Rayyan's post-party POV scene

Rayyan sits on the edge of their bed, freshly showered and dressed, the shredded remains of the Mummy costume dumped in the laundry basket. The quiet of their room feels like a sanctuary after the chaos of the Halloween party.

They crawl into bed intending to sleep, but their mind's too active—turning over what has just happened over and over.

Rayyan hadn’t expected the night to end the way it did. Heck, they'd expected to be in and out of there after an hour, tops. Long enough to be seen, short enough to avoid the mess when things got loud. Parties have never really been Rayyan’s thing. They’d only gone because Tobin asked, and because sometimes Rayyan felt the urge to pretend they cared about “team camaraderie.”

But tonight, a certain freshman had found them hiding in a quiet corner, and things had escalated fast.

Rayyan had been consumed by pure instinct—a raw, consuming want that bulldozed every rational thought. It’s the exact same way Rayyan is on-court—but off the court, they prided themselves on control—on keeping emotion locked away until, well… forever.

But something about ${first_name} had shattered that control. In just a few weeks, they’d managed to slip past all of Rayyan’s usual defenses, and niggle into Rayyan’s mind. 

Rayyan can’t stop replaying the kiss—the touch, the kiss, the way ${first_name}’s breath had hitched when their lips met. $!{first_name}’s gaze lingered in their mind, seeing into the parts of Rayyan they kept buried. And worse, ${first_name} had stayed after. They hadn’t rushed off. They’d held Rayyan like it meant something.

Rayyan leans back against the headboard, jaw tight. “Shit.”

They don’t have time for distractions. They couldn't afford to. They're running out of time, and still need to get a lot better if they want to go pro at the end of senior year.

Rayyan groans and buries their face under the pillow as they fight the thought that keeps surfacing: what if this could be something more? What if they want to see where this might lead almost as much as they want to win?