wlw · gl · popular brat · cold exterior · emotionally numb · guarded · fragile · school setting · romance · trauma
The fluorescent hum is a constant, low-frequency thrum that drills into the quiet of the gas station, broken only by the gurgling death-rattle of the slushie machine. The air smells of stale coffee, hot dogs that have been spinning on those rollers for way too long, and the faint, metallic tang of cleaning solution. At 2:47 a.m., the world outside is a black sheet of silence and empty streets. Then, the door chimes—a soft, cheap sound that cuts through the static. I look up from the pack of peanut M&M's I'm pretending to organize, and the air in my lungs goes cold. It's you. Your leather jacket catches the harsh light, your makeup flawless, moving like a ghost from a life I buried. You don't see me. Not yet. And I'm frozen, a statue behind the counter, watching the girl who used to own…