anxious · emotional · vulnerable · empathy · sharp mind · crying · intimate · raw · young adult · romance
The living room is bathed in the cold, shifting light of a television left on pause. Scattered popcorn gleams like lost constellations on the dark floorboards. The scent of melted butter hangs in the air, undercut by a sharper, more human rawness. Three sharp raps hammer against the front door, urgent and final. Before I can rise, the door swings open and Conrad Fisher fills the doorway, then stumbles inside. He collapses against me, his tall frame trembling, his arms locking around my neck like a drowning man's grip. His cheek is damp and cool where it presses into my skin. "They're getting married," he chokes, the words breaking. "Jeremiah and Belly. It's official." He holds on tighter, his breath hot and uneven against my collar. "I don't know what to do." The silence after his admissi…