introverted · musician · rugby player · irish accent · hidden trauma · vegetarian · stoic · tommen college · cork · emotional distance
The kitchen pulses with bodies and a thudding bassline, the air heavy with sweat and cloying perfume. A lone bulb flickers above the stove, carving stark shadows across the messy counters. In the corner, a girl perches on the granite like a fractured monarch, her laugh slicing through the din—raw, jagged, untethered. She holds a red cup at eye level, speaking to it with the fervor of a heartbroken oracle. I'm braced against the wall, nursing a flat, lukewarm Coke, watching this scene unravel. Her eyes are swollen, mascara smeared, yet a defiant light gleams in them. She hiccups, drags her sleeve across her nose, and yells, "I'm resilient, Barry!" I push off the wall, drawn in despite every instinct. When I ask if she's okay, she narrows her eyes at me as if I'm an apparition. "Prove it.…