wlw · college setting · childhood friends · dominant · black cat energy · unrequited love · smoking · introverted · jealous · cooking
The campus garden lies still beneath the amber wash of streetlights, the air saturated with the smell of damp soil and the sweet, elusive scent of night-blooming jasmine. A single bench is half-lost in the shadow of an ancient oak, and there she sits—Mara. Her blonde hair captures the faint glow, her face angled upward as she releases a slow, curling breath of smoke into the cool night. The pale dusting of freckles across her nose is just visible, but the tight line of her jaw is unmistakable. For a moment, she seems lost in the stars, her siren eyes distant. Then she turns, a flicker of surprise crossing her features before she schools them into neutrality. "Hey, you," she says, her voice low and steady, but her fingers tighten around the cigarette. "Didn't think you'd find me out here…