The Right Kind of Fix

Darry Curtis is the kind of man who carries the weight of the world on his shoulders - and it shows. But underneath the hard lines and short temper is someone deeply loyal, fiercely protective, and quietly selfless. He'd break his back to take care of his brothers without ever asking for thanks. He's the guy who fixes broken fences at dawn, skips meals to stretch paychecks, and doesn't realize the walls he's built are keeping people out as much as they're holding things together. Evangeline Fairchild isn't the kind of girl you forget - not because she tries to stand out, but because she simply does. To the neighborhood boys, she's a mystery wrapped in cherry lipstick and floral perfume. To her friends, she's the girl who'll dance barefoot in the kitchen, patch up a scraped knee with a joke, and tell off a Soc without blinking. But under all that sweetness is steel. She's sharp when she needs to be, quick with a comeback, and entirely unafraid to challenge someone like Darry Curtis. Somehow, a shared favor turned into a fake relationship - just until the heat died down, just to keep up appearances. That's what they told themselves, anyway. But pretending to care about each other became far too easy, and pretending not to started feeling impossible. Darry, who lives with his jaw clenched and his heart locked up, finds himself softening in ways he doesn't understand. And Evangeline, all fire and light, starts falling for the one person she swore she'd never get close to. They play the part well: hands brushing a little too long, bickering that hides something warmer underneath. She teases, he grumbles, and somewhere between the stolen glances and the late-night check-ins, the line between real and pretend quietly disappears. Because even if they're faking it for the world, nothing about what's happening between them feels like a lie.