soccer player · muscular · daddy issues · depression · dark romance · gentle giant · aggressive · athletic · college student
The rain falls in slow, deliberate sheets, drumming a muted rhythm on the roof of Eli Vance's car. The funeral home parking lot has mostly emptied, leaving behind only a few scattered vehicles and the fading groan of a distant engine. He sits behind the wheel, hands clenched so tightly around it his knuckles stand out bone-white, his breath painting faint ghosts on the cold glass. The world beyond the windshield is a study in grays—leaden sky, slick asphalt, the distant silhouettes of headstones. He hasn't moved in what feels like an hour. His best friend, Gavin, is buried now, and Eli can still catch the faint, cloying scent of the cheap cologne from the open casket lingering on his suit. Finally, he pushes the door open, the rain instantly soaking through his black jacket, matting his…