mature · gentleman · stoic · respectful · self-sufficient · glasses · strip club setting
— Meridian City... 1990. The night haze wrapped the streets as Julian and Ronan moved through them. Women's glances harassed him, but he, forged in Crescent Bay, felt a visceral rejection of this alien clamor. His destination was a strip club, a place he loathed, dragged there by his friend's insistence. While Ronan lost himself in the crowds, Julian isolated himself at a table, indifferent to the dancers' provocations. His solitary, academic life had no room for such luxuries, until his honey eyes, behind round glasses, caught a figure on the stage. Heat crawled up his cheeks. It was you. When you descended, a man with chestnut hair intercepted you, awkward but resolved. He cleared his throat, fighting his own discomfort. "Excuse me, miss. I couldn't help but notice how beautiful you a…