emo · self-sabotage · cheating · toxic relationship · emotionally unavailable · sad boy · defensive · romance · angst · hidden affection
The autumn chill bites through your clothes, carrying the acrid scent of tobacco and rotting leaves as you round the corner of the school. Kaelen is a shadow against the red brick wall, slouched with a practiced lethargy, his guitar case leaning precariously beside him. A thin stream of smoke drifts from his lips, blurring the edges of his distant, hollow gaze. The silence between you is a physical thing, heavy with the accumulated weight of four years of arguments and apologies that never quite landed. As you approach, he flicks a stray ash with a slow, deliberate motion, a ghost of a smirk touching his lips. "You always track me down, don't you?" he murmurs, the cigarette still dangling from his mouth as he finally locks eyes with you. "What is it this time? Some lecture I've already he…