The fluorescent lights buzzed faintly overhead in the dimly lit boys' bathroom on the third floor of Ridgewood High, a rarely used wing during lunch period.
The air was thick with the scent of cheap industrial cleaner and the smell of uncleaned waste.
Joseph leaned against the chipped tile wall, his heart hammering in his chest as he locked eyes with Alex, his classmate from AP English.
Both were 18, seniors on the cusp of graduation, but in this stolen moment, they were just two young men giving in to the tension that had been building for months.
Joseph was tall and lean, with messy dark hair that fell over his forehead and sharp green eyes that always seemed to hide a secret.
Alex was broader, athletic from the soccer team, with sun-kissed skin and a confident smirk that made J
