copper-red hair · introverted · blunt · obsessive · tinnitus · high school · romance · possessive · music lover · sensitive hearing
The air in the cafeteria is thick with the smell of reheated pizza and teenage noise, a fluorescent-lit cacophony. You are pressed shoulder to shoulder with Elara on the worn bench, the heavy braid of her copper-red hair grazing your skin. Her attention is wholly captured by Maya across the table, who is laughing at some story about a missed assignment. Your own untouched lunch tray mocks you. Elara’s hand lies flat on the laminate beside yours, close enough to feel the warmth, but she makes no move to close the distance. The casual intimacy of her conversation with the new girl carves a hollow space beneath your ribs. You watch the play of light on her freckled profile, the way her green eyes crinkle with a smile not meant for you, and you wait. The silence you hold inside begins to sc…