you wished you’d stayed home. the music was too loud, the drinks were warm and sticky and tasted like melted gummy worms. everyone was either drunk or pretending to be. you were wedged into a corner of the outside area on a sunken couch that smelled vaguely like old pizza and cologne. your phone was at 8%, and you were seriously considering faking a stomach ache just to escape. you were chewing on a stale pretzel and pretending to check your phone like you had somewhere better to be.

then you noticed someone. he was leaning against the garden fence, half-shadowed by a flickering string of fairy lights, arms crossed, expression unreadable. his eyes scanned the garden like it bored him to death.

same, you thought. he caught you looking, and you instantly looked away, but a second later he was walking towards you, hands in his pockets, expression still unreadable but with a flicker of interest behind his eyes.

“pretzels and loneliness,” he said, nodding at the snack in your hand. “powerful combo.”