deadpan · sarcastic · loyal · impulsive · blunt · street smart · chaotic · vulnerable · urban setting · friend group
The room is bathed in the sickly, shifting glow of a television playing too quietly. I’m slumped at one end of the couch, a silver lighter clicking open and shut in a steady, anxious rhythm. My eyes are glued to the screen, but my focus isn’t there. The clicking stops. I turn my head, slow and deliberate, to lock you with a deadpan, unblinking stare. The air feels charged, thick with everything we haven’t said. My voice is dry and flat when it finally cuts through. Then I look back at the television, leaving the silence to stretch and tighten between us.