Frenemies(66)

She came to a stop next to me, which meant her sharp-toed boots were mere centimeters from my face. That made two sets of dangerous heels within easy stomping distance. I decided it would probably behoove me to get up.

“Was I interrupting something?” Amy Lee asked in her snottiest voice. “Because it just looked like the usual immature crap to me.”

“Merry Christmas and a happy new year to you!” I singsonged, grabbing Linus’s leash from under Amy Lee’s foot and restraining myself from trying to fling her down the stairs. Because violence was better imagined than actual, I reminded myself. Actual violence led to prison terms.

For his part, Linus seemed completely unaffected by his dash across the hotel. In fact, he—oblivious to the group dynamics—was delighted to see Amy Lee and kept trying to lick her hands.

“Forced holiday cheer will definitely divert everyone’s attention,” Georgia snapped at me. “Good call.”

And then the three of us just … stood there on the landing, not quite looking at each other. I had a dramatic moment wherein I imagined our history hung there in the air between us, but I suspected it was just the pine smell from the evergreens downstairs in the lobby.

“I think things kick off around 4 p.m.,” Amy Lee said eventually, still not looking anywhere in particular. “Lorraine insists on black tie. I have to get changed.”

“So do we,” I said, unnecessarily, since both Georgia and I were sweaty and in jeans.

“We all received the same invitation, I’m pretty sure,” Georgia said, her tone scathing. I looked at her, trying to communicate a gentler form of shut the hell up with my eyes. She only pursed her lips a little bit, but she didn’t say anything else.

Amy Lee let out a long-suffering sort of sigh, and turned away.

Thus began the truly awkward climb up the stairs to our adjoining rooms on the next floor. We all trudged along in a deeply uncomfortable silence broken only by Linus, who was panting happily. He seemed perfectly content to stay on his leash now, I noticed.

Outside our rooms, Georgia unlocked our door while Amy Lee unlocked hers. I stared at the carpet. Still, no one spoke. Georgia threw open the door and stormed inside. I followed her, and set about unfastening Linus’s leash. We could hear Amy Lee’s door slam, and then, once again, there was only silence.

“Well!” I said into the oppressive quiet before Georgia’s storm of temper. “That was awkward.”

“She has to be f*cking kidding me!” Georgia exploded.

“She’s obviously still mad about whatever she’s mad about,” I said, trying to sound soothing. “So let her be mad. She’ll talk to us when she’s ready.”

It wasn’t that I wasn’t mad myself, not to mention hurt that one of my best friends was still acting like she hated me, but I was more concerned with damage control. This wasn’t an afternoon sleigh-ride party that we could all storm away from. This was a hotel out in the country and we’d all be staying the night. It was also a national holiday. I figured my hurt feelings took a distant second to keeping Georgia from throttling Amy Lee before the clock struck midnight.

“That stuck-up, self-righteous—”

Georgia couldn’t even finish, she just whirled around and stomped over to the door that joined our room to Amy Lee and Oscar’s. She balled her hands into fists and started pounding. She was no fragile flower, either, so she made quite a racket with all of her Amazon strength behind each blow.

“Could you please—” I rubbed at my temples. “What do you think this is going to do, exactly?”

“I think it’s going to open the door,” Georgia snapped. “And then I think me and Miss Holier-than-Thou are going to talk about this bullshit.”

“You’re trying to beat down the door so you can talk,” I pointed out, mildly. “Where have I heard that before? Oh, yes, from violent, crazed—”

“Either help me or shut up, Gus!” Georgia barked.

I chose the second option, and waited.

It didn’t take long before the door flew open and Amy Lee stood there, practically hyperventilating with rage.

“Have you lost your mind?” she hurled at Georgia.

“How dare you sit in judgment of me?” Georgia threw right back. “Whenever you needed a friend, I was there for you—I was always there for you! And in return for over ten years of friendship I get what? You telling me to f*ck off in some random party? Have you lost your mind?”

“I held your hand through the first four hundred heartbreaks, Georgia,” Amy Lee snapped. “Which for a normal person would end sometime, like after the fifteenth identical situation—except not you. You just keep going and going—you’re like the Energizer Bunny of stupid, pointless relationships!”

I thought Georgia might actually faint from her fury, which I swore I could hear sizzle along her skin, and so bodily placed myself between the two of them.

“Everyone needs to calm down!” I announced—okay, it was closer to a shout.

“It must be pretty bad if Gus has to step in and be the adult,” Amy Lee said, with a little snort of extremely obnoxious laughter.

I reminded myself to take a deep breath. While I was doing so—and thus not throttling Amy Lee myself—-Georgia recovered enough to leap to my defense.