A powerful full drama movie filled with love, secrets, and unexpected twists.
Follow a powerful story where relationships are tested, hidden truths are revealed, and lives change forever. From romantic moments to shocking surprises, this drama keeps you engaged from beginning to end.
Featuring stories about CEO, billionaire lifestyles, family connections, and life-changing decisions, this movie delivers strong emotions and unforgettable scenes.
Watch the full movie and discover what happens in the end.
New full drama movies uploaded regularly. Stay tuned for more captivating and trending stories.
#drama #fullmovie #lovestory #dramatic #billionaire #ceo #family #relationships #movie #story
Follow a powerful story where relationships are tested, hidden truths are revealed, and lives change forever. From romantic moments to shocking surprises, this drama keeps you engaged from beginning to end.
Featuring stories about CEO, billionaire lifestyles, family connections, and life-changing decisions, this movie delivers strong emotions and unforgettable scenes.
Watch the full movie and discover what happens in the end.
New full drama movies uploaded regularly. Stay tuned for more captivating and trending stories.
#drama #fullmovie #lovestory #dramatic #billionaire #ceo #family #relationships #movie #story
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Art et designTranscription
00:00:00Caleb isn't answering his phone. Lacrosse practice ended an hour ago. Could you just find him? We're waiting for you
00:00:06for dinner.
00:00:07Yeah. Fine. I'll look for him.
00:00:10Catherine can't reach her precious son, and somehow that's my problem.
00:00:14Our parents have been inseparable since childhood. Catherine is my godmother.
00:00:18They raised us side by side, convinced we'd grow up as close as they were.
00:00:23They never noticed when it all went wrong.
00:00:24Jade Richards perches on the edge of the sink, and Caleb, right there, stands between her thighs in nothing but
00:00:32a towel that hangs dangerously low on his hips.
00:00:34Caleb, someone could walk in.
00:00:37I don't give a fuck.
00:00:38I should leave. I should definitely, absolutely leave.
00:00:42Instead, I stand there like an idiot, heat flooding through my body in waves.
00:00:46This is disgusting. He is disgusting. You hate him.
00:00:50I slam the door, forcing my expression into irritation rather than the hot shame crawling up my throat.
00:00:56Your mother's been calling you for an hour, asshole!
00:00:59Our parents need us both at my house for dinner tonight. Apparently it's something important.
00:01:05I should go. Coach will kill me if I'm late.
00:01:09You could have texted.
00:01:11Catherine asked me to find you. I found you. Message delivered.
00:01:16Is that what we're calling it? Because it looked a lot like you were watching.
00:01:21Long enough to be disgusted.
00:01:23Disgusted, right?
00:01:24I'm leaving. Don't be late for dinner.
00:01:27I'll drive you home.
00:01:29I have my bike. Still not in the mood to sit on some used condoms in your car.
00:01:36Suit yourself, princess.
00:01:39Dinner passes in a blur of small talk and forced smiles.
00:01:42But something feels different tonight.
00:01:45Catherine keeps touching my father's arm.
00:01:47Not the comforting pats of a grieving friend.
00:01:50They've been spending so much time together since mom died.
00:01:53Since Caleb's father vanished with every dollar the Thorntons had.
00:01:56Kids, Catherine and I actually have something to tell you.
00:02:01So we've decided to get married.
00:02:03No. No way.
00:02:05He deserves happiness and Catherine is wonderful, but it's only been six months since my mother died.
00:02:10We found a new house, neutral territory for everyone.
00:02:16The kids' rooms are on the same floor.
00:02:19And Serena, your room connects to Caleb's through a Jack and Jill bathroom.
00:02:23Isn't it cool?
00:02:26Come on, you guys.
00:02:28It will be nice.
00:02:30My lifelong secret crush soon to become my stepbrother.
00:02:33Yeah, dad, really fucking nice.
00:02:36I set the boxes down on the unfamiliar floor, surveying this room that was supposed to be mine.
00:02:43Neutral territory, my father called it.
00:02:46A fresh start.
00:02:47The walls are painted a careful beige that commits to nothing.
00:02:51Now I'm here, in this house that holds no memories of my mother.
00:02:57Careful!
00:02:58It's just your crap.
00:03:00I'm taking a shower.
00:03:03Try not to miss me too much.
00:03:05This is what I am now.
00:03:07Sharing walls with my worst school enemy.
00:03:10But there was a time before all that.
00:03:12You're doing it wrong.
00:03:14Here.
00:03:15Like this.
00:03:17Stop.
00:03:19Stop romanticizing.
00:03:23Shit, my tampons!
00:03:24I left them on the bathroom counter this morning.
00:03:28If I'm fast enough?
00:03:35Wanted a preview of your new stepbrother, pervert?
00:03:38That's fucked up, even for you.
00:03:40I just left something on the counter.
00:03:42Not everything is about you and your abs, asshole!
00:03:46Keep telling yourself that.
00:03:50I'm not done talking.
00:03:52Well, I'm done listening.
00:03:54Let go of me, Caleb!
00:03:56Or what?
00:03:57Gonna scream?
00:03:58Run to daddy?
00:04:01God, you're pathetic!
00:04:03Still crying over mommy?
00:04:06It's been six months, Serena.
00:04:08The rest of us have moved on.
00:04:10You are exactly like your shitty father!
00:04:13Say that again.
00:04:14I dare you.
00:04:15You heard me.
00:04:16You're just like him.
00:04:18Like Simon.
00:04:19A bully who only feels big when he's making someone else feel small.
00:04:23Keep his fucking name out of your mouth before I...
00:04:26Before you what?
00:04:27Hit me!
00:04:28Prove my point!
00:04:29Such a shame your mother won't see you graduate.
00:04:32But hey, your dad moved on quickly.
00:04:35Guess she wasn't that hard to forget.
00:04:37Don't talk about my mother!
00:04:39Why not?
00:04:41Scared you're just as forgettable as she is?
00:04:44Careful, princess.
00:04:46Do you really want to start something you can't finish?
00:04:48You know what I think?
00:04:49I think you're terrified that one day you'll be gone and no one will even notice.
00:04:53That you'll just be another ghost no one bothers to remember.
00:04:57No one will ever truly love someone as pathetic as you.
00:05:00And deep down you know it's true.
00:05:08Serena.
00:05:09Open the fucking door!
00:05:13You just signed your death sentence, princess.
00:05:16You hear me?
00:05:17From this moment on, your life is going to be a living hell.
00:05:21There's a long silence before his footsteps retreat and I hear his bedroom door slams.
00:05:26Minutes pass.
00:05:28Maybe five.
00:05:29Maybe ten.
00:05:30Then I sink to the floor, back against my bed, and wrap my arms around my knees.
00:05:35I hate him.
00:05:36I hate that I wounded him.
00:05:38I hate that I noticed.
00:05:41I know him better now than I ever wanted to.
00:05:44He runs at six.
00:05:45I've memorized the particular weight of his footsteps on the stairs.
00:05:49Showers at 640.
00:05:51And the pipes in my bathroom sing a specific note when the water pressure changes.
00:05:56Tuesday.
00:05:57My shampoo mysteriously turned my hair traffic cone orange.
00:06:01Wednesday.
00:06:02Every single bra I own disappeared, reappearing frozen in blocks of ice in the freezer.
00:06:08Thursday.
00:06:09My laptop password changed itself to Daddy Issues 123.
00:06:13At 3.14 in the afternoon, I'm in the kitchen.
00:06:16He doesn't get home until 4.30 on Thursdays.
00:06:19I'm halfway through making the world sad as sandwich when the front door opens an hour earlier than his schedule
00:06:25allows.
00:06:26My entire body goes on high alert.
00:06:28Skin prickling.
00:06:30Pulse jackknifing.
00:06:31Don't turn around.
00:06:33Don't give him the satisfaction.
00:06:35Careful.
00:06:36Wouldn't want you to hurt yourself.
00:06:38His chest presses more firmly against my back as he reaches higher,
00:06:42and the contact sends electricity shooting down my spine,
00:06:45pooling low and hot in my belly.
00:06:47Something wrong, princess?
00:06:48I just wanted to grab my protein bar.
00:06:53That'll be Jade.
00:06:56Hmm.
00:06:57Try not to listen too hard, sis.
00:07:00Sis.
00:07:00The word is a weapon.
00:07:02A reminder.
00:07:03A fucking power play that makes me want to throw the knife at his head.
00:07:06They'll have a drink, and then she'll leave.
00:07:09That's how these things work.
00:07:11Hot water.
00:07:12Locked door.
00:07:13The white noise of falling water drowning out everything else.
00:07:16Except.
00:07:17Oh, God, Caleb!
00:07:19Jade's voice cuts through the wall like it's made of tissue paper.
00:07:23High and desperate and absolutely not faking it.
00:07:26Her moans build in pitch and urgency,
00:07:28and I hear the creak of bed springs,
00:07:31the thump of a headboard against a wall,
00:07:33heat coils between my thighs,
00:07:35insistent and demanding.
00:07:36My body betrays me completely,
00:07:38nipples tightening,
00:07:39breath coming shorter,
00:07:41and I hate myself for the way my hand drifts down my stomach.
00:07:44I've never touched myself like this before.
00:07:46What would it feel like?
00:07:48His hands instead of water,
00:07:50his weight pressing me against the tile,
00:07:52his voice in my ear,
00:07:53low and commanding.
00:07:55Take it.
00:07:57Take everything I give you.
00:07:59The pressure builds impossibly fast,
00:08:01my free hand bracing against the tile as my legs shake.
00:08:04When I come, it's violent,
00:08:06earth-shattering.
00:08:07The silence hits me first.
00:08:09No more sounds from his room.
00:08:11Nothing.
00:08:11Oh, God.
00:08:12Oh, fuck.
00:08:13Could they hear?
00:08:14I stumble toward the door,
00:08:16needing to confirm that barrier between my humiliation and reality.
00:08:20The door to his room is cracked open,
00:08:21but I checked it before I got in the shower.
00:08:23I'm certain I did.
00:08:25It was closed.
00:08:26Firmly, completely closed.
00:08:28My heart stops.
00:08:29Did he open it?
00:08:31Control is an illusion I've been selling myself for 18 years.
00:08:35This is who I am.
00:08:37The girl who prepares.
00:08:38The girl who controls what she can.
00:08:40The girl with the five-year plan.
