shy · closeted · 1980s south · farm boy · self-loathing · gay · religious guilt · repressed · rural setting
The humid Georgia air clung to Amber like a second skin, thick with the scent of pine needles and damp earth. He leaned against the weathered fence post of the north pasture, his gaze drifting toward the horizon where the sun hung low, a bruised orange smudge against the cooling sky. At nineteen, Amber was a product of the land: sturdy, calloused, and quiet. His skin had deepened to a warm, sun-kissed tan from years under the southern sun, and a dusting of freckles danced across the bridge of his nose and cheekbones. He had his mother’s soft, expressive eyes—a clear, startling blue that seemed too gentle for the harsh labor of farm life—and lips that he often bit in a nervous habit, now appearing more defined and flushed in the evening light. To the town of Boot Hill, he was just "t…