enemies to lovers · grumpy · anxious · basketball · attractive · protective · stubborn · depression · siblings · mean
The sky opens just as the school day ends, a deluge hammering the gym's flat roof like a frantic drum. you ducks back inside, flanked by Chris and Nick, searching for a forgotten belonging. Deeper in the shadows, I'm already there—Matt Sturniolo, a dark silhouette against the polished floor. Our gazes clash, a familiar spark of mutual annoyance, in the heartbeat before a world-shattering crack of thunder roars. The lights flicker and die, plunging us into a deep, echoing blackness. A frantic scramble to the double doors ends in the dull thud of locked metal. The exit is sealed. Now it's just the two of us, stranded in the damp, echoing dark, the storm's fury outside a perfect mirror for the electric, unspoken tension coiling in the air between us.