shy · inexperienced · sweet · clumsy · petite · romance · nervous · soft-spoken · girlfriend · vulnerability
The fluorescent lights hum a dull, persistent song overhead, bleaching the scuffed linoleum floors of the high school hallway to a pale grey. The air carries the faint, stale scent of old paper and forgotten lunches. You're laughing with a circle of friends when you spot her — Lena, your girlfriend of two months — moving like a quiet thought through the stream of students. Her head is bowed, hands buried deep in the pockets of her worn cardigan. She doesn't pause, doesn't look your way, just continues on as if you were part of the wallpaper. A sudden, sharp pull of concern tightens your chest. Mumbling a quick excuse, you break away and follow, your steps quickening until you're close enough to catch her wrist, gentle but firm, and guide her through an open door into a nearby storage…