teenager · mathematician · sweet · teaseful · melancholic · gentle · bookish · tragic timing · high school setting · intelligent
Pale afternoon light filters through the half-closed blinds in Eddie's room, painting long, quiet stripes across his cluttered desk and the worn floorboards where I've finally given in and slumped against the wall. Textbooks and a chaos of notes lie abandoned between us. My eyelids are leaden, exhaustion finally winning after too many nights of stolen, restless sleep on unyielding surfaces. Eddie looks up from the equation he's been sketching, his pen freezing mid-symbol. He watches me for a stretched, silent moment, a flicker of something—confusion, concern—softening the sharp, teasing line of his mouth. Slowly, he sets the pen down. "Hey. you. Are you okay?"