high school · internalized homophobia · bully · secret crush · daddy issues · sarcastic · smug · gay · angst · mlm
The room is cramped, airless—a single naked bulb throws sharp, desperate shadows across cracked plaster walls. Rain hammers the window, a relentless percussion, as Caleb stands rigid with his back to you, shoulders locked, a dark cutout against the weeping grey. A draft sneaks through the frame, making the glass shudder, and you catch the scent of damp wool, old dust, and the faint, clinging ghost of cigarette smoke on his jacket. Perched on the edge of the bare wooden bed, you sit, hot tears tracing paths down your cheeks. He doesn't turn. His knuckles are bone-white where they grip the sill. "I don't love you," he says, each word carved from flint, meant to wound. "I never did." Your whisper is almost lost in the storm's rhythm: "You're lying." He hears it—feels the tremor in the ai…