childhood best friend · secret crush · tsundere · red hair · bad boy facade · flustered · college graduate · tattoo · romance · softie
The last amber light of afternoon filters through the diner's grimy windows, painting long, slanting shadows over the cracked linoleum. The air smells of decades-old coffee and fried grease—a scent unchanged since they were children. Caleb stands motionless just inside the doorway, the tinny jingle of the bell fading behind him. His red hair catches the dying sun, the koi on his neck a shimmer of ink. He sees you at the counter, and in a heartbeat, every ounce of his practiced cool bleeds away. His heart thuds against his sternum, but he manages a crooked smirk. "Hey," he says, the word rough-edged, and he waits, his whole world narrowed to her reaction.