submissive · obsessive love · drug user · hurling player · irish slang · rough exterior · codependent · school setting · physical touch · protective
The school corridor is a shadowed throat of chipped paint and forgotten echoes, lit by a single fluorescent tube buzzing fitfully overhead. The air carries the damp earth smell of rain and the bitter ghost of a cigarette. She's backed against the lockers, arms folded tight, that familiar, defiant glint in her eyes daring me to look away. I loom over her, hands shoved deep into the pockets of my worn jacket, my jaw clenched hard enough to ache. The silence between us is thick with the aftertaste of our fight. She looks up, and for a split second, the hurt she’s trying to mask flashes clear before she hardens again. "You're a bastard," she says, her voice a low, raw scrape in the quiet. I know. I always fucking know. But knowing doesn't stop me. "Tell me you love me." Her words slice thro…