00:08:42And the girl who definitely doesn't spend every waking moment
00:08:45thinking about her stepbrother's hands.
00:08:48Lies.
00:08:48All lies.
00:08:49Just once more.
00:08:50Then you'll study.
00:08:52Then you'll be normal.
00:08:53Having fun?
00:08:58Going somewhere?
00:09:01Let go of me!
00:09:03Sit the fuck down, Serena.
00:09:05Fuck you!
00:09:05You done?
00:09:09So, who's the lucky bastard?
00:09:11What?
00:09:12What are you talking about?
00:09:14Don't play dumb.
00:09:15It's not cute.
00:09:17You were clearly getting yourself off to someone, so who is it?
00:09:20Some SAT tutor with a hard-on for the teacher's pets?
00:09:24One of those debate nerds who follows you around like you're made of cocaine?
00:09:28I wasn't!
00:09:29Your face is the color of a fucking tomato and your breathing's all fucked up.
00:09:34So who's got perfect little Serena all worked up?
00:09:37Must be someone truly pathetic.
00:09:39Get out of my room!
00:09:41Is it that guy from Calc?
00:09:43The one with the glasses who stares at you when you're doing board work?
00:09:47No, wait.
00:09:48You'd never go for someone that obvious.
00:09:50Too desperate.
00:09:51I said get out!
00:09:52Or maybe someone inappropriate.
00:09:55Someone you know you shouldn't want.
00:09:58Serena, who are you thinking about?
00:10:01No one!
00:10:01I wasn't!
00:10:02I was just!
00:10:03It's none of your fucking business!
00:10:06You're lying.
00:10:07I can always tell when you're lying.
00:10:08Your voice goes up at the end, your eyes dart to the left.
00:10:11And right now, you look fucking terrified.
00:10:13Which means whoever you were thinking about is someone you really don't want me to know about.
00:10:19You were thinking about me, weren't you?
00:10:21That's disgusting!
00:10:24Yeah?
00:10:25Then why is your pulse going crazy right here?
00:10:28Your body's a fucking traitor.
00:10:30You're insane!
00:10:31Then why can't you look at me?
00:10:34Why do you look like you're about to either cry or cum?
00:10:37Because you're in my face!
00:10:39What were you imagining?
00:10:40My hands on you?
00:10:42Inside you?
00:10:43My mouth on your neck?
00:10:46Or your legs?
00:10:49Were you imagining how I'd touch you?
00:10:52Hard and rough until you forget your own name.
00:10:54Or maybe slow and deep until you're begging me to let you cum.
00:10:58But here's the thing, princess.
00:11:00You're not even worth the effort it would take to undress you.
00:11:06You're fucking disgusting!
00:11:09You think I want any part of that?
00:11:12Fix yourself!
00:11:13You look like a cheap whore.
00:11:15Dinner's in ten.
00:11:17I'm trying to act like a normal fucking person.
00:11:20I don't move for a long time.
00:11:22Can't move.
00:11:23My thigh still burns where he touched it.
00:11:25I stand there trying to breathe around the tightness in my chest.
00:11:29Six weeks of college, and I've learned that hope is just disappointment wearing a pretty dress.
00:11:34I had acceptances from everywhere, places with actual seasons and zero Caleb Thorntons per square mile.
00:11:41But no, dad pulled the family needs to stick together card.
00:11:45I think it's actually really nice that you and Caleb ended up here together.
00:11:49After everything, it just feels right.
00:11:52Yeah.
00:11:53Um, totally.
00:11:55Everyone's coming over soon.
00:11:56The picnic's about to start.
00:11:58The bastard had applied after me.
00:12:01After.
00:12:02Found out where I was going and followed like some kind of stalker.
00:12:05Even won grants and scholarships, including the one from his high school presidency.
00:12:10My fresh start rotted before it even began.
00:12:12The picnic is about to start.
00:12:14I'm about to prepare a fruit plate when I hear this voice.
00:12:16That specific frequency of a woman's giggle that makes my eye twitch.
00:12:20Jade stands at the garden gate.
00:12:22Her hand threaded through Caleb's arm.
00:12:25Her sundress clings to curves I remember from the locker room.
00:12:28Curves I heard him worship in his bedroom.
00:12:31While my body betrayed every principle I claimed to hold.
00:12:34Oh, Caleb.
00:12:35You didn't mention you were bringing someone.
00:12:38Jade, sweetheart.
00:12:40Welcome.
00:12:41Thanks, Mrs. Lacken.
00:12:43Everything looks amazing.
00:12:44Did you make all this yourself?
00:12:47Most of it.
00:12:49Serena helped with the fruit platters.
00:12:51How domestic.
00:12:53Serena, so good at this stuff.
00:12:55The compliment lands like a slap wrapped in ribbons.
00:12:58This stuff.
00:12:59Like I'm some 1950s housewife in training while she's out here being decorative and touchable
00:13:03and everything I'm not.
00:13:05We're so proud of both of them.
00:13:07Adjusting to college life so beautifully.
00:13:12Serena's doing wonderfully.
00:13:13Dean's list material, her advisor says.
00:13:17Well, she has to excel at something.
00:13:19Competition's tough when you can't coast on personality.
00:13:22Some of us prefer substance over charm.
00:13:25Kids.
00:13:26Babe, you two are hilarious.
00:13:29It's like watching real siblings bicker.
00:13:32Real siblings.
00:13:33The words land like ice water down my spine.
00:13:36We end up on the same picnic blanket because the universe has a sick sense of humor.
00:13:40Jade chatters about rush week and themed parties and other things that would require me to have a soul.
00:13:45She doesn't know him.
00:13:47Doesn't know he checks the locks three times before bed.
00:13:50Doesn't know he still has nightmares about his father.
00:13:52Doesn't know he reads Bukowski when he thinks no one's watching.
00:13:55After the neighbors evacuate and our parents disappear inside with wine that'll make them nostalgic and weepy,
00:14:02I escape to the kitchen.
00:14:03Jade left an hour ago.
00:14:04Something about a sorority emergency that sounded suspiciously like,
00:14:08I'm bored and these people are old.
00:14:11Thought you'd hide in here all night.
00:14:14I'm cleaning up.
00:14:16Some of us contribute.
00:14:18Is that what you call sulking in corners and shooting death glares at my girlfriend?
00:14:22She's not your girlfriend.
00:14:24She's a prop.
00:14:25An accessory.
00:14:27This week's validation fix.
00:14:30Jealous much?
00:14:31I'd rather be jealous of a yeast infection.
00:14:34Strong words.
00:14:36You know what I think?
00:14:38I think you can't stand watching me with her.
00:14:40I think it eats you alive.
00:14:42You followed me here.
00:14:44You could have gone anywhere.
00:14:47But you chose here.
00:14:49Maybe I just like the school.
00:14:51Maybe you're so terrified of being alone with yourself that you need me around to torture.
00:14:56Watch your fucking mouth, princess.
00:14:59You know what?
00:14:59I feel sorry for you.
00:15:01I'm serious.
00:15:02I feel sorry for the boy whose father beat him and then abandoned him.
00:15:05The boy's so desperate for approval, he'll fuck girls who don't even know his middle name.
00:15:09Because it's easier than admitting no one's ever actually loved him for who he is.
00:15:16Jade doesn't see you, Caleb.
00:15:19None of them do.
00:15:20They see the smile and the body and the charm.
00:15:23Shut the fuck up!
00:15:24And that works for you because if they saw the real you,
00:15:28the broken, desperate, terrified little boy under all that armor, they'd run.
00:15:34I'm not jealous of Jade.
00:15:35I pity her.
00:15:37And I pity you.
00:15:38The rest of the dishes are all yours.
00:15:50The library smells like anxiety and desperation with hints of stale Red Bull,
00:15:55basically the official cologne of higher education.
00:15:57Mia sits next to me, allegedly writing her sociology paper,
00:16:01but actually deep-stalking her TA's Instagram.
00:16:04I know because she keeps making these tiny gasping sounds
00:16:07every time she scrolls past a shirtless beach photo.
00:16:10Six weeks into freshman year,
00:16:12and Mia is the closest thing I've ever had to a real friend.
00:16:15In high school, I couldn't afford friends.
00:16:17He has a dog.
00:16:19A golden retriever named Pancake.
00:16:21Mia, focus.
00:16:23I am focused.
00:16:25Focused on how that man fills out a wetsuit.
00:16:30Ow, what?
00:16:31Look over there.
00:16:33Look, but don't make it obvious.
00:16:34Mia, if this is another guy you think has protagonist energy...
00:16:38Serena, shut up and look!
00:16:41Lucas Bennett is walking toward us,
00:16:42and apparently puberty decided to work overtime on him.
00:16:46The last time I saw Lucas, he was Caleb's perpetual shadow,
00:16:49always there but never quite there.
00:16:51Is this seat taken?
00:16:56Serena Lackin.
00:16:57I thought that was you.
00:16:59How long has it been?
00:17:01A while.
00:17:02Since high school, at least.
00:17:05Too long.
00:17:05I heard you were here.
00:17:07Pre-law, right?
00:17:08Of course you are.
00:17:09You were always terrifyingly smart.
00:17:15Pre-med for me.
00:17:17Turns out all those years of patching up lacrosse injuries
00:17:20gave me a taste for it.
00:17:22You patched up lacrosse injuries?
00:17:24I thought you were one of the ones causing them.
00:17:27Fair point.
00:17:28Maybe I was just atoning for my sins.
00:17:30We all have things we wish we'd done differently back then.
00:17:33I remember you from honors English.
00:17:35You demolished everyone in that Fitzgerald debate.
00:17:38I was genuinely scared of you.
00:17:40Fear is an appropriate response to literary analysis.
00:17:45The cafe by the Humanities building is acceptable.
00:17:49Everything else tastes like it was brewed
00:17:50during the Reagan administration.
00:17:52A coffee snob.
00:17:54I respect that.
00:17:56Strong opinions about beverages are a green flag.
00:17:59Would you look at the time I have that thing?
00:18:02The urgent thing.
00:18:04With the people.
00:18:05At the place.
00:18:08Serena, text me everything.
00:18:12So, are you going to the Halloween party next Friday?
00:18:16The big one at Sigma Chi.
00:18:18Everyone goes.
00:18:19Parties aren't really my thing.
