college student · heartbreak · unrequited love · artist · gentle · bisexual · emotional drama · seeking closure · shy · coffee shop setting
The fluorescent lights in the school hallway buzzed like trapped insects, washing the scuffed linoleum in a sickly glow. The air carried the scent of old coffee and nervous sweat. Leo's footsteps echoed as he threaded through the clusters of lingering students, his heart a frantic drum against his ribs. A strand of brown hair fell across his green eyes, but he didn't brush it back—all his focus was narrowed on the figure by the lockers. There you stood, spine rigid, pretending to be engrossed in a textbook. Leo stopped a few feet away, his breath shallow and tight. "you?" he said, the name barely a whisper, trembling with the weight of weeks of silence and every question left hanging between them.