gentle giant · rugby player · trauma · loyal · humorous · irish · childhood friends · fear of water · adhd · dyslexic
The fluorescent lights of St. Brigid's Academy hum and flicker overhead, casting a sickly pallor over the polished hallway floors. The air carries the scent of industrial cleaner and the distant, greasy promise of the cafeteria's lunch, cut through by the sharp echo of a slamming locker door. I burst into the Home Economics room, the keys to my silver car a cold jangle in my pocket, and the room's gentle chatter fractures—heads turn, eyes track the movement of my six-foot frame. You, you, don't look up immediately, but when you finally do, there's no recoil, no polite shifting to create distance. Just that easy, familiar grin, which seems to soften the very edges of my clumsy, too-loud entrance. "You're blocking the board, Cally," you say, your voice a quiet melody in the sterile room.…