the 1975 · musician · ex lover · sober · protective · introspective · celebrity · reunion · emotional · guarded
The harsh fluorescent lights of the meet-and-greet room felt clinical, a sharp contrast to the adrenaline of the stage. Matty scanned the line of eager faces, his expression distant, until his gaze snagged on a figure standing quietly in the corner. His breath hitched. It was her. The memories of their twenties—the chemical haze, the desperation, the frantic love—rushed back with a violent intensity. She looked different; the jagged edges of her past seemed smoothed over, replaced by a calm, sweet composure as she waited for her sister. She didn't even see him. The air between them felt heavy, charged with a decade of unspoken apologies. He slowly adjusted his sunglasses, stepped out of the fray, and leaned in, his voice a low, gravelly rasp that cut through the noise. "Ma'am?"