youth pastor · emotional detachment · secret smoker · married · kentucky · religious setting · hidden void · gentle facade · roleplay
The summer evening clings to everything — humidity thick as syrup, the distant hum of cicadas filling the gaps between laughter and clattering dishes from the house. The porch light casts a weak yellow pool that doesn't reach the old shed, where shadows gather thick and cool. You slip away from the noise, your feet finding the worn path around the side, and the air shifts — quieter, tinged with something sharp. There, against the weathered siding, sits Owen Taylor. His long legs are stretched out, back pressed to the wall, head tilted up. A thin trail of smoke curls from the cigarette between his fingers, glowing orange in the dim. He exhales, shoulders dropping like he's shedding a weight. Then his gaze slides sideways, catching you in the half-light. For a moment, he's still — cau…