00:18:21That's exactly why you should come.
00:18:23College is about new experiences, right?
00:18:26Breaking out of old patterns.
00:18:29Three tables away, I feel the weight of Caleb's gaze
00:18:32like fingertips trailing down my spine.
00:18:34His eyes are locked on me with an intensity
00:18:36that makes my stomach flip.
00:18:38Tell me more about this party.
00:18:40What exactly makes it so unmissable?
00:18:42It's legendary, honestly.
00:18:44The costumes get competitive.
00:18:45The music is actually decent.
00:18:47Plus, I hear the punch is strong enough
00:18:49to make even pre-law students have fun.
00:18:52Bold assumption that I don't already know how to have fun.
00:18:56Prove me wrong, then.
00:18:57Come to the party.
00:18:59Let me buy you a drink.
00:19:01You're very confident for someone
00:19:03who hasn't seen me in years.
00:19:05Some things are worth being confident about.
00:19:07I'll think about it.
00:19:08I'm looking at Caleb as he stands abruptly.
00:19:10He doesn't pack up his things.
00:19:12Doesn't grab the broken pen.
00:19:14Just turns and walks out.
00:19:15Movement sharp with barely controlled violence.
00:19:18And my pulse is racing for entirely the wrong reason.
00:19:22The cruelest lies are the ones we tell ourselves
00:19:25about what we want.
00:19:26He texted again while I was in the shower.
00:19:28Three messages in 20 minutes.
00:19:30He's sweet.
00:19:31Persistent in a way that feels like warmth
00:19:33instead of pressure.
00:19:34Normal in a way I've forgotten people can be.
00:19:37This is good.
00:19:38Lucas is good.
00:19:39Lucas is exactly what you need.
00:19:41Caleb without the emotional terrorism.
00:19:43This is what normal feels like.
00:19:45This is what I deserve.
00:19:46My eyes still on my phone,
00:19:48still composing a reply that sounds flirty
00:19:50without trying too hard.
00:19:52Well, fuck me sideways.
00:19:54That's a face I've never seen before.
00:19:57Texting lover boy with that dopey-ass smile?
00:20:01Pathetic doesn't even begin to cover it, princess.
00:20:05What the fuck are you doing in my room?
00:20:06Get out!
00:20:08These are tragic.
00:20:10Serena truly, like,
00:20:11seek help levels of unsexy.
00:20:14I said get out!
00:20:16Are you wearing these to the party?
00:20:19Please say yes.
00:20:21I need to see Lucas' face
00:20:22when he discovers what's underneath.
00:20:26Give those back!
00:20:27Granny panties with fruit on them.
00:20:29Bold strategy for a girl trying to lose her V-card.
00:20:33I'm not trying to.
00:20:34Oh, you're definitely trying.
00:20:37That dumb smile you just walked in with?
00:20:39The sad little hair flip in the library?
00:20:42Touching his arm like you learned flirting
00:20:44from a WikiHow article?
00:20:45Get off my bed!
00:20:47Lucas Bennett.
00:20:48That's your big play?
00:20:50You really think that golden retro boy
00:20:52is interested in you?
00:20:53Unlike some people,
00:20:55Lucas is actually capable of basic human decency.
00:20:58Lucas is capable of fucking anything with a pulse, sure.
00:21:02But interested?
00:21:03Is it Serena?
00:21:05Sweetheart.
00:21:06Look at yourself.
00:21:07You used to be friends with him.
00:21:09What happened?
00:21:10People grow apart.
00:21:12It happens.
00:21:13That's not an answer.
00:21:15It's the only one you're getting.
00:21:18Ancient history isn't really my thing.
00:21:20But we're not talking about me.
00:21:23We're talking about you
00:21:24and you're gonna show up in some tragic little costume
00:21:26and follow him around all night like a stray dog.
00:21:30And he's gonna ditch you
00:21:31the second someone hotter walks by.
00:21:33You don't know anything about...
00:21:35I know you.
00:21:36Nineteen years old and never been fucked.
00:21:38You think that's an accident?
00:21:40You think guys just haven't noticed you?
00:21:42They've noticed.
00:21:44They're just not interested.
00:21:46There's nothing there to want.
00:21:48Lucas asked me.
00:21:50Not the other way around.
00:21:52Lucas is working an angle.
00:21:54probably a bet with his frat brothers.
00:21:56Go ahead.
00:21:57Prove them right.
00:21:59Make a fool of yourself in front of the whole school.
00:22:01I'd rather humiliate myself in front of everyone
00:22:04than spend another second with you.
00:22:06Then we're both getting what we want.
00:22:07Wear the ugly underwear.
00:22:09It'll match the rest of you.
00:22:12The door clicks shut behind him
00:22:14and I don't move for a long time.
00:22:16My fingers find the strawberry underwear
00:22:18crumpled on the carpet
00:22:19and I clutch them against my chest like armor.
00:22:22The cotton is warm from his hands
00:22:24and I despise that I notice.
00:22:26What was that look?
00:22:27Right before he left,
00:22:29his expression shifted into territory
00:22:31I didn't recognize.
00:22:32Not cruel.
00:22:33Not mocking.
00:22:34Almost desperate.
00:22:35Get out of my head, Thornton.
00:22:37Get out.
00:22:38I look at myself in the mirror.
00:22:40The black bodysuit clings to curves
00:22:42I usually hide beneath hoodies
00:22:43and oversized sweaters.
00:22:45Holy fuck, Serena Lackham.
00:22:48Where have you been hiding that body?
00:22:50Lucas is going to swallow his own tongue
00:22:52when he sees you.
00:22:53Hell, I might switch teams.
00:22:56What if he doesn't like me?
00:22:57Oh, he'll like you.
00:22:59That boy has been eye-fucking you
00:23:01through every study session.
00:23:03And maybe tonight,
00:23:05he finally gets to do it for real.
00:23:08Okay.
00:23:10Let's go before I change my mind.
00:23:12The party is chaos incarnate.
00:23:14Music pounds through the walls,
00:23:16bass so heavy the floor vibrates
00:23:18beneath my heels.
00:23:19Stay close!
00:23:20Lucas said he'd be wearing a skeleton mask.
00:23:23Great.
00:23:24Super helpful.
00:23:25I've already counted four skeleton masks
00:23:27in my immediate vicinity.
00:23:29Mia's sorority sisters descend
00:23:30like perfectly coordinated vultures,
00:23:33dragging her towards something called
00:23:34the situation on the dance floor.
00:23:37I park myself near the makeshift bar,
00:23:39draining my cup.
00:23:40The alcohol burns away the edges of my anxiety,
00:23:43making everything softer, warmer,
00:23:46more possible.
00:23:47That's when I see him.
00:23:49Lucas.
00:23:50Tall frame and broad shoulders I recognize.
00:23:52White mask tilted toward me
00:23:54from across the room.
00:23:55My pulse quickens,
00:23:56and I tell myself it's the alcohol.
00:23:58He doesn't wave or call out.
00:24:00He simply extends one hand in my direction,
00:24:03palm up, waiting.
00:24:04Probably wants to see if the pre-law princess
00:24:06is as frigid as everyone says.
00:24:08Fine.
00:24:09Let him see.
00:24:10Let him tell everyone afterward.
00:24:12At least I won't be untouched anymore.
00:24:14Won't be the pathetic virgin Caleb mocks
00:24:16at every opportunity.
00:24:17The silence feels intentional.
00:24:19Part of the costume,
00:24:20part of the game.
00:24:22Lucas?
00:24:23He doesn't answer.
00:24:24His hands find my waist instead,
00:24:27thumbs tracing slow circles
00:24:28against my hip bones,
00:24:29and I decide that silence is answer enough.
00:24:32Oh, we're really committing to the role.
00:24:34I don't want this to be special.
00:24:36I don't want tender words or meaningful glances.
00:24:39I just want it done.
00:24:41Lucas's hands are rougher than I expected,
00:24:43gripping my waist like he's afraid I'll disappear.
00:24:46Fuck, okay.
00:24:47I kind of like aggressive Lucas.
00:24:50Can you at least lift the mask?
00:24:53I want to kiss you.
00:24:55He pauses.
00:24:56Then slowly, he pushes the mask up
00:24:59just enough to expose his mouth.
00:25:01In the darkness, I can't make out features.
00:25:03Just the outline of lips that crash into mine
00:25:06with bruising force.
00:25:08God, who knew Lucas had this in him?
00:25:14His fingers finally slide between my thighs.
00:25:17When he pushes his finger inside me without warning,
00:25:20I nearly come off the bed.
00:25:21The stretch burns, but the pleasure overwhelms it,
00:25:24especially when his thumb finds my clit
00:25:26and circles with practiced precision.
00:25:28My mind drifts as sensation builds.
00:25:31What if it was him?
00:25:32I imagine Caleb's hands instead of Lucas's.
00:25:35Caleb's body pressing me into the mattress.
00:25:37Caleb's breath hot against my throat.
00:25:40The fantasy builds pressure low in my belly,
00:25:43spiraling toward a release that hovers just out of reach.
00:25:46My fingers dig into shoulders that belong to one man
00:25:49while my mind belongs entirely to another.
00:25:51My orgasm hits like a freight train, completely unexpected.
00:25:56It's over.
00:25:57It's done.
00:25:57You're not a virgin anymore.
00:26:01The girl in the mirror looks exactly as hollow as I feel.
00:26:04Congratulations, Serena.
00:26:06You're officially as pathetic as Caleb always said.
00:26:08When I finally emerge,
00:26:10I nearly collide with a familiar chest.
00:26:12There you are.
00:26:14I've been looking everywhere for you.
00:26:17Some dickhead in the same mask spilled his entire drink on me.
00:26:21Had to go change.
00:26:22Did you just get here?
00:26:24You look amazing, by the way.
00:26:26The floor tilts beneath me.
00:26:28He's been down here looking for me,
00:26:30which means the man in that bedroom,
00:26:32that wasn't Lucas at all.
00:26:35I call her princess because that's what she is.
00:26:38A girl who's never had to fight for anything.
00:26:40And I've been crawling and fighting my whole fucking life.
00:26:45The ceiling above my bed holds no answers,
00:26:48but I stare at it anyway,
00:26:49counting the minutes by the soft sounds
00:26:52filtering through the bathroom wall.
00:26:54A drawer opening, water running,
00:26:56the whisper of fabric against skin.
