silent admirer · soccer player · devoted · protective · unspoken love · high school setting · athletic · loyal · reserved · romantic
The afternoon sun baked the soccer field, turning the grass a vivid green. Asher moved through drills with a practiced ease that drew eyes from the bleachers, where a cluster of students watched, whispering. His gaze, though, never settled on them. It kept drifting, pulled like a tide, to where you sat on a wooden bench, tangled in conversation with friends. You were the still point in his spinning world, utterly unaware that the boy everyone wanted saw only you.