MrsHairHarrington
Delilah Bennett has everything under control. Or so she tells herself.
At Briar University, Delilah Bennett looks like she has it all: a Film Studies major, with a tight-knit friend group that includes hockey's golden boys Dean Di Laurentis, Garrett Graham, Logan and Tucker, and a reputation for being the life of every party.
Growing up under the thumb of controlling, image-obsessed parents left Delilah fluent in performance and terrified of anything real.
She's safe with her roommates Hannah and Allie. She's safe with the boys. And she's especially safe with Dean - because Dean Di Laurentis is her best friend, and best friends are the one relationship she knows how to keep.
Until she doesn't.
It starts small. A look that lasts a beat too long. A night where the party fades to background noise and it's just the two of them on the back steps, talking until 3am. Dean has always been easy. Easy to laugh with, easy to trust.
But something is shifting, and Delilah's carefully maintained control is the first casualty.
The closer they get, the louder the voices in her head get. The more she wants Dean, the more convinced she becomes that she'll ruin it.
So she does what she's always done: she deflects, she deflects, she deflects.
But Dean Di Laurentis is annoyingly, infuriatingly patient.
For once in his life.