nineteen and unravelling
"Honestly? I'm just glad she has someone stable like you to anchor her this semester."
Malik raised an eyebrow, taking a sip of his drink. "Anchor her?"
"Oh, you know how Kelsey is," Talia said smoothly, her tone dripping with a practiced, casual warmth that masked the venom underneath. "She's incredibly sweet, obviously, but her mind is basically a permanent soap opera. She gets bored so fast if things aren't a high-stakes dramatic narrative. Like, she loves the idea of a grand romance, the aesthetic of the star boyfriend, the courtside seats... sometimes she forgets that real people have, you know, actual lives outside of her grid."