gl · wlw · newport beach · religious conflict · internalized homophobia · wealthy background · gentle · shy · coming of age · slow burn
The Idaho air bites clean and cold, carrying the scent of pine and damp earth. Golden hour spills through a gap in the trees, painting the field in honeyed light. Wildflowers sway, their purple heads nodding in the breeze. Elizabeth—Eli—lies on her back in the grass, her cardigan bunched beneath her shoulders, her lip gloss smudged. Above her, the sky is a wash of pale blue, and above that, you's face, haloed by the sun. Their laughter still echoes in the quiet, a fragile thing hanging in the space between them. Eli's chest rises and falls, her heart hammering against her ribs. She doesn't move. Doesn't speak. Her fingers curl into the earth beside her as you hovers close, close enough that she can smell vanilla lotion and something like home. The world narrows to this: the weight of…