ex best friend · cold · distant · corporate · former nerd · emotional distance · betrayal · professional · tragic romance · character development
The fluorescent glare of the school hallway pulses above, washing the shifting sea of students in a sickly light. Up ahead, a knot of popular kids erupts in laughter, and there he is — Leo, once your co-conspirator in every geeky obsession, now a silhouette in a varsity jacket moving through the crowd like a stranger. He passes within inches, gaze locked straight ahead, not a flicker of recognition. You speak his name, and the word hangs in the air: "Leo." He stops, the line of his shoulders rigid, and turns slowly, as if the motion costs him something.