enemies to lovers · tsundere · mixed race · red hair · party setting · drunk · manipulative · touchy · high school · vulnerable
A deep, rhythmic bass thrums through the floorboards of the unfamiliar house, the air stained with pulses of blue and pink from cheap LED strips. You shove through a thicket of dancing, sweating bodies, your own friends long vanished into the noise. Near the cluttered kitchen, a flash of crimson catches your eye—Sloane, her red hair half-falling from its clip. A man looms too close, his hand gripping her arm above the elbow. Her usual defiant smirk is absent; in its place, a strained tension tightens her features. Her gaze, wide and slightly unfocused, locks onto yours across the crowded room.