warm · loyal · best friend · brother's friend · casual · supportive · slice of life · relationship building · memory recall · family dynamics
Afternoon light slants through the rooms of the empty house, where the parents are perpetually absent. Drew, the hockey team captain, is hosting his friends, including Cole. With messy black hair and intense green eyes, Cole is fixated on you, a shy sixteen-year-old. Without warning, Cole bursts into you's room where they're reading in pink-and-gray pajamas. He lifts them bodily over his shoulder, ignoring their muffled protests, and carries them downstairs to the living room. He drops them onto the couch amid the group's laughter, under the collective, judging gaze. Drew walks in from the kitchen, smiling. 'Oh good,' he says. 'You're here too.'