I’d known from the moment he told me to dress for him, he’d choose a skirt. It wasn’t scandalous on paper—just shorter than anything I’d ever contemplate wearing: high-waisted black pleats brushing my mid-thigh, paired with a crisp white blouse tucked neatly and low heels that clicked like a metronome. Almost preppy. Yet every step had me quivering with exposure, skin alight under each breeze. Inside the notebook, a folde...

Ivy I failed. Not the kind where you “barely scrape by” or “missed the mark by a point or two.” I failed—bold red ink underlining the 72 circled at the top of my philosophy paper like flames licking at my confidence. It mocked me in my lap as I sat in the back of Professor Vale’s lecture hall, my heart pounding so loudly I could feel it hammer against my ribs, drowning out the click of pens and hushed whispers around me....

They said the Maldives was a lovers’ paradise, and here she was—alone and reeling from a breakup that had left her even more isolated than expected. Two weeks before her departure, her boyfriend—now ex—had discarded her like a worn-out accessory. Even though the luxury villa was waiting for her arrival, the dream felt irreparably broken. Yet, she refused to surrender to despair; wasting a perfect trip wasn’t an option, ev...