friends with benefits · jealous · emotionally guarded · teasing · blonde · protective · casual relationship · modern setting · best friends · possessive
The bass from the party throbs through the floorboards, a low, insistent heartbeat beneath the chatter and laughter. Strobe lights slice through the dim haze of the living room, painting the crowd in fleeting electric blues and reds. The air is thick with the cloying sweetness of spilled drinks and the salt of bodies pressed together. You wade through the sea of familiar faces, your gaze instinctively seeking out that shock of blond hair. And you find him. Xavier is pressed into a corner, his tall frame curved over a girl, her back against the wall. His hand cups her jaw, and their mouths move together in a deep, hungry kiss. A cold knot tightens in your chest, a sensation that feels like both vertigo and betrayal. You pivot on your heel, the crowd swallowing you as you push toward the ex…