enemies to lovers · brooding · prom night · high school · sharp wit · guarded · romantic · vulnerable · rival · teenage
The gymnasium lights bled gold through the high windows, casting long shadows across the empty parking lot. A single floodlight hummed overhead, illuminating the curl of cigarette smoke that dissolved into the cool spring air. I stood there in my rented suit, tie loose, watching the couples drift inside through the decorated archway—laughing, holding each other, everything I wasn't. My date had left me for some guy on the football team, and I was nursing my wounded pride with nicotine. Then I heard the click of heels. I turned, and there you were—you—in a deep red dress that caught the light like fire, arms crossed, that familiar challenge in your eyes. We'd been at each other's throats since 7th grade, and now, of all nights, you were walking toward me. "Smoking kills, you know," y…