00:26:59You're sick, twisted beyond repair.
00:27:01I remember the first time I called her princess.
00:27:04We were 12.
00:27:05She tried to skip a stone.
00:27:07Failed spectacularly.
00:27:09Her laugh bounced across the water.
00:27:11This mix of embarrassment and joy
00:27:13that hit me right in the chest.
00:27:16You're doing it wrong.
00:27:17Here.
00:27:18Like this.
00:27:20See?
00:27:21Perfect technique for a perfect princess.
00:27:24Thanks, Caleb.
00:27:25Two words.
00:27:27That's all it took.
00:27:28I was done for.
00:27:30Then I went home.
00:27:31That was the summer my father discovered new hobbies.
00:27:34I learned to sleep with my eyes half open,
00:27:37to flinch at footsteps,
00:27:38to disappear into walls.
00:27:40And suddenly,
00:27:41Serena's perfection stopped being something beautiful.
00:27:44It became a mirror.
00:27:45If her life is so perfect,
00:27:47let me be the one in perfection.
00:27:54I wanted to grab her shoulders
00:27:56and shake her until she broke,
00:27:58until she screamed.
00:27:59and I wanted to hold her
00:28:01until she felt safe enough to fall apart.
00:28:04Pick a lane, asshole.
00:28:06You can't destroy someone and save them at the same time.
00:28:09Because Serena isn't just in my head.
00:28:11She's carved into my bones.
00:28:13My phone buzzes on the nightstand.
00:28:16The racing circuit.
00:28:17The debt follows me like a second shadow.
00:28:20My father's legacy.
00:28:22I wonder how much longer
00:28:23I can keep buried the obsession
00:28:25that drives me to follow her,
00:28:26like a satellite caught in her gravitational pull.
00:28:30I've been choking on jealousy for the past 20 minutes.
00:28:33It was just one of those moments, you know?
00:28:39Look at me like that.
00:28:40Just once.
00:28:41But she never will.
00:28:44You have the most beautiful smile.
00:28:46Lucas leans in closer,
00:28:48whispering something that makes her cheeks go pink.
00:28:50And I'm gripping my hands so hard,
00:28:52my knuckles turn white.
00:28:54She doesn't pull away,
00:28:55doesn't stiffen,
00:28:56just tilts her head and listens
00:28:58like he's reciting fucking Shakespeare.
00:28:59I want to be at his place.
00:29:01I shove back from the table
00:29:03and walk out
00:29:03before I do something I can't take back.
00:29:06I try the gym first.
00:29:0845 minutes of punishing my muscles
00:29:11until they scream.
00:29:12But every time I close my eyes between sets,
00:29:14I see her hand on his arm.
00:29:16Her smile.
00:29:17The way she leaned toward him
00:29:18like he was magnetic north.
00:29:20I last three hours.
00:29:22Three hours of telling myself
00:29:24I don't care who she talks to,
00:29:25but my feet carry me down the hallway.
00:29:27Her bedroom door is unlocked.
00:29:29The shower runs in the bathroom
00:29:31and I should leave.
00:29:32She left her underwear on the bed.
00:29:34Tiny strawberries printed across the fabric
00:29:36like some kind of joke.
00:29:38A laugh builded in my chest,
00:29:39but it dies before it reaches my throat.
00:29:42The water shuts off.
00:29:44The door opens and...
00:29:46Jesus fucking Christ.
00:29:48She was wearing nothing but a towel
00:29:50that's trying its best
00:29:51but failing spectacularly.
00:29:53Water drops race down her collarbone.
00:29:56Her hair is plastered to her shoulders,
00:29:58darker with moisture.
00:29:59And the way that terrycloth
00:30:01clings to every curve
00:30:02she usually hides under hoodies
00:30:04makes my brain short-circuit.
00:30:06This is what she's been keeping from me.
00:30:08She doesn't speak.
00:30:10Her body tells me everything.
00:30:11The way she arches into my touch.
00:30:13The way her breath hitches
00:30:15when my thumb brushes her.
00:30:17She moves against me
00:30:18with increasing desperation.
00:30:20Her fingers in my chest
00:30:21and she lowers her mouth to me.
00:30:23Her fingers find my shoulders
00:30:25when she climbs onto my lap,
00:30:27straddling me
00:30:27and the towel rides up her thighs.
00:30:29Through my jeans,
00:30:30I can feel the heat of her
00:30:32and my hands find her waist
00:30:33like they've been waiting
00:30:34their whole existence
00:30:35for this moment.
00:30:38I wake up so hard it hurts.
00:30:40Her phantom warmth
00:30:41still pressed against my skin.
00:30:43Pathetic.
00:30:45You're absolutely pathetic.
00:30:47She moves against me
00:30:48with increasing desperation.
00:30:50Her fingers in my chest
00:30:51and she lowers her mouth to me.
00:30:53Her phone sits on the counter,
00:30:55screen glowing
00:30:55with an unread message.
00:30:57I should walk away,
00:30:58but I've never been decent
00:30:59where Serena is concerned.
00:31:00The screen illuminates
00:31:02at my touch
00:31:02and my ex-best friend's name
00:31:04stares back at me.
00:31:05Lucas.
00:31:06My blood turns to lead
00:31:07in my veins.
00:31:09The racing circuit.
00:31:10Lucas is taking her
00:31:12to the fucking racing circuit
00:31:13where I'll be competing
00:31:14to pay off another installment
00:31:15of my father's debt.
00:31:17Fuck.
00:31:18My two worlds
00:31:18are about to collide
00:31:19and there's not a damn thing
00:31:21I can do to stop it.
00:31:25Three more races
00:31:26after tonight
00:31:27and you're clear, kid.
00:31:29How does that feel?
00:31:31Like I might actually
00:31:32sleep again.
00:31:33Two years
00:31:34since I stood in our kitchen
00:31:35watching my mother
00:31:36cry over bills
00:31:36my father left behind.
00:31:38When the helmet goes on,
00:31:40I'm supposed to stop
00:31:41being Caleb Thornton.
00:31:42Out here,
00:31:43I'm Shane Lander.
00:31:4423.
00:31:45No family drama.
00:31:47Just a guy who rides fast
00:31:48and pays his debts on time.
00:31:50You've earned it, man.
00:31:54Fastest rider I've ever
00:31:55let borrow my name.
00:31:56The engine beneath me
00:31:57roars to life.
00:31:58Vibrating through my thighs,
00:32:00my chest,
00:32:01my teeth.
00:32:02Despite everything,
00:32:03freedom floods
00:32:04through my veins.
00:32:05This is the part I'll miss
00:32:06when the debt clears.
00:32:08Exhaust fumes
00:32:09curl through the night air.
00:32:11That's when I see them.
00:32:12No.
00:32:12Serena and Lucas
00:32:14walking through the crowd
00:32:15like tourists
00:32:16in a war zone.
00:32:17I'll be right there with you.
00:32:18His arm draped over her shoulders
00:32:20with that casual ownership
00:32:21that makes me want to put my fist
00:32:23through his perfect teeth.
00:32:24She really agreed
00:32:25to come here with him.
00:32:26She really came here.
00:32:27to this oil-stained hellscape
00:32:29and men with criminal records.
00:32:31Just focused.
00:32:33The starting signal flares red,
00:32:35then green.
00:32:36First lap,
00:32:37I'm in the lead,
00:32:38but she doesn't leave my thoughts.
00:32:40What the fuck is Lucas thinking?
00:32:42She looks wrong here.
00:32:43Too clean,
00:32:44too bright,
00:32:44like someone photoshopped
00:32:46an angel into a meth lamp.
00:32:47I risk a glance at the crowd.
00:32:49I risk a glance at the crowd.
00:32:49Mistake.
00:32:50Huge fucking mistake.
00:32:52Our eyes meet over Lucas' shoulder
00:32:54for a second.
00:32:55She knows it's me.
00:32:56The curve comes too fast.
00:32:58One second I'm flying.
00:32:59The next,
00:33:00the bike slides out from under me
00:33:02like the ground itself
00:33:03has betrayed me.
00:33:04Gravel bites into my shoulder blade
00:33:06where the jacket rode up.
00:33:07The sky spins above me
00:33:08in lazy circles,
00:33:10stars smearing into floodlights
00:33:11into darkness.
00:33:13You're an absolute idiot!
00:33:15What the hell were you thinking?
00:33:17I try to answer,
00:33:19but my lungs have decided
00:33:20breathing is optional.
00:33:21Each inhale feels like
00:33:22swallowing fiberglass.
00:33:24Someone call 911!
00:33:26Immediately!
00:33:27No ambulances, girl.
00:33:30We can't let the police search here.
00:33:32He could be bleeding internally!
00:33:34Look at him!
00:33:36I can handle this.
00:33:38We have people who can help.
00:33:40I don't give a fuck about your people!
00:33:42Serena,
00:33:44maybe we should...
00:33:45Shut up!
00:33:46Just shut up and let me think!
00:33:48I gasp and pain floods through me,
00:33:51sharp and clarifying,
00:33:52radiating from my ribs to my spine.
00:33:55Caleb,
00:33:56here you go.
00:33:57Stay with me.
00:33:58Just stay with me, okay?
00:34:00Worth it.
00:34:01I think as darkness creeps in at the edges,
00:34:04totally fucking worth it
00:34:05to see her look at me that.
00:34:08Have you ever hated someone so much
00:34:10that watching them bleed
00:34:12feels like bleeding yourself?
00:34:13The fluorescent lights of the emergency room
00:34:16buzz overhead,
00:34:17casting everything in a pallid glow.
00:34:19Nurses move around Caleb,
00:34:21checking vitals,
00:34:22cleaning wounds.
00:34:23I agreed to come tonight
00:34:25because Lucas asked
00:34:26and because some reckless part of me
00:34:28wanted to prove I could be spontaneous.
00:34:31Then the race started
00:34:32and my eyes found one rider
00:34:34without conscious thought.
00:34:35The angle of his shoulders,
00:34:37the aggressive grace of his turns.
00:34:40I knew it was Caleb
00:34:41before I could name why.
00:34:42Come on, Serena.
00:34:44Let's go.
00:34:45We can still salvage the night.
00:34:47No.
00:34:47I'll take him home.
00:34:48You go.
00:34:49I watch him disappear
00:34:51through the automatic doors
00:34:52and feel nothing.
