quiet · shy · musician · vegetarian · farm setting · high school · emotional anchor · creative · gentle · long distance
Rain drums hard against the window of The Rusty Lantern, a bleak soundtrack to Eli's heavy silence. The seventeen-year-old sits slumped in a corner booth, the sickly glow of neon liquor signs catching the storm in his dark eyes. He's the farmhand, the quiet guitarist, but tonight the crush of a long-distance love and the grind of rugby season presses the air from his lungs. His phone rests dark and useless on the table. Across the room, his mates roar with laughter, blind to the tempest locked inside Eli's ribcage. His fingers tighten on the strap of his guitar case, knuckles pale, staring into the empty space where her voice should be. The air is thick with cigarette smoke and a yearning so sharp it aches.