“You guys practical y had sex on the dance floor.”
We did?
I open my eyes again and regret it immediately. “I think I have the flu,” I croak. I’m thirsty. My mouth is dry. Disgusting. It tastes like the bottom of Captain Jack’s cage.
“More like a hangover.You should have some water. But not too much, you might puke again.”
“Again?”
“Look in your sink.”
I groan. “I’d rather not.”
“Josh and I practical y carried you home. You should be thanking me.”
“Thanks.” I am so not in the mood for Rashmi right now. “Is Étienne okay?”
“Haven’t seen him. He went to El ie’s last night.”
Just when I thought I couldn’t feel any worse. I twist the corners of my pil ow. “Did I, uh, say anything weird to him last night?”
“Apart from acting like a jealous girlfriend and saying you never wanted to speak to him again? No. Nothing weird at all.” I moan as she recounts the
night for me blow by blow. “Listen,” she says when she finishes, “what’s the deal with you two?”
“What do you mean?”
“You know what I mean.You two are inseparable.”
“Except when he’s with his girlfriend.”
“Right. So what’s the deal?”
I groan again. “I don’t know.”
“Have you guys . . . you know . . . done anything?”
“No!”
“But you like him. And he likes you, too.”
I stop choking my pil ow. “You think?”
“Please. The boy gets a boner every time you walk in the room.”
My eyes pop back open. Does she mean that figuratively or has she actual y seen something? No. Focus, Anna. “So why—”
“Why is he stil with El ie? He told you last night. He’s lonely, or at least he’s scared of being lonely. Josh says with all of this stuff with his mom, he’s been too freaked out to change anything else in his life.”
So Meredith was right. Étienne is afraid of change. Why haven’t I talked about this with Rashmi before? It seems obvious now. Of course she has
inside information, because Étienne talks to Josh, and Josh talks to Rashmi.
“You real y think he likes me?” I can’t help it.
She sighs. “Anna. He teases you all the time. It’s classic boy-pul ing-girl’s-pigtail syndrome. And whenever anyone else even remotely does it, he
always takes your side and tell s them to shove it.”