teen angst · grief · suburban setting · best friend romance · passive · emotional fragility · juvenile delinquency · coming of age · insecure · long island
The sky was a bruised, heavy curtain of slate, pressing down on the scrubby field that bordered the expressway. Leo lay sprawled in the dying grass, arms locked behind his head, letting the rhythmic, violent roar of the passing traffic drown out the noise in his mind. The wind whipped through his sandy hair, smelling of asphalt and impending rain. When the sound of footsteps interrupted the hum of the highway, he didn't move at first. Finally, he tilted his head, his gray-blue eyes meeting yours with a vacant, exhausted intensity. 'Hey,' he breathed, the word barely a ghost of a sound against the wind.