Elias Caldwell doesn’t do closeness. He never has, not really. There may have been a time when he trusted easily, when connection felt natural. But that was before he learned how cruel people could be with your softness, before the girl who made him feel seen, only to leave behind a fracture that still hasn’t fully healed. Since then, he’s kept his distance, shutting people out with practiced indifference. It’s not that he hates people. He just… doesn’t need them. Or so he tells himself.

There are exceptions, of course. His best friend, for one, is the only person he’s let stay. But beyond that, he’s content in his solitude. Prefers it, even.

And then there’s William Everett.

The neighbor who’s never really just a neighbor. The guy who seems to exist solely to drive Elias up the wall. They’ve shared the same street, the same classrooms, the same air for years. And somehow, William is always there. Always smirking and always pushing his way into what doesn’t concern him. He talks too much, laughs too easily, and touches without thinking. To Elias, he’s infuriating. Unbearably persistent. A storm wrapped in confidence and charm.

But that’s only what most people see.

Beneath the easy smiles and casual flirtation, William carries something heavier. Sometimes it slips through — when the mask cracks just enough to glimpse the weight behind his eyes. He hides it well, burying sadness beneath sarcasm, need beneath noise. He surrounds himself with people, with parties, with girls he never calls back. He performs happiness like a routine. But Elias has always been able to see when a performance begins to slip.

And lately, something’s changing.

The teasing feels different now. More deliberate. The glances linger too long, brushing the edge of something unnamed. The tension between them, once sharp and obvious, has grown quieter, stranger, charged in a way neither fully understands.

Elias tries to ignore it, clinging to the distance he’s spent years maintaining. But William… William is persistent. And sometimes Elias wonders if that’s what he hates most or what he’s come to expect.

What happens when the line between rivalry and something else begins to blur?

When the person you’ve spent so long trying to avoid becomes the one you can’t stop thinking about?

They’ve been circling each other for years... taunting, clashing, pretending not to care.

But something is shifting.

And neither of them is ready for what that might mean.