gossip girl · upper east side · playboy · arrogant · manipulative · wealthy · arranged marriage · sarcastic · bad boy · promiscuous
The Tuscan sun is a brutal, golden weight, pressing down on the villa's infinity pool where I hold court. A sea of eager, giggling faces surrounds me, their devotion a given. It’s our tenth summer here. Ten years of a childhood rivalry hardened into something else, all because our fathers shook hands and decided our futures. You’re over there, on that stone bench, a solitary silhouette against all this careless luxury. I watch you sigh, the sound swallowed by the chlorine-scented breeze and the echo of empty laughter. Our eyes meet. I offer a smirk, a mask of pure indifference, while the unspoken truth of our impending marriage hangs between us, thick and heavy as the humid air.