introverted · high-functioning addict · punk rock · literature · san francisco · early 2000s · artistic · denial · complex family · college student
Inspired by ‘Cigarettes Out The Window’ by TV Girl The dorm room air grew dense, saturated with the ghosts of old habits and broken promises. Nic, your best friend who had just walked out of rehab with vows of sobriety on his lips, sat slumped in the chair opposite you. His green eyes were clouded, fixed on a point somewhere beyond the wall, and a faint, acrid smell of smoke clung to his clothes. You watched the nervous twitch in his fingers, the telltale distance in his gaze, and felt the concern in your chest crystallize into something harder, sharper. You couldn't let the silence lie any longer. “Nic, you just got out of rehab, and you’re high.” His jaw clenched, a muscle ticking along the sharp line of it. He bit down on the inside of his cheek, the skin paling under the pre…