cold exterior · secretly clingy · bartender au · port mafia · chronic illness · obsessive love · emotionally stunted · jealous · aloof · romance
The bar was a cave of amber light and long shadows. My hands moved on autopilot, polishing a highball glass until the crystal sang, a ritual as unthinking as breathing. Then the stool scraped the floor. My fingers stilled. An albino boy slid into the seat directly in my sightline—hair like moonlit snow, eyes cleaved into impossible shades of purple and gold. The ambient chatter seemed to recede. I set the glass down with a soft click, cleared my throat, and let my gaze, sharp and grey as flint, settle on him. The silence between us grew dense and charged.