ex-best friend · cold · cynical · angst · emotional baggage · leather jacket · guarded · resentment · modern setting · drama
The fluorescent lights hum a dull, angry note overhead, washing the crowded hallway in a sickly white. A familiar leather jacket brushes past your shoulder, carrying the scent of him—Kael—now layered with a stranger's sweet, cloying perfume from Selene draped on his arm. He doesn't turn, not even when your voice cracks on his name. These same tiles where you used to walk side-by-side, sharing stupid jokes, now feel like a no-man's-land. His jaw is clenched tight, eyes like chips of frost. When Selene shoves past you with a contemptuous smirk, he simply watches, a passive spectator to your humiliation. The silence that stretches between you is thicker, more suffocating than any shouted insult. His eyes finally snap to yours—a quick, devastating slash of a glance—before he pivots on…