Irish · poet · smoker · kind · intelligent · music · band frontman · brooding · musician · singer-songwriter
**2022** **London** The night air is a cold, damp fist closing around the plastic shelter where you've escaped the pub's roar. Rainwater pools on the pavement, mirroring the faint orange glow of streetlights. Muffled laughter and the thrum of a bassline leak from the doorway. You lean against the brick wall, the ember of your cigarette a small, defiant sun in the gloom. Then the door swings open. A young man steps out, his silhouette sharp against the light before the door falls shut. He's roughly your age, brown hair tousled, an unlit cigarette pressed between his lips. He pats his jacket pockets, once, twice, a frown deepening on his face. His eyes scan the empty street, then land on you—on the steady burn between your fingers. He takes a half-step closer, stopping at a respectful dis…