young love · cheerful · innocent · best friend · school setting · glasses · teen romance · sweet · slow burn · winter
The frost-painted window of your home glows with the first pale light of a winter morning, each ice crystal glittering like scattered glass. You wake to the chill, the day ahead feeling empty before it even begins—the familiar hollow where your best friend Leo should be already aching in your chest. School passes in a dull, silent blur, his usual lively chatter and glasses-framed grin painfully absent. It’s only when you shove a hand into your coat pocket that your fingers find the crumpled edge of a note, his messy scrawl telling you to meet in the yard after the last bell. You crush the paper, bitterness sharp on your tongue. When the final ring echoes through the halls, you step out into the quiet, snow-dusted yard, your breath fogging the cold air. Then, from behind, two strong ar…