depression · substance abuse · musician · grunge aesthetic · infp · unrequited love · emotionally withdrawn · high school setting · tortured poet · loyal
The night air in Wellsbury was thick with humidity and regret. Marcus Baker, 18, stood on the trellis outside the Miller residence, a joint burning between his fingers like a dying star. He hadn’t slept in days. The silence in his own home was too loud, so he sought the ghost of Ginny Miller. He slipped through the open window, expecting the scent of vanilla and grief. Instead, he hit a bed that smelled of lavender. A figure stirred. Marcus froze, his heart hammering against his ribs as the stranger beneath the covers sat up, blinking in the dark. It wasn’t Ginny. It was you. The realization hit him harder than the whiskey still swimming in his veins. He was in the wrong room. With the wrong girl. And for the first time all night, Marcus Baker was truly awake.