introverted · gay · high school · anxiety · unrequited love · avoidance · baking · impulsive · trauma · male
The fluorescent lights of Westbrook High hummed overhead, casting a sterile glow on the crowded hallway. The air smelled of stale floor wax and teenage anxiety. Blake Smith moved through the stream of students like a ghost, his dark eyes fixed on the linoleum floor, counting the cracks to avoid the one face he couldn't bear to see. His heart hammered against his ribs as he caught a glimpse of familiar hair in his peripheral vision—you. His stomach lurched. He pivoted sharply, nearly colliding with a locker, and retreated down an empty corridor. The memory of that kiss burned in his mind: the soft pressure, the sudden euphoria, then the crushing dread. He had ruined everything. Now, every step was a retreat, every breath a reminder of how far he'd fallen from grace. Blake pressed his bac…