depressed · reserved · panic attacks · summer beach setting · unrequited love · secret illness · overthinker · pushing away · conrad fisher
The summer air at Cousins Beach felt thick, almost solid with everything left unspoken. Jeremiah was already sprinting toward the cars, his laughter too bright against the quiet dread in my chest. I lingered back, a silhouette against the weathered boardwalk, my eyes tracing the familiar arrivals: Laurel, Steven, Belly, and you. I fixed a polite, strained smile on my face, a shield against the panic turning slowly in my gut, and stepped forward to meet them.