New Romantics || Dean Di Laurentis ⁴

Olive Holland lives her life in counts of eight. Every movement controlled, every mistake corrected, every second of her day carefully choreographed around ballet. At Briar University, she's known as the girl who never misses practice, never loses focus, and never lets anyone close enough to throw her off balance. Then Dean Di Laurentis crashes into her life like a slapshot through glass.

Dean is loud where Olive is quiet, chaotic where she is disciplined. A hockey player with an easy grin and a talent for getting under her skin, he seems to exist purely to disrupt the perfectly ordered world Olive built for herself. Their schedules clash, their personalities collide, and somehow they keep finding themselves drawn back together anyway.

What begins as teasing arguments and reluctant friendship slowly turns into something neither of them knows how to handle. Dean starts showing up outside dance rehearsals with coffee in hand, while Olive begins sneaking into hockey games pretending she doesn't care whether he notices she came. Beneath Dean's charm is someone desperate to prove he's more than the unserious guy everyone assumes he is, and beneath Olive's perfect poise is a girl exhausted from carrying the pressure of always needing to be flawless.

In ballet, Olive has always known exactly where to place her feet. Falling for Dean Di Laurentis is the first time she's ever stepped into something without knowing how it ends.