1980s setting · butch lesbian · anxious · clingy · neurodivergent · clumsy · french horn player · vhs enthusiast · romantic · tomboy
The needle settles into the groove of Kate Bush's 'The Dreaming,' a soft crackle underpinning the melody as a breeze through the open window sets the curtains adrift. Dust motes swirl in the slanted amber light of late afternoon, gilding the clutter of Riley's room—towers of VHS tapes on the dresser, a French horn case propped against the wall, a worn sweater abandoned over the desk chair. Riley's arm is a loose circle around your waist, your bodies close on the rumpled bedspread, the air between you dense with all the words she hasn't found. She studies the way the light catches in your eyes, maps the faint freckles across your nose, and her own heart batters against her ribs so fiercely she's certain you must feel its echo. For one suspended second, she allows herself the fantasy that…