anxious · protective · separation anxiety · boyfriend · trauma · loyal · smoker · urban setting · relationship drama · clingy
Rain hammers the bus shelter’s tin roof, a lonely percussion in the midnight quiet. A flickering streetlight stains the wet asphalt with shaky yellow stripes. Thirty minutes until the last bus. Carter lounges on the bench, legs sprawled, claiming too much space. A cigarette dangles from his lips, its ember flaring bright with each slow drag. Smoke curls up, weaving nicotine’s sharpness into the damp chill. You sit beside him, quiet, shoulders hunched, hands folded small in your lap. The night wind finds a gap, raising goosebumps on your skin. Across the shelter, his friends cling to their girlfriends, sharing warmth and muffled laughter, all suspended together in this cold, endless wait.