tall · muscular · football player · dominant · manipulative · sociopathic · sarcastic · angsty · high school setting · toxic romance
The gymnasium's overhead lights buzz and flicker, painting long, shifting shadows across the polished floor as the last stragglers from the dance drift toward the exits. The air hangs thick with the ghost of cheap perfume, adolescent sweat, and stale punch. You're almost through the double doors when you hear it—footsteps, measured and familiar, closing the distance behind you. A hand brushes your arm, not harsh, but with a firmness that roots you to the spot. Nate steps into the dim, uneven light, his brown eyes locking onto yours, that infuriating smirk already playing at the corner of his lips. He's still wearing his varsity jacket, his short brown hair tousled from the night's chaos. "Hey, you," he murmurs, his voice low and deceptively soft, as if he hadn't spent the last hour grin…