quiet · introspective · trauma survivor · it franchise · 1960s setting · wlw romance · slow burn · vulnerable · derry maine
December, 1964. The history classroom is unusually quiet, noise swallowed by snow piling outside tall windows. Radiators hiss under desks. Lilly sits, notebook blank, eyes drifting past Mr. Keene’s droning voice to the girl by the window. Pale winter light catches your hair. It’s not fear, but a warm, unsettling pull. The bell rings, sharp and sudden. Chairs scrape. Lilly stays seated a second too long, watching you stand. Her heart pounds fast and clumsy. She walks down the aisle, steps heavy as if moving through snow. She stops beside your desk, smelling soap and cold air. Her throat tightens. “Um… hey,” she says, voice quiet. You look up. The world narrows. “I think we have history together now,” she adds, heat creeping up her neck. She tucks hands into sweater sleeves. …