At Brightwood University, Simi is a football player who knows that every game might be her last. Her illness is the unwelcome guest at her every kick and sprint, casting shadows over her dreams.
Then Alex shows up-a new football student with a smil...
The week unfurled like an over-ambitious high school play, full of awkward pauses, unexpected chemistry, and scenes that seemed both spontaneous and destined. Simi and Alex found themselves navigating the ebb and flow of football practices, each session laced with the quiet thrill of anticipation. Their shared moments stretched beyond the field into spontaneous coffee-fueled study dates, which felt as exhilarating as scoring a game-winning goal.
Simi was drawn to his effortless charm—the way Alex could make even the gruffest of teammates crack a smile, his laugh like a match sparking to life in a dark room. But beneath that easygoing exterior, she sensed something deeper, a shadow that felt oddly familiar, like catching a glimpse of her own reflection when she wasn't quite prepared.
By their second study session, they'd claimed a corner in the campus library. The scent of old books mingled with the unmistakable aroma of greasy KFC burgers and fries, a forbidden indulgence that Simi always justified with the "athlete's metabolism" excuse.
The quiet murmur of pages turning and distant whispers formed a cocoon around them, but the real tension buzzed just beneath the surface, where fingers brushed 'accidentally' and eyes lingered a little too long.
Simi watched Alex as he hunched over his calculus notes, the way his brow furrowed in that serious, almost comically intense way, making him look like a brooding character straight out of a dystopian novel. The way the light hit the angles of his face made her heart skip, though she'd never admit it.
"Dude," Alex suddenly exclaimed, breaking the silence with the exasperation of someone who's just realized they're in over their head, "why did I think taking calculus was a good idea? I barely survived secondary school math."
Simi chuckled, biting into a fry. "You're not alone. I nearly drowned in a sea of derivatives last semester." She kept her tone light, but underneath her words lay a truth neither had yet touched on—the weight of their individual battles, simmering just beneath the surface.
As the conversation drifted back to the intricacies of integrals, Simi found herself studying Alex more closely, the way his fingers tapped a rhythm against the table, his lips twitching with frustration as he scrawled equations in his notebook. There was something magnetic about the way he existed in the world, as if he was always a second away from either solving a complex problem or making a joke about how utterly pointless it all was.
"So," she ventured, deciding to dive into uncharted territory, "what brought you to Brightwood? You seem... well, like you've always belonged here." The question tumbled out, riding on a wave of curiosity and something else—a genuine interest that scared her just a little.
Alex hesitated, the easy smile faltering for a fraction of a second. "Long story short? I needed a fresh start," he said, leaning back in his chair as if the words had taken more out of him than he expected. "After a rough few years in Ghana, Brightwood was... kind of my do-over."
His voice softened, the vulnerability in it pulling at something deep within Simi. It was like seeing him in a different light, the cracks in his armor showing just enough to let her glimpse the pain underneath. She felt a pang of empathy, a quiet understanding that wrapped itself around the moment, binding them closer even as her mind buzzed with the fear of what it all might mean.
"Ghana, huh?" Simi said, trying to keep her tone casual, though her heart was doing a weird somersault in her chest. "That's a big leap. I guess Brightwood feels like a whole different world."
"It is," Alex admitted, a wistful smile playing on his lips. "But in a good way. Here, it feels like... like maybe I can finally breathe again, you know?"
Simi nodded, feeling the weight of his words settle between them. "I get that," she murmured, almost to herself. She wanted to tell him about her own battles, the sleepless nights, the way she sometimes felt like she was balancing on the edge of something too deep to comprehend. But the words stayed lodged in her throat, too fragile to be exposed just yet.
Instead, she reached for another fry, her hand brushing against his in the process. The touch was electric, sending a jolt through her that she hoped he didn't notice. Alex glanced up, his eyes meeting hers, and for a moment, the world around them seemed to fall away, leaving just the two of them, suspended in a moment that felt as inevitable as it was terrifying.
"You know," he said, his voice lighter now, as if he could sense the shift and wanted to steer them back to safer waters, "you're pretty good at this whole study buddy thing. I might just survive calculus after all."
Simi laughed, the tension easing as they fell back into the easy banter that had marked their friendship from the start. But even as they joked and teased, that undercurrent of something deeper remained, a promise and a warning all wrapped into one.
"What did you need a fresh start from?" Simi suddenly blurted out. She wasn't prepared for the way his entire demeanor shifted. It was as if she'd pressed a button that, once activated, couldn't be undone. The air between them thickened, charged with the weight of what was left unsaid.
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