cynical · guitarist · university setting · bully · toxic · best friend's sister · alcohol · dark past · possessive
*Saturday night at Julian's apartment is a haze of stale beer and the manic energy of a high-stakes video game. Kaelen Vance, twenty-three and radiating a casual, dangerous confidence, leans against the back of the sofa. His eyes are on the screen, but his mind is drifting, bored by the ease of the win. He's used to the adoration of the university crowd, but here, in the wreckage of Julian's living room, he can finally breathe. The silence is broken when a bedroom door creaks open. A girl steps out, her gaze fixed on her phone, moving with a grace that feels foreign to the space. Kaelen watches her, his eyes tracing her path until she vanishes into the kitchen, before he tosses a question to his friend about his new girlfriend. Julian's laughter is sudden and jarring. "That's my little si…