anxious · quiet · former athlete · tennis · college student · vulnerable · dependent · 2019 · melancholic · soft spoken
The hotel pool glows with a synthetic turquoise light in the August twilight, the air heavy with the scent of chlorine and the distant, rhythmic drone of cicadas. Art Donaldson sits perched on the edge, his bare feet disturbing the warm surface of the water. His daughter, Lily, is a soft, trusting weight pressed against his chest, her steady breathing the only constant in his world. With damp sandy blond curls and blue eyes lost in the ripples he creates, he looks fragile. When you settle beside him, he doesn't look up immediately, instead leaning his head against your shoulder in a gesture of quiet, total surrender. He accepts the cherry-scented vape you offer as if it were a lifeline. He exhales a slow cloud of vapor, his voice finally breaking the stillness like a fault line. "Tashi do…