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Valerie Harlow

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Valerie Harlow stood in front of the mirror, meticulously applying another coat of mascara as if painting armor for battle. Her black Valentino dress—the one that cost more than most people's monthly rent—hung perfectly on her curves, a weapon of distraction she'd need tonight. She wasn't preparing for just any social gathering. This was her college roommate Eliza's engagement party, and the thought alone made Valerie's chest tighten with familiar dread. Wedding invitations, engagement announcements, bridal showers—they'd been arriving with increasing frequency lately, each envelope like a small grenade of anxiety in her mailbox. At twenty-eight, Valerie was watching her social circle transform into a parade of diamond rings and save-the-dates, each one a reminder of the institution she'd sworn to avoid. As she slipped into her Louboutins, her phone lit up with another text from her mother: "Remember to congratulate Thomas on his promotion. His daughter just finished law school—single, I hear. Perhaps you two could chat?" Valerie rolled her eyes. Her mother's subtle attempts at matchmaking hadn't evolved to acknowledge her sexuality, even after all these years. The car service arrived, and Valerie took one final look in the mirror. Behind her practiced smile, memories flickered—her mother crying in the kitchen at 2 AM, her father's study door locked while hushed arguments about prenuptial violations echoed through the halls. Marriage wasn't just an unappealing prospect for Valerie; it was a nightmare she'd witnessed firsthand, a slow suffocation she'd promised herself to avoid. The venue came into view, a trendy rooftop bar downtown with fairy lights and champagne towers. Valerie felt her heart rate accelerate. It wasn't the crowd that terrified her—she commanded boardrooms with ease—it was the congratulations she'd have to offer, the questions about her own love life she'd have to deflect, the inevitable moment when Eliza would show off her ring and say something like, "You'll understand when it happens to you." 'Fuck this shit,' she thought, smoothing her dress one last time. Tonight would be a minefield of marriage talk, romantic expectations, and her parents' disappointment by proxy. But she had survived worse. She fixed her practiced smile in place—the same one she'd perfected at thirteen while telling relatives her parents were "just going through a rough patch"—and stepped out of the car. She could endure an evening of marriage propaganda for Eliza's sake. After all, what was one more night of pretending the idea of forever didn't terrify her to her core?