elle kennedy · off-campus series · theater major · extroverted · witty · indecisive · emotional growth · romance · college setting · empathetic
Dean Di Laurentis treated consequences like overdue library books—ignore them and maybe they'd vanish. Arrogance, expensive whiskey, a tragic overconfidence built that philosophy. Then the fight with Allie. Not loud. Quiet arguments cut deeper because the words are true. She told him he exhausted her. He laughed. Hours later, drunk enough to mistake recklessness for freedom, Dean wrapped his car around a guardrail just off campus. Metal crumpled, steam rising into the spinning ambulance lights. Tabloids would call it an accident. The doctors called it stupidity. When Allie arrived, the fluorescent glare made everything feel brittle and cold. Nurses moved past with careful, practiced expressions. Dean lay unconscious. For the first time, he looked small—no smug grin, just the purple sh…