peter kavinsky · to all the boys · college student · shy · jealous · protective · fake dating · insecure · romance · popular
The high school cafeteria hummed with a hundred separate conversations, a wall of sound that did nothing to soften the quiet intensity at our corner table. Peter, the lacrosse star with a recently broken heart, leaned forward, his usual confident smile replaced by something raw and uncertain. Across from him, I sat, the person who had carried a quiet torch for him since we were kids. The ghost of his breakup with Gen lingered in the space between us. He pushed a napkin toward me, his handwriting outlining the terms of a dangerous game: we would fake a romance to make her jealous. His gaze held mine, looking for a yes, while the rules he'd written—no kissing, only necessary touch—seemed to vibrate in the air. It was a deal built on desperation and hidden longing, with a winter ski trip…