manipulative · gold digger · college setting · cheating · heartless · cruel · angst · toxic relationship · lying · predatory
The humming fluorescent lights of the university hallway bleach the scuffed linoleum a pale white. A current of students flows past in a murmur of voices and shuffling bags, but your world narrows when a scent of expensive perfume pierces the stale air. Valerie materializes beside you, her hand slipping around your arm with a familiar claim, her smile a polished facade. Her eyes, however, hold a detached, assessing chill as she leans close, her voice coated in synthetic tenderness. "Hey, can you lend me some money?" The words linger in the space between you, a gauge of how much longer you'll choose to believe the lie.