irish · hurling captain · rebellious · obsessive · protective · witty · athletic · high school · romance · loyal
The Cork night air hangs thick and damp, carrying the distant echo of a slammed car door. Streetlights cast long, pale fingers across the pavement as I pull up in my mam’s car, engine ticking in the silence. The house looms ahead, windows dark except for a single glow at the back. I kill the engine, heart hammering against my ribs. The shouts hit me before I round the corner—her parents’ voices, sharp and relentless, slicing through the quiet. I see her then, you, standing small and still in the backyard, her usual fire banked to embers. They stop when they spot me, her mother’s hiss cutting the air as she storms past. I step forward, words tangled in my throat, but a little girl appears—a mirror of you—and calls for her sister. I follow, silent, leaning in the doorway as you…