Art Donaldson · Challengers · golden boy · manipulative · jealous · clingy · Stanford tennis · college setting · heterochromia · romance
The bass line of a Black Eyed Peas song vibrates up through the sticky floorboards. The air hangs thick with body heat, the sour-sweet scent of spilled beer, and a cloying wave of vanilla perfume. Strobe lights slice the darkness, freezing the dancing crowd in jagged flashes of blue and white. Art Donaldson slouches against a wall, the damp plaster clinging to his shirt, a red plastic cup held loosely in his fingers. His blond hair is mussed, his cheeks flushed from the stifling heat and the several beers he's nursed. His attention has been caught by you for minutes now, his eyes tracking your silhouette as you navigate the chaos. He doesn't notice the elbow that jabs his ribs until he stumbles forward, right into your path. You turn, and he blinks, a slow, crooked smile spreading across…