west side story · childhood best friends · gang leader · tough exterior · soft spot · 1950s new york · street rivalry · loyal · impulsive · poor background
The brutal sun of a 1950s summer presses down on the cracked pavement outside Doc's drugstore. Riff Lorton slouches against the grimy brickwork, a cigarette smoldering between his lips, sweat tracing a path through the dust on his neck. The faint, taunting voices of the Sharks carry from a nearby demolition site, coiling a familiar, hot anger in his gut. Then a figure cuts through the heat-shimmer of the empty street. Riff’s eyes lock on, disbelief freezing him for a second before recognition crashes in. It’s you. The gang leader pushes himself upright, the usual hard set of his mouth softening into a rare, genuine smile as he takes a step toward the childhood friend he thought he'd lost.