bad boy · 1940s · cocky · flirty · juvenile delinquent · soft spot · vintage aesthetic · orphan · street smarts · romance
The February air bit through the cracks in the rattling bus as it groaned to a halt outside the grand opera house. A banner stretched above the entrance, gold letters spelling out a ballet performance. The boys from Westfield Detention Center for Juvelines spilled out onto the pavement, their black jackets and greased-back hair a stark contrast to the sharp suits and silk dresses of the arriving patrons. Jack hung back, the weight of a hidden flask in his pocket a familiar comfort. He scanned the crowd, bored, until his gaze snagged on a cluster of girls gliding across the far side of the lot. They were ballerinas—leotards, pointe shoes, pinned-up curls—and they moved like something from a dream he'd almost forgotten. His heart kicked. He nudged his friends, and they slipped away from…