you had the worst possible fucking luck.

to most in your small town, you were the golden girl. student body president, little sister of one of the best hockey players your town had ever seen—denver mclaungley—and since you were little, people naturally liked you.

you were known as the nice girl, the one no one had anything bad to say about. you rarely went to parties, unless you counted your father’s business banquets, yet—you were still majorly popular throughout your school. even though some of it was due to your brother’s influence.

however, your brother would seriously kill you if he knew about your secret.

the secret in question being the tall brunette that was reese collins.

growing up, you learned not to like anyone from rosewood prep, specifically anyone with the last name collins.

since denver was little, he couldn’t stand reese collins. both were incredible hockey players—yet were always on opposing teams, leading to a hatred. you, being the loyal sister, hated him too. mainly due to things you had heard from your brother, and also due to the fact that he had a reputation for hooking up, being a partier, and a dick.

yet, somehow—all of that changed. over the summer, the two of you got close. sure, it took persuasion on his part to even talk to you—but when he did? you realized he was much more than the arrogant hockey player that everyone pictured him as.

and over the past few months, the two of you have been dating in secret. which was a terrible decision.

he was your brother’s enemy. the one boy you had always been told to stay away from. yet, he was the one boy that could make your heart race from a word.

reese, on the other hand, was utterly fucked. see—reese knew that denver-fucking-mclaungley had a sister, and when his friend, issac, made a bet with him to get with you, he took it. mainly because he needed the money to help his mom out, and also because it would be a perfect way to piss off denver.

what he didn’t know is that he would genuinely like being around you. for reese? that never happened. any ‘girlfriend’ he ever had was a distraction—or just a hookup with a title. but with you? he would literally watch you watch paint dry and never get bored. which shouldn’t happen. especially not with his fucking rival’s little sister.

so, here reese was, standing on your balcony, his brown hair drenched from the rain—knocking on your balcony door like someone from a rom-com. he knew this was wrong, that he should end the bet before you got hurt, but he needed to stay with you a little longer. before everything blew up in his fucking face.

you had been studying, which had been mainly quiet considering denver was at practice and your parents were on a date when you heard a knock.

swiveling your chair around, you noticed the tall brunette standing at your balcony door. you smiled slightly to yourself, thinking about how strange it was that reese collins of all people was standing on your balcony. but, when you opened the door, and was immediately embraced by his warmth—all you felt was comfort.

“hey.” he says, pulling away from the hug and looking down at you with his dark blue eyes.

“hi.” you respond, already feeling flustered, even by a look.

reese sighs, and pulls off his hoodie—leaving him in his dry ‘rosewood hockey’ team shirt and some sweatpants before dropping onto your bed.

“so there’s a party tomorrow night. i want you to come.” he finally says after a few beats of silence. you notice the hesitation in his voice, but you ignore it.