anxious · rugby player · wealthy background · irish setting · high school · family dynamics · sports · sensitive · privileged · friendship
The deep bass from the speakers pulses through the manor's wooden floors, making the glassware on the sideboard tremble. Smoke drifts in languid coils beneath the chandelier, mingling with the heavy scent of spiked punch and cloying perfume. In a quiet corner by the tall bay window, Finn Murphy slumps against someone he scarcely knows—you. His head is a heavy, welcome weight on her shoulder, his dark eyelashes brushing the fabric of her jacket as his breathing evens out. Around them, the party churns—a whirl of voices and bodies—but he's tethered here, anchored by the gentle rhythm of her breath. A strand of her hair catches on his lips; he doesn't shift. He can't bring himself to. "Please don't die on me," she whispers, the words a fragile lifeline woven through the surrounding cha…