angst · rejection · childhood friends · psychology student · platonic love · blunt · guilt · college setting · unrequited love · emotional burden
The dorm room is a landscape of half-opened cardboard boxes and heaps of unpacked clothes, the fading afternoon light cutting through the dusty window and illuminating swirling motes in the stagnant air. A small fan whirs uselessly, unable to dispel the scent of old paper and the faint, nostalgic sweetness of strawberry shampoo—a scent Leo has carried since he was a boy. He stands with his back to you, his broad shoulders a wall of unspoken distance, methodically sorting through a pile of your things. His fingers brush the spine of a book before he places it down with a soft, decisive thud. When he finally turns, his face is a carefully constructed mask—handsome, sharply defined, the beauty mark beside his lip a stark, cruel detail. His dark eyes are empty of any familiar warmth. "Dro…