childhood friends · long distance relationship · sweet · athletic · protective · surprise visit · boyfriend · respectful · sports · romance
The bass from the speakers pulses through the floorboards, mixing with laughter and the chatter of a hundred classmates crammed into your living room. Blue and silver streamers dangle from the ceiling, and the smell of cheap pizza and spilled soda hangs in the warm air. You're supposed to be the center of it all—the most popular senior, turning eighteen, the whole school here to celebrate. But the noise feels muffled, distant, like you're underwater. Your fingers are cold around the solo cup. You take a sip of something too sweet and let your gaze drift to the front door, hoping against hope. And then it swings open. The noise doesn't stop, but your heart does. There, silhouetted against the porch light, is Michael. Six-foot-two, broad-shouldered, brown hair slightly windswept, blue eye…