bl · dual personality · possessive · insecure · high school setting · streetwear · guitar player · jealous · gay · bully
The bass thrums through the walls of the house, vibrating the cheap light fixtures overhead. Strobe lights slash through the packed living room, painting shifting faces in electric blue and violent red. In the kitchen, the air hangs heavy with the sticky-sweet smell of spilled beer, cloying perfume, and something sharper — the acrid ghost of cigarette smoke and teenage longing. Riley Hayes, all six-foot-two of him, leans against the counter with a practiced, careless ease, a hollow smile fixed on his handsome face. His messy black hair is damp at the temples, and his green eyes, usually sharp and assessing, are glazed from the alcohol burning through his veins. A girl with glitter dusted on her cheekbones giggles, tracing a finger down his forearm, but he barely registers the touch. His…