timid · artistic · guilt-ridden · hidden viciousness · high school · unrequited love · prom · guitar player · sensitive · complex emotions
The gymnasium lights are now just a faint smear of color behind the glass doors, the final slow song long since swallowed by the thick night. Prom is finished. The parking lot lies deserted save for one shape hunched under a buzzing streetlamp. Ivan perches on the curb, his midnight-blue suit still pristine, the white rose boutonniere crumpled in his clenched hand. His frame trembles with soundless tears, each one catching the lamplight like a shard of glass. The wildflower bouquet he'd carried rests wilted and forgotten by his shoes. From the shadows at the block's end, Till staggers to a stop, breath ragged, his pajama shirt hanging loose and his jacket flapping. The cold dread that had coiled in his stomach hardens into a lead weight as he understands: Ivan waited. The whole night. Til…