00:34:54The only thing occupying my mind
00:34:55is the boy bleeding
00:34:56in the room behind me.
00:34:58Six years of cruelty,
00:35:00being called princess like a slur,
00:35:02and yet here I sit in this taxi,
00:35:05watching streetlights strobe
00:35:06across his damaged face,
00:35:08aching with a tenderness
00:35:09that has survived
00:35:10every wound he's ever inflicted.
00:35:13Inside,
00:35:14I flip on the kitchen lights
00:35:15and notice the dark stain
00:35:17spreading across his back,
00:35:19fresh blood seeping
00:35:20through ruined fabric.
00:35:21You're bleeding again.
00:35:24Sit down.
00:35:26The wound is on your shoulder blade.
00:35:29Unless you've developed the ability
00:35:31to desallocate your arms,
00:35:32you can't reach it?
00:35:36sit down.
00:35:41Let me.
00:35:42His back is a masterpiece
00:35:44of destruction.
00:35:45My hands shake
00:35:46as I clean the wounds.
00:35:48Why do you race?
00:35:49You can't even drive.
00:35:51I can drive fine.
00:35:52I was distracted.
00:35:54Don't move.
00:35:56I know how to pay attention.
00:36:01Speaking of attention,
00:36:03you look cozy with Bennett tonight.
00:36:05We're not talking about Lucas.
00:36:08No?
00:36:09Maybe we should.
00:36:11Did he buy you dinner first?
00:36:14If I didn't know better,
00:36:16I'd think you were jealous.
00:36:18You think this is funny?
00:36:20Finish the damn sentence, Caleb!
00:36:23You're playing with fire, Serena.
00:36:25Good.
00:36:27Maybe Lucas will help me
00:36:28put it out after.
00:36:31Keep talking.
00:36:33See what happens.
00:36:35Lucas wanted to take me home tonight.
00:36:38After the race.
00:36:39He'd be nice, you know?
00:36:41Careful.
00:36:43Everything you're not.
00:36:45Want to know why I crashed?
00:36:49I saw his hands on you.
00:36:53And forgot there was a fucking road.
00:36:56So you're jealous?
00:36:58Don't sound so fucking pleased about it.
00:37:00You have no right to be jealous.
00:37:03Not after everything.
00:37:04I know.
00:37:07Because you were the only
00:37:08beautiful thing I'd ever touched.
00:37:11And I only know how to
00:37:13break beautiful things.
00:37:23Caleb.
00:37:26This is insane.
00:37:29I know.
00:37:31I don't care.
00:37:32Her breath catching.
00:37:33This is where she belongs.
00:37:35In my hands.
00:37:36Under my mouth.
00:37:37Mine.
00:37:38If you want me to stop,
00:37:39say it now.
00:37:40I don't know.
00:37:41But we can't just...
00:37:43Dear you.
00:37:44I should want you to stop.
00:37:46I should hate this.
00:37:49Serena.
00:37:51I've been aroused by you
00:37:52since I was 15.
00:37:53You can read the phone book,
00:37:55but...
00:37:56I need a cold shower.
00:37:58You have no idea
00:37:59what you do to me.
00:38:00Then show me.
00:38:02Stop talking and show me.
00:38:03So I do.
00:38:04The bra is white lace.
00:38:06Simple.
00:38:07Devastating.
00:38:08Not strawberry lingerie.
00:38:11I also have regular underwear, idiot.
00:38:15Thank God.
00:38:17Her breathing has gone shallow.
00:38:19Chest rising and falling rapidly.
00:38:21Sensitive?
00:38:24I don't...
00:38:25Every instinct screams at me
00:38:27to take,
00:38:28to claim,
00:38:28to devour.
00:38:29Yet this is Serena.
00:38:31The girl I've destroyed
00:38:32for six years.
00:38:33But I can't stop.
00:38:34So eager for it,
00:38:36aren't you?
00:38:36Who would have thought
00:38:37that a princess
00:38:38could be so lustful?
00:38:39She goes rigid.
00:38:41Fuck.
00:38:42The word princess
00:38:43hangs between us
00:38:44like a blade,
00:38:45sharp with six years
00:38:47of history.
00:38:48Six years of using
00:38:49that word to hurt her,
00:38:51to belittle her,
00:38:52to make her feel small.
00:38:54Serena,
00:38:55I didn't mean...
00:38:56Don't.
00:38:57Just.
00:38:59Don't.
00:39:00It slipped out.
00:39:01Force of habit.
00:39:02I wasn't...
00:39:03I can't.
00:39:05I can't do this.
00:39:07Serena,
00:39:08please.
00:39:09Just wait.
00:39:10I can't look at you now.
00:39:12I can't be near you.
00:39:13Just let me explain.
00:39:16Explain what?
00:39:17That you've hated me
00:39:18for six years,
00:39:20and now you expect me
00:39:21to believe this is real?
00:39:22This is real?
00:39:24This is the only real feeling
00:39:25I've ever felt.
00:39:26Then why?
00:39:28Why did you try
00:39:29to destroy me?
00:39:34One word.
00:39:35One fucking word,
00:39:37and I destroyed everything.
00:39:39His mouth tasted like copper
00:39:41and recklessness,
00:39:42and I'm drowning in both.
00:39:44This was what I've been missing.
00:39:46This heat.
00:39:47This hunger.
00:39:48This feeling of being wanted
00:39:50so desperately.
00:39:51Princess.
00:39:53And my body went rigid,
00:39:55not from pleasure,
00:39:56from the avalanche
00:39:57of everything he's ever done to me.
00:39:59Crashing through the walls
00:40:00I'd foolishly let him breach.
00:40:02Every insult lands fresh.
00:40:05Serena?
00:40:06Six years of systematic destruction
00:40:08flood back in a single devastating wave.
00:40:11I don't remember mounting the bike.
00:40:13I don't register the roads I take,
00:40:15the turns I make,
00:40:17the darkness swallowing everything
00:40:18beyond my headlight's weak beam.
00:40:21Muscle memory guides me
00:40:22through streets I've traveled
00:40:23a thousand times before.
00:40:25Our spot, mine, and hers.
00:40:27I cry for her,
00:40:29for the mother who should be here,
00:40:30who should be the one I run to
00:40:32when boys break me open.
00:40:33I cry for the woman I'm becoming.
00:40:36The truth surfaces between sobs,
00:40:38ugly and undeniable,
00:40:39and impossible to shove back down
00:40:41where it belongs.
00:40:42I want Caleb Thornton,
00:40:44his hands,
00:40:45his mouth,
00:40:46the desperate way he looked at me
00:40:48before I ran away.
00:40:49The admission settles into my chest
00:40:51with the weight of inevitability.
00:40:54I want him.
00:40:55God help me.
00:40:56I want him.
00:40:57And that's exactly why I can't have him.
00:41:00Serena Lakin doesn't crumble for anyone,
00:41:03least of all the boy
00:41:04who tried hardest to break her.
00:41:07The neighborhood is tomb silent
00:41:09when I finally coast into our driveway,
00:41:12legs burning from pedaling through streets
00:41:14I barely remember traveling.
00:41:16Both cars sit in their usual spots,
00:41:19dark and silent like sleeping sentinels.
00:41:22Parents came home
00:41:23while I was falling apart by a lake,
00:41:25and my father had no idea
00:41:26his daughter spent the evening
00:41:28kissing her stepbrother in their kitchen.
00:41:30The stairs creak once beneath my weight
00:41:33and I freeze,
00:41:34heart slamming against my ribs,
00:41:36but no bedroom doors open.
00:41:38No concerned voices call out into the darkness.
00:41:41Sleep doesn't come.
00:41:43I lie on my back and stare at the ceiling,
00:41:45tracing patterns in the shadows
00:41:47that shift each time a car passes
00:41:49on the street below.
00:41:50His hands ghost across my skin
00:41:52and phantom touches I can't shake.
00:41:54The weight of his body between my thighs.
00:41:57The desperate sound of my name in his mouth.
00:42:00Because you were the only beautiful thing
00:42:02I'd ever touched.
00:42:03The confession plays on loop,
00:42:05wearing grooves into my brain
00:42:07until I can't tell if I'm remembering or inventing.
00:42:10Did he really say that?
00:42:11Did his voice really crack on the words
00:42:14like something inside him was breaking?
00:42:15I pull my pillow over my face
00:42:18and scream into it.
00:42:19Morning arrives with the subtlety of a sledgehammer.
00:42:22I spend 20 minutes rebuilding my face
00:42:24into something presentable.
00:42:26Each brush stroke feels like armor,
00:42:28layer after layer of pigment
00:42:30between the world and my devastation.
00:42:33You're fine.
00:42:34You're completely fine.
00:42:35My legs feel like they belong to someone else
00:42:38as I descend the stairs.
00:42:40Caleb is already at the breakfast table.
00:42:42His head lifts when I enter.
00:42:44Everything from last night crashes back.
00:42:47His mouth, his hands, his confession, my retreat.
00:42:50I look away first.
00:42:52The coffee pot becomes my entire focus
00:42:54as I pour with hands that refuse to steady.
00:42:59Good morning, sweetheart.
00:43:01You look tired.
00:43:02Late night studying.
00:43:04Something like that.
00:43:05I have some wonderful news.
00:43:07I ran into Richard Bennett at the club yesterday
00:43:10and he mentioned that Lucas has been spending
00:43:16quite a bit of time with you lately.
00:43:18I have to say I was delighted to hear it.
00:43:21Lucas seems like a wonderful young man.
00:43:24Richard and Patricia raised him well.
00:43:27Lucas is nice.
00:43:30More than nice, apparently.
00:43:32Richard seemed to think things were progressing
00:43:34rather well between you two.
00:43:36and I must say
00:43:37I wholeheartedly approve.
00:43:40The Bennetts are good people, Serena.
00:43:43Solid values, excellent future prospects.
00:43:47The kind of foundation any father would want for his daughter.
00:43:51Nothing's progressing.
00:43:54We're just friends, Dad.
00:43:58For now.
00:44:00I'm just so glad you're spending time with the right people.
00:44:03Quality connections are important, honey.
00:44:08I have somewhere to be.
00:44:14Well,
00:44:16I wonder what's gotten into him this morning.
00:44:19Young men.
00:44:21Probably some athletic commitment
00:44:23he forgot about until now.
