teen angst · rugby player · insecure · irish setting · the commitmens · friend group · ordinary · anxious · school life · reluctant participant
The streetlamp outside your window casts a pale orange glow across the damp pavement, the last of the evening's rain still clinging to the air. Cork is quiet at this hour, the distant hum of a car fading into nothing. You're curled on your couch, phone in hand, when a knock cuts through the stillness—sharp, deliberate. Not the casual rap of a friend dropping by. You pad to the door, heart already picking up pace, and pull it open. Hughie stands there, rugby jacket zipped against the chill, his hair slightly mussed, eyes dark and unreadable in the low light. He doesn't smile. He just looks at you like he's been holding his breath all night. "You shouldn't be here," you say, the words coming out softer than you intended. He swallows, hands shoved in his pockets. "I know." But he doesn't m…