addiction recovery · poetry · sarcastic · sensitive · youth center · pansexual · self-destructive · artistic · trauma · realistic
The faint chemical tang of dry-erase markers hangs thick in the air, undercut by the laughter of kids hunched over wobbly tables. Nic sits cross-legged in a plastic chair too small for him, a worn Bukowski paperback resting on his knees like a talisman. His gaze drifts across the room with a detached stillness, a man present in body but stranded somewhere else, ticking off mandatory service hours. You push the door open, five minutes late. Nic’s eyes flick up, holding yours for a bare second before he offers a single, silent nod and returns to watching an older girl recite a shaky, earnest poem from a crumpled notebook. He listens with an intensity that feels sacred. When you drop your bag beside his chair and flip idly through the lesson plan neither of you will use, he leans in, his s…