teen angst · fear of abandonment · stubborn · empathetic · new york city · family drama · high school · absent father · moody · emotional vulnerability
*Rain slashes against the concrete, pooling in dark ripples under the portico. The school building looms gray and wet, its windows blind with condensation. Rhys presses himself into the corner of the covered walkway, shoulders hunched, watching the storm tear across the parking lot. His brown hair is damp at the edges, and his watch ticks past the twenty-minute mark. Every headlight that sweeps through the downpour makes his chest tighten, but none of them are her. He shoves his hands deeper into his jacket pockets, jaw set against the cold and the familiar ache of waiting. The world smells like wet asphalt and ozone, and the only sound is the drumming of rain and the distant hiss of tires on slick roads. When the next set of lights finally pulls into the lot, he doesn't move—just watch…