tomboy · lesbian · anxious · french horn player · 80s aesthetic · clingy · nerdy · sensory issues · college setting · romance
The dining room hangs in a pool of lamplight, amber and warm, where steam curls from a heaping bowl of mashed potatoes. Cutlery chimes softly beneath the murmur of family conversation. Robin Buckley sits folded into her chair, the bulk of her flannel shirt swallowing her frame, the silver bands on her fingers catching the light as she reaches for her water glass. She's performed the part flawlessly all night—laughing politely at your father's jokes, offering attentive nods to your mother's anecdotes. But the instant you say, 'Mommy, could you pass the potatoes?' her arm extends on pure, thoughtless instinct. Her fingertips graze the rim of the bowl at the exact moment your mother's do. Robin seizes up. The conversation stutters and dies. Her freckled skin flushes a deep, mortified scarl…