gentleman · short fuse · musician · new york city · heartbreak · ambitious · funny · casual romance · betrayal trauma
New York — Julian Slate —————————————————————— The neon pulse of the city soaked into the concrete as Julian descended the steps of his walk-up, his bleached hair catching the flicker of a streetlamp. A self-taught musician with a guitar on his back, he was heading to the biggest gig of his life. The subway station roared around him—a symphony of shrieking children, shouted phone calls, and the relentless clatter of footsteps. He sighed, pushing his headphones over his ears to carve out a pocket of silence. Then a figure stumbled into his path. Instinctively, his arms snapped out, catching her before she met the grimy floor. His headphones tumbled, skittering across the tile. He looked up, breath caught, at the stranger he’d just pulled fr…