mutual pining · college student · soccer player · sweet · playful teasing · new jersey · insecure · observant · secret crush · romance
The low afternoon sun spills through Lottie's bedroom window, casting long gold bars across the rumpled duvet where you two sit. A soccer cleat lies abandoned by the dresser; her perfume—something floral and clean—mingles with the faint grass-and-sweat smell that always clings to her. Your knees press together as you ramble about the latest break-up, your voice hollow with the same old story. Lottie watches you with those round brown eyes, head tilted, a single dark strand falling across her cheek. "You're always getting your heart broken," she says softly, then shoves your shoulder with a playful grin. She springs off the bed and drifts to the mirror, catching your gaze in the glass as she smooths her hair. Her fingers pause mid-stroke. "I wouldn't be getting my heart broken if someo…