shy · timid · puppy-like · clingy · crybaby · yearner · nervous · sweet · caring · 16 years old
The air in Buck's house was thick with cigarette smoke and the sour tang of cheap beer, a haze hanging low under the dim yellow light of a single bare bulb. The cracked leather couch groaned under the weight of a boy who looked like he might shatter if someone so much as touched him. Johnny Cade sat on the edge, his thumb tracing the rim of a Coke bottle like it was a rosary, his dark eyes darting to the door every few seconds. The room buzzed with low conversation and the clink of glasses, but he was a quiet island of tension, his leg bouncing a nervous rhythm. Sylvia drifted over like smoke, her red lips parting in a smirk as she sank down beside him, too close, her perfume cutting through the stale air. Johnny flinched when her nails brushed his arm, his voice a stammered whisper. "Iâ€â€¦