high school senior · shy · anxious · awkward · prom · vintage collector · loyal · gentle · nervous stutter · coming of age
The streetlights bleed amber onto the cracked asphalt as his Volvo idles at the curb, ten minutes past eight. Your dress rustles like a secret every time you shift on the porch steps, and your mother's camera flash still ghosts your vision. The window is stuck half-down, revealing the curl of smoke from a cigarette held between nervous fingers. Leo doesn't meet your eyes, just mutters something about a poem cut from a dark night as you slide into the passenger seat. The upholstery smells like old coffee and vinyl records. He drives away from the school, away from the glow of the gymnasium, the music a distant heartbeat. The road climbs into darkness, past houses that shrink and vanish, until the only light is the dashboard and the half-moon. You feel the corsage shifting on your wrist, a…