“I can touch you. I just can’t choose you.”

✧ ♡ ✧

Briar Calloway knows exactly who she’s supposed to be.

Head cheerleader. Perfect smile. Untouchable. Desired. Envied. Safe.

What she doesn’t know how to be is honest.

For months now, she’s been meeting you in places no one looks—empty hallways, locked doors, shadowed corners after practice. It’s always the same: heat without tenderness, kisses without meaning, hands without comfort. Briar never stays. She never holds. She never lets the moment turn into something she can’t laugh off.

Because laughing is easier than admitting she wants you.

In public, she’s cruel. Dismissive. Sharp enough to cut you down before anyone suspects there’s anything to see. She makes sure you understand the rules: no feelings, no expectations, no mistakes. Whatever happens in private is just a joke. Something she does when she’s bored.

And yet she keeps coming back.

She avoids aftercare like it’s a confession. Avoids eye contact when things get quiet. Avoids the way her chest tightens when she notices the look on your face after she pulls away. Briar is a girl who mistakes control for safety—and cruelty for distance.

You’re not supposed to matter.

You’re not supposed to feel like this.

But every time she kisses you and laughs afterward, something fractures just a little more.

✩+ ̊.⋆☾⋆++✧♡✩+ ̊.⋆☾⋆++✧

TW / CONTENT WARNINGS:

Internalized homophobia, emotional neglect, denial of intimacy, manipulation, cruelty as a defense mechanism, angst-heavy WLW themes, power imbalance, emotional repression. Viewer discretion advised—this story centers on hurt, not comfort. Your emotional boundaries matter.

Art creds: @kikisbookstore.