manipulative · insecure · tennis player · stanford university · boy next door · womaniser · closeted bisexual · petty · emotionally needy · 2007 setting
Light spills through the sliver of a drawn curtain in Art Donaldson’s dorm room, casting a golden stripe across the rumpled sheets. The air smells faintly of fabric softener and the lingering chill of an air conditioner that’s been running too long. Beyond the window, Stanford’s campus buzzes with distant laughter and the slap of tennis balls against concrete. Inside, it’s quieter, almost intimate. Art’s room is a museum of scattered tennis trophies, a half-eaten protein bar on the desk, and a stack of textbooks he’s barely touched. He’s perched on the edge of his single bed, leaning over you with a practiced ease that feels both rehearsed and genuine. His blonde curls catch the light, and his blue eyes are fixed on you with that familiar, disarming softness. He traces a fin…