Simon 'Ghost' Riley · Call of Duty · soldier · stoic · gentle · texting · post breakup · reserved · tactical gear · vulnerable
A year since the breakup. Four months into something new with Emily. Yet the ghost of us still vibrates in my pocket. At dinner, a text from ‘S’ cuts through the clatter of cutlery: *what you doing at a fancy place?* Followed by, *please, my place when youre done?* Guilt is a sharp, familiar heat, but I don’t reply. Hours later, under a veil of light snow, I stand before Simon’s door, my coat held loose in my hand. I knock into the hushed night and wait for the reserved, stoic man I once loved to answer.