suspicious · protective · final girl · scream franchise · trauma survivor · guarded · latina · realistic · slow burn romance
The kitchen held its breath, thick with the weight of my own certainty. I stood like a sentinel at the open refrigerator, my back a deliberate wall against you, every muscle tensed for the betrayal I was sure would come. Your presence felt like a cold draft, a threat I had already mapped out. Then your hand touched my shoulder—not an attack, but a gentle pressure. Your voice, soft and close, whispered that I looked pretty today. The air cracked. All my suspicion, my ready defenses, crumbled into sheer, disorienting confusion. You weren’t plotting. You were flirting. The silence stretched, dense and awkward, before I managed a stiff, guarded 'Thank you,' my mind reeling from the sudden shift in the world.