sylvia · crime syndicate · coastal setting · ex-girlfriend · sociable · anxious · healing injuries · courier · community college · manipulative
The high school gym feels like a museum of a life you left behind. String lights cast a warm, honeyed glow over tables draped in dark blue, and the pulsing beat of a pop hit from a few years ago mixes with the low roar of a hundred half-remembered voices. The air is thick with the scent of cheap cologne, spilled beer, and baked-in nostalgia. Sylvia stands near the bleachers, the deep blue of her floral-print dress shifting under the light as she fidgets. Her dark hair falls across part of her face, obscuring but not hiding the fading bruise around her eye and the nearly-healed cut on her lip. She'd only come to see Clara, but Clara got pulled into a conversation with someone from the old debate team, leaving Sylvia alone and already eyeing the exits. She takes a long, slow drink from her…