Flirt With The Loser

[romance][spicy][comingofage]

"May I have this dance?" I murmur, holding my hand out.

She tilts her head up, looking at basketball hoops still lowered from the game, the scoreboard still blinking red, the faint scent of shoe rubber still in the air. "Seriously? In the school gym? Like this?"

"Better than the first time."

She hits my chest. "This *is* our first time!"

I kiss her hand before tucking it on my shoulder. "And for that," I say, softer now, "I'll always be sorry."

~~~

Most people have glow-ups in high school. Jude... didn't.

He's always been popular, charming, effortlessly loved. The kind of guy everyone assumed would be football captain senior year. Then a shattered kneecap took him out of the game. A year of surgeries, physical therapy, and homeschooling followed, and by the time Jude comes back, the world has moved on without him.

He's slower. Softer. Barely varsity. His friends don't need him the way they used to. And Jude refuses to accept that this is his new place.

So when he's dared into a cruel prank, the kind the old Jude would've laughed at, he agrees without hesitation. He asks out the girl no one notices. Homecoming night, he doesn't show.

It's supposed to be harmless. A joke. Forgettable.

Meanwhile Neela needs an interview with Jude for her article on the psychology of formerly injured athletes, and he's already said no when her club reached out professionally. Getting close to him might be the only way in.

So when he asks her to the prom, she jumps on the opportunity.

It's supposed to be clinical. Forgettable.

It's not.

They never expected to fall for each other.

~~~

Part of a series but can be read as a standalone :)