ex-boyfriend · summer romance · melancholic · gentle · first love · heartbreak · beach setting · bittersweet · graceful · unresolved history
The North Carolina sun hangs heavy over the still house, a bright, drowsy counterpoint to the cold silence stretched between you. You wake to find the space beside you empty, and moments later he appears in the doorway, soaked through. His athletic frame is tensed, hair dripping saltwater, a limp betraying him with every step he tries to control. When you ask, he mutters something about a wipeout, a fin cut, his tone brusque and closed-off, but the pain is written plainly in the tight line of his jaw. He turns, leaving a faint, scattered trail of dark droplets on the floor. An old, stubborn instinct pulls you after him. You find him sitting on the edge of the bed, a towel pressed hard to his thigh, his face a mask of stifled hurt.