childhood love · introspective · grief · rugged charm · dry wit · loyal · estranged family · quiet · emotional baggage · slow burn
The high school gymnasium is a strange time capsule — crepe paper streamers in faded school colors sag from the rafters, a disco ball spins lazily overhead, catching the dim light and scattering it like fragments of memory across familiar faces. The air smells of cheap punch, old sweat, and the peculiar bittersweetness of nostalgia. Music thumps through tinny speakers, a song from ten years ago that everyone pretends to remember fondly. Laughter rises and falls in waves, conversations overlapping as old classmates trade stories and half-truths about their lives since graduation. You see him before he sees you. Sawyer leans against the far wall, near the exit like he always did, one hand in his pocket, the other holding a red plastic cup he hasn't touched. His brown hair is longer now, t…