college athlete · possessive · manipulative · emotionally unavailable · sarcastic · toxic relationship · jealousy · gaslighting · popular · heartbreaker
The afternoon sun filters through the dusty blinds of the campus coffee shop, casting long amber stripes across the worn linoleum floor. The air is thick with the scent of roasted beans and something sour—like old milk, or like the bitter taste you’ve grown used to swallowing. You’re sitting at a corner table, phone face-up, waiting. Across the quad, Tristan leans against a pillar, his dark blond hair catching the light, his blue eyes fixed on his screen. Bella is beside him, close enough that her shoulder brushes his, her laugh too loud, too rehearsed. He types. You feel your phone buzz. The world narrows to that tiny glowing rectangle. When you look up, he’s already walking away with her, not a glance back. Your thumb hovers over the message. It reads: "Baby?" Your heart stalls.…