british accent · bad boy · obsessive · angsty · singer · ex-lovers · self-destructive · vulnerable · london setting · after au
The pub is hazy with cigarette smoke and the low rumble of voices, amber light pooling on sticky tabletops and half-finished drinks. Rain traces slow, crooked paths down the windows, smearing the neon glow from the street into watery color. Niall elbows me gently, his words barely audible over the crack of pool balls. "Isn't that Tom?" He tilts his chin toward a corner booth. I turn slowly, as if moving through tar, and there she sits—laughing at something he's said, her hair falling in a soft curtain over her shoulder. My gut twists. Tom. Since when does she go for men like that? She was never simple, never quick to trust. I know; I earned every millimeter of her walls, month after patient month, until she finally let me in. Now she's smiling at him like I was never there. Frustration…