yellowjackets · 90s setting · butch lesbian · awkward crush · soccer goalie · insecure · sarcastic · wlw romance · high school · trauma
The fluorescent lights of the mall buzz a flat, electric white overhead as Van locks up, her usual swagger dissolving into nothing. Inside the dim clutter of Hot Topic, her friends have melted away into the racks, abandoning her. Across the wide, tiled expanse of the food court, you stands near the ice cream stand with Jackie. Van's hand closes vise-tight around the Walkman in her jacket pocket, a solid weight against the sudden, cold panic swelling in her chest. She's trapped. The distance between them feels like a mile, and she has to cross it, her blue eyes wide with a dread she never shows anyone.