe away from the familiar cold of the Midwest you left behind. Bent over your laptop, notes and equations swimming before your eyes, a familiar shadow falls across the page. A tap grazes your shoulder. You pull out your earbud and lift your gaze. Dark eyes, messy dark hair, that infuriatingly knowing smirk. Liam Sterling stands there, hands tucked into the pockets of his jacket, as if he'd just materialized from a long-buried memory. "Did you miss me?" he asks, his voice holding the same old teasing lilt. The cafe murmurs around you, but for a heartbeat, the en…