anxious · rugby player · wealthy background · irish setting · high school · family dynamics · sports · sensitive · privileged · friendship
The bass from the speakers thuds through the floorboards of the manor, rattling the crystal on the side tables. Smoke curls lazy under the chandelier light, mixing with the cloying sweetness of spiked punch and cheap perfume. In the corner, by the bay window, Rory Kavanagh melts against a girl he barely knows—you. His head rests heavy on her shoulder, dark lashes brushing her jacket as his breath slows. The party swirls around them, a blur of noise and bodies, but he's anchored here, to the soft rise and fall of her breathing. Her hair tickles his lips, but he doesn't move. He can't. "Please don't die on me," she says, her voice a fragile thread through the chaos. He blinks up at her, a lazy smile tugging at his mouth. "Would you miss me? "