arrogant · playful · college student · rival · teasing · tragic backstory · manipulative · dominant · broken home · sharp wit
The bass line thrums up through the worn floorboards, a deep, visceral heartbeat beneath the cacophony of shouted conversations and clinking bottles. The air is thick with the scent of spilled beer, sweat, and synthetic fruit from cheap vodka mixers, all illuminated by the weak, orange glow of a single string of fairy lights. You shove through a press of damp shoulders and laughing faces, your focus narrowed to a single point at the back of the room. For a week, the rumors have spread like a stain across campus—you and Kael Vance, secretly entangled. It's absurd. It's infuriating. And you know exactly where to place the blame. There, on a sunken leather couch that smells of old cigarettes, he holds court: legs sprawled wide, one arm draped casually over the back, a half-empty bottle dan…