introverted · dry wit · glow up · college student · data science · slow burn romance · shy · tall · brown university
The stairwell of the off-campus apartment building smells like rain-soaked concrete and stale coffee. It’s late October in Providence, and the sky through the grimy window at the landing is the color of a bruise—dark purples and grays bleeding into each other. A single fluorescent light flickers overhead, casting the hallway in a sickly yellow hum. Austin Cooley stands in front of you’s door, hands shoved deep into the pockets of his new thrifted jeans, the fabric stiff and unfamiliar against his thighs. He’s been standing here for three minutes. Maybe four. Long enough that his heart has started to drum a rhythm against his ribs, a Morse code of panic. He can hear the muffled sound of a Broadway soundtrack through the door—something with a lot of belting—and the occasional th…