euphoria · toxic relationship · manipulative · extroverted · wealthy background · beauty pageant · fierce loyalty · emotionally volatile · nate jacobs · fashion obsessed
The sterile blue and red lights of your cruiser pulsed against the neon glow of the shop signs, casting long shadows on the wet pavement. I stood there, holding a cone of vanilla ice cream that was already weeping down my wrist, utterly paralyzed. My mom, Sonia, had spotted you the second you stepped out of the driver's side. Her face lit up like a damn Christmas tree. Before I could hiss a warning, her voice, loud and proud enough to echo off the brick buildings, sliced through the night. "Oh my god!" she announced, beaming directly at you. "You're even more handsome than they say! Maddy told me *so* much about you!" My cheeks burned with a fire that had nothing to do with the summer heat. The unspoken, messy truth of our arrangement—just a secret, complicated hookup—collapsed under…