“Looks likehe’sspeaking toyou,” she points out. “Why the deep freeze?”
“You do remember him being a total boor the other day, correct?”
“Vaguely.”
I sigh. “Plus, there’s the small fact your mother came to my room last night and essentially threatened to have him arrested if I ever see him again.”
“WHAT?”
I briefly summarize Octavia’s visit to my chambers, leaving out the part about my wall-punch and the conversation I had with Carter, afterward.
“Jesus Christ,” Chloe mutters when I’m done. “She really has it out for you.”
“Any advice?”
“Honestly? Not really. I wish I could tell you this is an idle threat, but… much as it pains me to admit, it might be better for you — and for him — in the long run if you do what she wants. ”
My expression falls. “You can’t honestly think I should cut him out of my life. He’s my oldest friend!”
“I can’t tell you what to do. I can only tell you about my own experience, going up against Octavia.” She grimaces. “In middle school, I made a friend named Kacey. Scholarship kid. Super sweet, dirt poor. We were close… until Octavia decided Kacey’s family wasn’t aquality connectionfor the stepdaughter of a duke. She told me to end the friendship. I refused.” She pulls in a breath. “A week later, Kacey’s family abruptly moved away. The official story was that her father got an unexpected transfer at his job to a town six hours from Hightower. Unofficially? It was Octavia. ”
“Let me get this straight. She uprooted an entire family across the country, just to prevent you from being friends with some random girl?”
“The fact that she’d walked in on me and Kacey making out in my bed the previous week probably didn’t help my case.” Chloe winks at me. “Can youimagine? The perfect Lancaster image, tarnished by alesbian!?”
“I’m sorry, Chloe. That’s…” My head shakes. “That’s bullshit. You should be free to be with whoever the hell you want — free tobewhoever the hell you want.”
“Don’t you worry about me. Octavia may not be thrilled that I’m a solid 3 on the Kinsey Scale, but I got my revenge.” Her eyebrows waggle. “Swiss all-girls boarding school, remember?”
I burst out laughing. After a second, she joins in with me.
“You know, I should’ve said this earlier…” I clear my throat. “I’m really sorry about the other day. Owen usually isn’t so… combative.”
“You didn’t do anything wrong. Don’t apologize for him.” She sighs. “And, much as I’d like to hold a grudge, in this case I won’t. Men are idiots when they’re in love.”
I blink rapidly. “Excuse me?”
“Oh come on.” She glances over at me. “You can’t pretend you didn’t know.”
“You’re totally off base, here. There’s no way Owen is in love with me. He’s my—”
“Best friend.Riiiiiight. Keep telling yourself that.”
“He is!” I insist. “We’ve never so much as kissed.”
“Never?”
“Never.”
“Huh. Well. That still doesn’t change my assessment,” Chloe says stubbornly. “It’s the only explanation for all his macho bullshit: he realized he was about to lose you and he flipped out.”
“Yes — lose meas a friend.”
“A friend he wants to bend over and fuck to kingdom come, perhaps.”
“Chloe!”
“What? Don’t be such a prude.”