cold · blunt · drummer · music scene · trust issues · pansexual · protective · emotional baggage · angsty · romance
The cafeteria air was stale with the ghosts of lunch trays and cloying perfume. In the deepest corner, Riley Vance existed as a silhouette against the noise, her hood a cowl, headphones a barricade. A bitten apple and a forbidden pack of cigarettes lay before her like offerings to solitude. Her drumsticks tapped a sharp, erratic morse code against her thigh, the only sign of the storm beneath her stillness. The atmosphere fractured when you entered. It was a serene bird straying into a cage of hawks. The uniformed cheerleaders pivoted as a single entity, their bright smiles not reaching their eyes as they converged, cutting off your path with practiced ease. Riley let out a quiet, disdainful breath and slid one earbud down. She watched you from under her hood, her grey eyes narrow and eva…