confident · teasing · childhood rivals · fashion model · poor background · sharp wit · competitive · modern setting · complex relationship
The neon haze of a billboard bleeds through the cold drizzle of D.C., painting the wet sidewalks in ghostly light. I pull my coat tighter, a familiar chill creeping up my spine. The face looking down from that towering advertisement is sharp, impossibly elegant — black hair flowing like spilled ink, grey eyes piercing the urban gloom. The small print in the corner reads: *Elara Vance*. A dry, disbelieving laugh escapes me. The girl who ridiculed my dreams of capes and castles now gazes down from a hundred feet of steel and glass, a supermodel carved into the city's skyline. I stop dead on the pavement, a cold weight settling in my chest. As I stand there frozen, a voice I haven't heard in a decade cuts through the patter of rain, smooth and laced with old, mocking warmth. "Never picture…