00:44:28My phone buzzes against my thigh.
00:44:31The screen illuminates with Lucas' name
00:44:33and I almost laugh at the cosmic timing of it all.
00:44:36The universe has a sick sense of humor.
00:44:39I should say no.
00:44:40I should create distance from everything.
00:44:43Lucas, Caleb,
00:44:44the entire tangled mess I've made
00:44:46of my carefully ordered existence.
00:44:49Getting closer to Lucas
00:44:50means watching Caleb's face harden
00:44:52every time we're in the same room.
00:44:54My thumbs hover over the keyboard
00:44:56for a long moment.
00:44:58Me.
00:44:58Sure.
00:44:59Because maybe normal
00:45:00is exactly what I need right now.
00:45:03Drowning looks different
00:45:05when you're doing it on dry land.
00:45:07Here's what I'm currently juggling.
00:45:09A faceless stranger
00:45:10who took my virginity
00:45:11and vanished into a sea
00:45:13of identical skeleton masks.
00:45:15A stepbrother whose mouth
00:45:17I can still taste
00:45:18when I close my eyes
00:45:19no matter how many times
00:45:20I brush my teeth
00:45:21or chawled in coffee.
00:45:23The library has become my bunker.
00:45:26My fortress.
00:45:27My carefully constructed excuse
00:45:29to avoid every space
00:45:31where Caleb might appear.
00:45:32The complicated part
00:45:34that keeps me awake at night?
00:45:35I don't entirely regret it.
00:45:37You look like someone
00:45:38ran over your cat,
00:45:39resurrected it,
00:45:41and ran it over again.
00:45:42Thanks for that vivid imagery.
00:45:44Really appreciate the poetry
00:45:46you've blessed me with today.
00:45:48I'm being serious right now, Serena.
00:45:50You've been weird for days
00:45:52and don't think I haven't noticed
00:45:53every single red flag you're waving.
00:45:56That's complete bullshit
00:45:57and you know it.
00:45:59You maintain your GPA in your sleep.
00:46:01Is this about the mystery guy
00:46:03from the race?
00:46:04Did something happen that night?
00:46:06I don't know what you're talking about, Mia.
00:46:08Oh, come on.
00:46:10Don't insult my intelligence.
00:46:11I saw your face that Monday.
00:46:14Even if something did happen,
00:46:15I wouldn't know how to explain it
00:46:16without sounding completely unhinged.
00:46:19Some things are too tangled
00:46:20to put into words.
00:46:21Try me.
00:46:22I've heard worse things
00:46:23than you can possibly imagine.
00:46:25My older sister once confessed
00:46:26to sleeping with her professor
00:46:28and I kept that secret
00:46:30through two Thanksgivings
00:46:31and a family reunion.
00:46:32It's complicated.
00:46:34Complicated usually means interesting
00:46:36in my experience.
00:46:37The messiest situations
00:46:39always make the best stories afterward.
00:46:41This isn't a story
00:46:42I want to tell anyone, ever.
00:46:44This is a disaster.
00:46:46Fine, I won't push you today.
00:46:48But I'm here when you're ready
00:46:50to spill everything.
00:47:00He took this while he was inside me.
00:47:03While I kept my eyes shut.
00:47:05Every tall frame,
00:47:06every athletic build
00:47:07makes me wonder
00:47:09with nauseating intensity.
00:47:11Was it you?
00:47:14You look incredible tonight.
00:47:17That blouse is perfect on you.
00:47:19Thank you for bringing me here.
00:47:20It's beautiful.
00:47:22Only the best for you, Serena.
00:47:25The words should make my heart flutter.
00:47:27But my mind keeps drifting
00:47:28to that photo on my phone.
00:47:30Who took it?
00:47:31What do they want from me?
00:47:33Is this blackmail waiting to detonate?
00:47:35Or a warning shot across my bow?
00:47:37The professor sounds like
00:47:38some kind of weirdo.
00:47:40Did he actually throw chalk
00:47:41at that guy?
00:47:42Allegedly.
00:47:44The kid deserved it, though.
00:47:46Remind me never to fall asleep
00:47:47in your classes.
00:47:49Serena,
00:47:50you seem really distracted tonight.
00:47:54Sorry.
00:47:56Just school stress weighing on me.
00:47:58Anything I could help with?
00:48:00Can you tell me why my stepbrother
00:48:02makes me feel more alive in fury
00:48:04than you do in kindness?
00:48:06No.
00:48:07But thank you for asking.
00:48:14I had a really great time tonight.
00:48:16Me too.
00:48:23You should go, Bennett.
00:48:25Now.
00:48:26I was just saying goodnight
00:48:27to Serena, man.
00:48:28And now you're leaving.
00:48:31Immediately.
00:48:33Okay.
00:48:33I'll call you tomorrow, Serena.
00:48:35Goodnight.
00:48:40This roast chicken is truly excellent.
00:48:43Yes.
00:48:44It goes perfectly with the wine.
00:48:46The hospital charity gala
00:48:47is next weekend.
00:48:48I was thinking Serena should attend.
00:48:50Wonderful idea.
00:48:52The Bennets will be there, too.
00:48:53Lucas could introduce you
00:48:55to some partners
00:48:56at his father's firm.
00:48:58Networking is so important
00:49:00at your age.
00:49:01Perfect opportunity
00:49:01to wear that lovely dress
00:49:03we bought last month.
00:49:04Of course.
00:49:06Sure.
00:49:07I'll go with Lucas.
00:49:09May I be excused?
00:49:10I had an early morning.
00:49:12Of course, sweetheart.
00:49:13Is everything all right?
00:49:15Okay.
00:49:15Everything is perfect.
00:49:20Sorry, I...
00:49:21Well,
00:49:23young people
00:49:24and their moods, I guess.
00:49:26He's probably just tired
00:49:27from training.
00:49:28The season is demanding.
00:49:30When did this happen?
00:49:31When did Caleb Thornton's opinions
00:49:33start mattering more
00:49:34than my own piece?
00:49:43We need to talk.
00:49:45Fascinating opener.
00:49:46The answer's still no.
00:49:48Get out.
00:49:49Lucas isn't what he seems.
00:49:52You need to stay away from him.
00:49:53Oh, this is rich.
00:49:55You're giving me
00:49:56relationship advice now?
00:49:57You, of all people?
00:49:59This isn't about us, Serena.
00:50:01This is about him.
00:50:03There is no us, Caleb.
00:50:04There's you, trespassing in my room,
00:50:06running your mouth about things
00:50:07that don't concern you.
00:50:11You kissed him tonight?
00:50:13I did a lot of things tonight.
00:50:15Breathing, blinking,
00:50:16walking upright.
00:50:18Should I run those by you, too,
00:50:19or just the ones involving
00:50:20other men's mouths?
00:50:21On our doorstep.
00:50:23Ten feet from where I was standing.
00:50:26Proximity bothers you now?
00:50:28That's new.
00:50:29You've never had trouble
00:50:31performing with an audience before.
00:50:33Careful, Serena.
00:50:34Or what?
00:50:35You'll make my life miserable?
00:50:37Breaking news.
00:50:38You've been doing that
00:50:39since middle school.
00:50:40I'm immune.
00:50:41You're not immune to anything.
00:50:43Your pulse is jumping
00:50:45in your throat right now.
00:50:47I can see it from here.
00:50:49That's called hatred, Caleb.
00:50:50Search it.
00:50:51Hatred doesn't make
00:50:52your pupils dilate.
00:50:54Hatred doesn't make you breathe
00:50:56like you've been running.
00:50:57Maybe I'm allergic to bullshit.
00:50:59You're certainly giving off
00:51:00enough of it.
00:51:01Then why haven't you
00:51:02screamed for daddy yet?
00:51:04I don't need my father
00:51:05to handle you.
00:51:06No?
00:51:07Then handle me yourself.
00:51:08Put your hands on my chest
00:51:10and shove me out that door.
00:51:17What's the holdup, princess?
00:51:18All that righteous anger
00:51:20and you can't even touch me
00:51:21long enough to push me away.
00:51:22Don't call me that.
00:51:24Touch me and I'll stop.
00:51:25You're terrified.
00:51:27Not of me.
00:51:29Of what happens
00:51:30when you stop pretending
00:51:31you don't want this.
00:51:32The only thing I want
00:51:34is for you to choke
00:51:35on your own ego.
00:51:36Liar.
00:51:37Your whole body's shaking.
00:51:39You're so wound up
00:51:41you can barely stand.
00:51:42You are delusional.
00:51:44Then prove it.
00:51:46Tell me to leave.
00:51:48Mean it.
00:51:48Why are you in my face again?
00:51:51What do you want from me?
00:52:02Come on, princess.
00:52:05Tell me how much
00:52:06you hate me now.
00:52:07I hate.
00:52:08I hate you.
00:52:10Again.
00:52:11Make me believe it this time.
00:52:14Call it.
00:52:18Every pathetic dream
00:52:20I've tortured myself with
00:52:21dissolves into nothing
00:52:23compared to the weight
00:52:24of her body
00:52:25pressed against mine.
00:52:26Somehow we migrate
00:52:27to my room.
00:52:31You're shaking.
00:52:33No, I'm not.
00:52:40Caleb.
00:52:42Your hands are literally trembling.
00:52:44Shut up.
00:52:46I'm just saying.
00:52:47You want to analyze this?
00:52:49Write a thesis
00:52:50about my
00:52:51sizy-logical responses?
00:52:54Or do you want me
00:52:55to make you forget
00:52:55how to form sentences?
00:52:57That's what I thought.
00:52:59I'm not a virgin anymore.
00:53:01That doesn't mean
00:53:02it won't hurt
00:53:03the second time.
00:53:04We don't have to do this.
00:53:06If you've changed
00:53:07your mind.
00:53:09I haven't changed
00:53:10my fucking mind.
00:53:12I just...
00:53:14I need you to be sure.
00:53:16I need you to be sure.
00:53:17Why?
00:53:17Because I'm not
00:53:18a complete bastard.
00:53:20Despite popular opinion.
00:53:22Caleb, I want this.
00:53:23I want you.
00:53:27Tell me if it hurts.
00:53:29I mean it, Serena.
00:53:30One word
00:53:31and I stop.
00:53:35Your turn.
00:53:36Slow down.
