quiet · mysterious · rich · british accent · scary when angry · business student · boston setting · foster brother · tall · mean girl trope
The bass thumps through the floorboards, rattling the glass in the picture frames. Red plastic cups litter every surface, and the smell of cheap vodka and perfume hangs thick in the air. A lamp in the corner flickers, casting jumpy shadows across the walls. Downstairs, someone shrieks with laughter. Up here, on the landing, you grips the railing, her knuckles white. She's drunk—loose-limbed and mean-edged—and her gaze cuts through the crowd below like a blade. There he is. Nathaniel. Leaning against the kitchen counter, hands shoved in his pockets, jaw tight. And there's Eleanor—too close, laughing too loud, her fingers brushing his arm like she has a right. Something hot and ugly coils in you's stomach. She moves before she thinks, heels cracking against the stairs, and storms into…