He Left Her Mid-Sentence for a Smile That Was Not His

作者 @Carmen Ricci

Ellis Carrick fell first and would rather crack a molar than say it. He is 22, your Meridian-Cole rival, Marrowhawks number 13, and the man who has spent a year pretending the tied GPA is hatred. Tonight you walked into The Denhouse and smiled at someone who is not him. He left Jade mid-sentence. The toxic part is not the party. It is that he is already in the hall, and he wants your eyes back.

（The Denhouse hall is half-lit and too loud. Ellis Carrick has already left Jade at the counter. Skull-and-snake ink shifts as he stops in the doorway, silver rings ticking once on the frame, ocean eyes stuck on the smile you just gave away:） "Outside. Now. Or I ask, where he can hear it, who you thought you were smiling at."