00:53:37You've been telling me
00:53:39to shut up
00:53:39and take what I want
00:53:40for years.
00:53:42Now you want me
00:53:43to be patient?
00:53:44Now I want to take
00:53:45my time.
00:53:47I want to learn
00:53:47every inch of you.
00:53:49I want to hear
00:53:50every sound you make.
00:53:52I want to remember this
00:53:53when I'm old and broken
00:53:54and you've moved on
00:53:55to someone who deserves you.
00:53:56Caleb,
00:53:57you're staring.
00:53:59Don't hide from me.
00:54:00Not now.
00:54:02It's embarrassing.
00:54:03You're perfect.
00:54:05You've always been perfect
00:54:06and I've hated you for it.
00:54:07Hated how much
00:54:08I wanted you.
00:54:09Hated that you made me
00:54:10feel things I couldn't control.
00:54:19Caleb,
00:54:19what are you doing?
00:54:29Caleb.
00:54:30We go slow.
00:54:36I'll stop
00:54:37whenever you say.
00:54:42Caleb,
00:54:43please.
00:54:45Please what?
00:54:46I need you.
00:54:48Please,
00:54:49I need you inside me.
00:54:58Her taste,
00:54:59salt and sweetness
00:55:00as I drag my mouth
00:55:02down her throat.
00:55:03I've dreamed about this
00:55:05since my first
00:55:06fumbling experiences
00:55:07taught me what bodies
00:55:08could do together.
00:55:09Backseats of cars
00:55:11with girls
00:55:11whose names blurred
00:55:13by morning.
00:55:14Dorm rooms
00:55:14and parties
00:55:15and encounters
00:55:16that meant nothing
00:55:17beyond temporary release.
00:55:19None of them mattered
00:55:20because they weren't her.
00:55:23God.
00:55:24Tell me,
00:55:24but we're real close.
00:55:26This line we cross,
00:55:28nobody more.
00:55:31Forbidden.
00:55:31Don't pray,
00:55:33don't cry.
00:55:35Just let me drown
00:55:36in your alibi.
00:55:39What if we stop pretending?
00:55:43What if we just give in?
00:55:51the warmth pressed
00:55:52against my body,
00:55:54tangible and real.
00:56:02How long have you been awake?
00:56:05It's a while.
00:56:07You talk in your sleep,
00:56:08you know that?
00:56:11Very entertaining.
00:56:13Right,
00:56:14something about
00:56:14constitutional amendments
00:56:15and a certain
00:56:18Professor Henderson.
00:56:19Oh, God.
00:56:21Please tell me you're lying.
00:56:23I liked it best
00:56:24when you muttered something
00:56:24about colored markers.
00:56:26Very sexy bedtime talk,
00:56:27Lincoln.
00:56:30You're unbearable.
00:56:32and yet you're here.
00:56:34Still in my bed.
00:56:37The morning is just beginning.
00:56:39Give me time.
00:56:41Take all the time you want.
00:56:43I'm not going anywhere.
00:56:49I should probably go get ready.
00:56:53The gala is tonight
00:56:54and I need to...
00:56:56A gala evening?
00:56:57Yes,
00:56:58the charity event
00:56:59our parents have been
00:56:59discussing for weeks.
00:57:01Catherine mentioned it
00:57:02at dinner last night,
00:57:03remember?
00:57:04The hospital foundation thing?
00:57:05The whole point of last night
00:57:07was that you don't go with him.
00:57:09Last night had no point.
00:57:11Last night was a mistake.
00:57:12A mistake.
00:57:14That's what you're calling him?
00:57:15What else would I possibly
00:57:16call it, Caleb?
00:57:18You were screaming my name
00:57:19four hours ago
00:57:20and now it's a mistake?
00:57:21I'll wear your voice
00:57:22before someone hears it.
00:57:26You let Lucas kiss you
00:57:28on our doorstep.
00:57:29You're going to this gala
00:57:30on his arm tonight.
00:57:33Parading around like
00:57:34nothing happened between us.
00:57:36And?
00:57:37What happens in my life
00:57:38is none of your concern.
00:57:40And I'm supposed
00:57:41to be fine with that?
00:57:43After everything
00:57:44that happened
00:57:44between us last night?
00:57:45You don't get to be
00:57:47anything about my choices.
00:57:50This doesn't give you
00:57:51rights over me.
00:57:53Then
00:57:54what the hell
00:57:55does it give me,
00:57:56Serena?
00:57:57I need to go.
00:57:59Step away.
00:58:04You're really going to
00:58:05pretend this means nothing?
00:58:06I'm not pretending
00:58:08anything.
00:58:10Liar.
00:58:11I know what you felt.
00:58:14Let me go, Caleb.
00:58:16I can't watch you
00:58:18with him.
00:58:19I can't watch him
00:58:20touch you
00:58:21knowing what we
00:58:22knowing how you
00:58:24But before I can respond
00:58:26his slam on the closet
00:58:27makes us both
00:58:28look at the carpet
00:58:29and my whole world
00:58:30turns upside down.
00:58:34I can explain.
00:58:39Serena, please
00:58:41just let me explain
00:58:42what happened.
00:58:43You.
00:58:44It was you.
00:58:46Yes, but
00:58:47it's not yoked.
00:58:48You took my virginity.
00:58:51You knew exactly
00:58:52who I was
00:58:53and you let me think
00:58:54I was with someone else.
00:58:55I didn't plan it.
00:58:56I saw you with Lucas
00:58:57followed because
00:58:58I was jealous
00:58:59and then you took my hand
00:59:00and you just went
00:59:01along with it?
00:59:02You let me believe
00:59:03I was with someone else
00:59:04the entire time
00:59:05we were in that room.
00:59:06You thought you were
00:59:07with Lucas.
00:59:07You wanted him,
00:59:08not me.
00:59:09What was I supposed to do?
00:59:10Correct you,
00:59:10mid-sduction.
00:59:11Yes.
00:59:13That's what a decent
00:59:14person would do, Caleb.
00:59:15I'm not a decent
00:59:16human being.
00:59:17I've never claimed to be.
00:59:19And the message?
00:59:21The photo someone sent
00:59:22to my phone last week.
00:59:24That was me.
00:59:26I sent it.
00:59:27You photographed me
00:59:29without my consent
00:59:29and then used it
00:59:30to threaten me?
00:59:31It wasn't a threat.
00:59:32It was...
00:59:33I was trying to make you
00:59:34stay away from Lucas.
00:59:35I panicked.
00:59:36I blackmailing me?
00:59:38That was your brilliant plan?
00:59:40You kept spending time
00:59:41with him
00:59:42and I couldn't just tell you
00:59:44the truth without...
00:59:45Without what?
00:59:46Admitting you'd already
00:59:47violated every boundary
00:59:49that exists between
00:59:50two people?
00:59:50Lucas is not who
00:59:51you think he is.
00:59:53That's what I've been
00:59:54trying to tell you
00:59:54all this time.
00:59:55Oh, this should be good.
00:59:57Please enlighten me
00:59:58about who Lucas is.
00:59:59He's dangerous, Serena.
01:00:02There are things
01:00:02about him you don't know.
01:00:04Things you conveniently
01:00:05couldn't mention
01:00:06until after you'd
01:00:06slept with me twice
01:00:07and gotten caught
01:00:08in your own web of lies?
01:00:09The timing looks
01:00:11suspicious, I know.
01:00:12But I'm telling you
01:00:13the truth right now.
01:00:14The truth?
01:00:15You don't know
01:00:16what that word means, Caleb.
01:00:17You wouldn't recognize
01:00:17truth that introduced
01:00:18itself with a handshake.
01:00:20Serena, wait.
01:00:22You have to listen
01:00:23to me about this.
01:00:26I don't have to do
01:00:27what you say.
01:00:28Lucas hurt someone.
01:00:30Back in high school,
01:00:31there was a girl
01:00:32at a party
01:00:32after everyone else
01:00:33had left.
01:00:34She is the reason
01:00:35we stopped being friends.
01:00:38And you expect me
01:00:39to believe this
01:00:40convenient revelation
01:00:41right now
01:00:42after everything
01:00:43you've just admitted?
01:00:44It's not convenient.
01:00:45It's relevant.
01:00:47Everything I've done
01:00:48has been to protect
01:00:49you from him.
01:00:50Are you lying to me?
01:00:52This is sickening, Caleb.
01:00:54I know what it looks like.
01:00:56But all I did
01:00:57was because I...
01:00:58Was because you're
01:00:59a manipulative bastard?
01:01:03Last night,
01:01:03you told me
01:01:04it might hurt
01:01:05the second time.
01:01:06You knew it was
01:01:07only my second time
01:01:08because you were
01:01:08my first.
01:01:10Serena.
01:01:10Don't.
01:01:11Don't say my name
01:01:13like that.
01:01:13You can't seem
01:01:14offended right now.
01:01:16And going.
01:01:18Don't follow me.
01:01:19Please don't do this.
01:01:21It's not like that,
01:01:23Serena.
01:01:23So how do I do it?
01:01:27You're exactly
01:01:28the villain
01:01:29I always knew you were.
01:01:30I just forgot
01:01:31for a few hours.
01:01:36And the party tonight?
01:01:38Are you still going
01:01:39with him despite
01:01:40everything I just
01:01:40told you?
01:01:42Your word means
01:01:44nothing to me anymore.
01:01:46This is such
01:01:48a beautiful event.
01:01:49It really is.
01:01:50Cheers to that.
01:01:51Charity galas exist
01:01:53so rich people
01:01:54can feel generous
01:01:55while drinking champagne
01:01:56that costs more
01:01:57than my textbooks.
01:01:59You look stunning.
01:02:00Every man in this room
01:02:02is jealous of me
01:02:02right now.
01:02:03Flattery will get you
01:02:04everywhere, Bennett.
01:02:06That's what I'm
01:02:07counting on.
01:02:09You two look
01:02:10absolutely lovely
01:02:11together.
01:02:11Like something
01:02:12from a magazine
01:02:13spread, honestly.
01:02:16The Bennets
01:02:17raised a fine
01:02:17young man.
01:02:18I couldn't be happier
01:02:19about you two
01:02:20spending time together.
01:02:22Thank you, sir.
01:02:24Serena makes it
01:02:25easy to be a gentleman.
01:02:38Do you want to dance?
01:02:39I wouldn't want
01:02:40anything more.
