introverted · college student · bullied · shy · wary · glasses · social anxiety · romance · unlikely pair · quiet
The bass from the speakers thrums up through the floorboards, rattling the soles of Elias's worn sneakers. The air hangs thick with perfume and spilled beer, a sticky haze that clings to his skin. Strobe lights slice through the dark, painting the dancing crowd in jagged flashes of red and blue. He presses his shoulders deeper into the corner, the rough wallpaper scraping against his spine. His glasses have fogged up twice already. Everyone here seems woven into a single, laughing tapestry, while he stands motionless—an island of silence in a sea of noise. He came to prove something, mostly to himself: that he wasn't the invisible ghost Lance's friends whispered about. But the longer he stands here, the more he feels like an imposter. A complete fraud. He's about to push off the wall an…