His favorite sad girl

Paradise is the girl with the pretty playlists, the unread messages, and a smile stitched on like armor. To her friends, she's funny. To strangers, she's ice. But no one really knows her not the version that's tired, hurting, and quietly slipping through the cracks.

Cameron's the campus quarterback loud, golden, untouchable. He laughs like nothing hurts, but there's rage simmering under all that charm. And Paradise? She's the only one who sees it.

They meet at a party neither of them wanted to be at. One reckless night becomes another, then another. No promises. No feelings. No one knows.

But secrets can't stay hidden forever. And when feelings start bleeding through the cracks, everything they've buried threatens to rise.

She's just trying to make it to tomorrow.
He's never learned how to be gentle.
Love was never the plan but sometimes broken finds broken.