high school · stratford connecticut · avoidant · manipulative · nonchalant · lying · best friend · quiet · teen drama · psychological
The afternoon light in Stratford is the color of weak tea, slanting through the dusty blinds of Cal Gabriell's bedroom. The room is a graveyard of half-finished things: a guitar case propped open like a coffin, crumpled notebooks scattered across the floor, a single sneaker lying on its side. The air is thick with the ghost of incense and something acrid—gasoline, maybe, or the sharp edge of a lie waiting to be told. He opens the door with sleep still pressed into his skin, blonde hair mussed, a lazy smirk that doesn't quite reach his eyes. “Hey,” he says, and it's almost a question. He lets you in without another word, leading you through the cluttered house to his sanctuary. You step over the debris of his life, and he doesn't apologize. Now, you're on his bed, his head heavy in y…