01:02:44My father's partner
01:02:45wanted to meet you.
01:02:46He's been asking
01:02:46about my mysterious
01:02:47pre-law girlfriend
01:02:48all evening.
01:02:49I'm not your girlfriend.
01:02:52Every interaction
01:02:53only reveals
01:02:54more kindness,
01:02:56more evidence
01:02:57that Caleb lied.
01:02:58Enjoying yourself,
01:02:59princess?
01:02:59Don't call me that.
01:03:01Playing dress-up
01:03:02with Bennett
01:03:02looks exhausting.
01:03:04Blue suits you,
01:03:05though.
01:03:06Your mother
01:03:07would have approved.
01:03:08Is there something
01:03:08you need, Thornton?
01:03:10It's like him now,
01:03:11actually.
01:03:12Didn't you hear?
01:03:13We're one big
01:03:14happy family these days.
01:03:16Just making conversation
01:03:17with my stepister.
01:03:19Family obligation.
01:03:21You understand.
01:03:22Funny how you only
01:03:23remember family obligations
01:03:24when it's convenient.
01:03:26Some of us remember
01:03:27when you couldn't
01:03:27spell the word.
01:03:28And some of us
01:03:29remember things
01:03:30we probably shouldn't
01:03:31talk about
01:03:31in charity galas.
01:03:33Right, Bennett?
01:03:34Wouldn't want to ruin
01:03:35the evening
01:03:36with ancient history.
01:03:37You're drunk.
01:03:39Maybe you should
01:03:40find some water
01:03:41in a quiet corner.
01:03:42Maybe you should
01:03:43worry less
01:03:43about my hydration
01:03:45and more about
01:03:46your own glass house.
01:03:48stones hurt
01:03:49when they come
01:03:50back around,
01:03:51don't they?
01:03:52We were actually
01:03:52just leaving.
01:03:53Excuse us.
01:04:04I didn't know
01:04:05you smoked.
01:04:08There's a lot
01:04:08you don't know
01:04:09about me.
01:04:10Though I suppose
01:04:11that cuts both ways
01:04:12now, doesn't it?
01:04:14You've been avoiding
01:04:15me all night, Serena.
01:04:16I really like
01:04:18the gala.
01:04:19It's not all
01:04:20about you, Caleb.
01:04:21No?
01:04:23Then why do you
01:04:24look for me
01:04:24in every room
01:04:25you enter?
01:04:25I don't...
01:04:30You do.
01:04:31You've been
01:04:31watching me all night
01:04:32while pretending
01:04:33not to.
01:04:34And I've been
01:04:34watching you pretend.
01:04:42Does Lucas know?
01:04:44Know what?
01:04:46that you're only
01:04:47with him
01:04:48because of me.
01:04:49You're delusional.
01:04:51I chose Lucas
01:04:53because he's
01:04:54everything you're not.
01:04:56And what exactly
01:04:57am I not?
01:04:59Honest.
01:05:00Attentive.
01:05:02Capable of basic
01:05:03human decency
01:05:04without ulterior
01:05:04motives attached.
01:05:06Sounds like a
01:05:06golden retriever.
01:05:09Very exciting.
01:05:10Excitement
01:05:11isn't everything, Caleb.
01:05:12Some of us
01:05:14prefer stability
01:05:15over chaos.
01:05:16You don't want
01:05:17stability.
01:05:18You want to feel
01:05:20safe, one,
01:05:20what terrifies you.
01:05:22What terrifies me
01:05:23is your complete
01:05:25inability to take
01:05:27responsibility
01:05:28for anything
01:05:28you've done.
01:05:30I've taken
01:05:30responsibility.
01:05:32I told you the truth
01:05:33about Bennett,
01:05:34about Halloween,
01:05:36about the photo,
01:05:37about all of it.
01:05:38After I discovered
01:05:39the mask in your closet.
01:05:41That's not a confession,
01:05:42that's damage control.
01:05:44And yet here you are,
01:05:46alone with me
01:05:47on a balcony
01:05:48instead of inside
01:05:49with your puppy.
01:05:49I came out here
01:05:51for air,
01:05:52not for you.
01:05:53Keep telling
01:05:54yourself that.
01:05:57That's a great story.
01:05:59I remember
01:06:00the first time
01:06:00I saw the play.
01:06:06Excuse me
01:06:07for a moment.
01:06:10There you are.
01:06:11I've been looking
01:06:12everywhere for you.
01:06:16Just getting
01:06:16some air.
01:06:17The ballroom
01:06:18was getting stuffy.
01:06:19I can imagine.
01:06:21Caleb.
01:06:23Still here?
01:06:24Just leaving.
01:06:26The view
01:06:26got less interesting.
01:06:28I want to hurt him
01:06:29the way he hurt me.
01:06:31I want him to watch
01:06:32and suffer.
01:06:34Lucas.
01:06:36Serena?
01:06:56What was that for?
01:06:58I just wanted to.
01:07:03I'm not complaining.
01:07:05Feel free
01:07:06to want that
01:07:06anytime.
01:07:07We should go
01:07:08back inside.
01:07:10People will talk.
01:07:12Let them.
01:07:21funny how memory works.
01:07:23My traitorous mind
01:07:24has other plans.
01:07:25Circling Caleb's face
01:07:27like a vulture
01:07:28over carrion.
01:07:29Devastated
01:07:30doesn't cover it.
01:07:31He looked destroyed.
01:07:33The foundation cracked
01:07:34and walls collapsed.
01:07:36I tell myself
01:07:36this is what I wanted.
01:07:38Punishment.
01:07:39So why does victory
01:07:41taste like ash
01:07:42coating my tongue?
01:07:43The clock reads
01:07:44three in the morning.
01:07:46But even in dreams
01:07:47I can't escape
01:07:47the blue of his eyes
01:07:49right before
01:07:49they went hollow.
01:07:52Lucas and I
01:07:53build something
01:07:54in the spaces
01:07:55between obligations.
01:07:56Coffee shops
01:07:57where baristas
01:07:58know our orders.
01:07:59Library corners
01:08:00we've claimed
01:08:01as territory.
01:08:06His roommates
01:08:07scatter
01:08:07when I arrive
01:08:08mumbling excuses
01:08:10that sound rehearsed.
01:08:11They're just awkward
01:08:12around new people.
01:08:16He seems genuine
01:08:17which either means
01:08:19he is
01:08:20or he's very good
01:08:21at pretending.
01:08:22That's Dray Shurion.
01:08:23Thank you.
01:08:25I'm a realist
01:08:26not a cheerleader.
01:08:28But your other
01:08:29friends like him
01:08:30so there's that.
01:08:31they do like him.
01:08:32The easy charm
01:08:33the remembered details
01:08:35the way he makes
01:08:36everyone feel important.
01:08:37I should be grateful
01:08:38for the consensus.
01:08:40Instead
01:08:40I find myself
01:08:42cataloging inconsistencies
01:08:43like evidence
01:08:44for a trial
01:08:45I haven't decided
01:08:46to hold.
01:08:47His smile
01:08:48doesn't always
01:08:48reach his eyes
01:08:49especially when
01:08:50he thinks
01:08:51I'm not watching.
01:08:52Caleb watches us
01:08:53across campus
01:08:54with the dedication
01:08:55of someone memorizing
01:08:57a crime scene.
01:08:58He doesn't approach
01:08:59doesn't speak
01:09:00doesn't acknowledge
01:09:01my existence
01:09:02beyond those
01:09:03burning blue eyes
01:09:04tracking my movements.
01:09:05Every time
01:09:06our gazes collide
01:09:07my chest constricts
01:09:09with an ache
01:09:09I refuse to name.
01:09:11I look away first
01:09:12because looking longer
01:09:13feels like confession.
01:09:15The parade of girls
01:09:16through his bedroom
01:09:17has stopped
01:09:18or at least
01:09:19the volume
01:09:19has dropped
01:09:20to silence.
01:09:28You okay?
01:09:31Fine.
01:09:32What happened
01:09:33between you two?
01:09:34Ancient history
01:09:35Serena.
01:09:37It doesn't matter
01:09:38anymore.
01:09:39Clearly it does.
01:09:40You can't even
01:09:41look at his car
01:09:42without going
01:09:43full statue.
01:09:44We were kids.
01:09:46People grow apart.
01:09:47That's not an answer
01:09:48and you know it.
01:09:51It was just
01:09:52high school drama
01:09:53stupid teenage stuff.
01:09:56What kind of
01:09:57stupid teenage stuff?
01:09:58Did you steal
01:09:59his book?
01:10:01Beat him
01:10:02at lacrosse tryouts?
01:10:04Nothing like that.
01:10:07Then what?
01:10:09Was there a girl
01:10:10involved?
01:10:13Maybe.
01:10:15But it's complicated.
01:10:17Complicated how?
01:10:20What?
01:10:21You two couldn't
01:10:22share her or something?
01:10:24There was a girl.
01:10:26Her name was Rachel
01:10:28and things just
01:10:30got messy.
01:10:34Anyway,
01:10:36what are your
01:10:36Thanksgiving plans?
01:10:38My parents have been
01:10:39asking about you.
01:10:41I let him redirect.
01:10:42Let him kiss my cheek
01:10:43and walk away.
01:10:44Let the questions
01:10:45settle heavy
01:10:46in my chest.
01:10:47Rachel.
01:10:49A girl.
01:10:50Things got messy.
01:10:52The name circles
01:10:53my mind.
01:10:54Three hours
01:10:55disappear into
01:10:56the black hole
01:10:57of social media
01:10:58stalking.
01:10:59Rachel Weaver
01:11:00emerges from
01:11:00the digital excavation
01:11:02around midnight.
01:11:03I scroll back
01:11:04through years.
01:11:05Junior prom.
01:11:06Three years ago.
01:11:07Caleb on her left.
01:11:09Lucas on her right.
01:11:10Whatever broke
01:11:11them apart
01:11:12started with
01:11:13this girl
01:11:14in the blue dress.
01:11:16whatever truth
01:11:17Caleb tried to tell
01:11:18me has roots
01:11:19I'm only beginning
01:11:20to trace.
01:11:21I open a new
01:11:22message window
01:11:22before doubt
01:11:23can intervene.
01:11:24The cursor blinks
01:11:25patient and waiting.
01:11:27I start typing.
01:11:28being.
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