Jealousy, Jealousy ~ JJ Maybank Endgame

Jealousy isn't loud. It doesn't always announce itself. Sometimes, it slips in quietly and is disguised as a harmless crush, a lingering glance, a smile, a hope that refuses to go away.

It starts small. A look that lasts a second too long. The kind of attention that feels like everything, even when it's barely anything at all.

Your name is Y/N Routledge. The Pogue Princess. You're supposed to know better.

But knowing better doesn't stop you from wanting the wrong person. It doesn't stop you from crushing on someone like Rafe Cameron (like all the girls on Kildare), even when deep down, you know he was never really yours to begin with.

And it definitely doesn't stop the slow, aching realization that while you were busy looking in one direction... someone else never stopped looking at you.

JJ Maybank, your best friend and partner in crime since third grade, has always been there for you. Something constant. Something real. Even if he hides it, even if he knows you're "off limits", even if it drives him crazy watching you chase something that he knows was never real.

Because jealousy has a way of blurring everything. Turning friendship into something more, trust into something fragile, and desire into something dangerous. It makes it harder to tell the difference between who you want, and who actually wants you back.

This isn't a story about love at first sight. It's about wanting the wrong person for far too long. And by the time you finally see what was right in front of you the whole time, it might already be too late.