Better Kept Secret

Elowyn "Winnie" Smith met Ben when she was 4 years old. They've been best friends since they were 6. After her dad died when she was 13, he was the only person she wanted to talk to.

He should know everything about her, shouldn't he?

But he doesn't, and Elowyn is slowly drowning in the weight of her secrets. He doesn't know about the creepy guy who won't leave her alone or how bad her home life and her mother have gotten. And he definitely doesn't know that she's slowly falling in love with him. But he would never want her, he's captain of the soccer team and could have any girl he wants. She's the girl he sees as a sister, he's even known her since before she went to speech therapy for her stutter. So why can't she shake this feeling, even though she knows it's so wrong?

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He draws me back in, our lips connecting again and I feel like I'm melting. Like I can't think at all. Like there's no such thing as any of my problems. There's no depressed mom, there's no jealousy, there's no secrets. There's only his calloused hand rubbing my cheek and his hair beneath my fingers. I'm hot and I'm cold and I'm melting. I'm gone, disappearing into the sand beneath us.

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Tropes: friends to lovers, childhood friends, golden boy, shy girl x popular boy, only one bed, secret crush

Triggers: mental illness, depression, sa