What a liar. He did care. But Odette must’ve believed him, because she blurted out, “Good! Then it won’t bother you to know that Islept with him!”
Theo’s mouth dropped open. His face went pale, and all of his words fell flat. By the look in his eyes, I could tell she’d really hurt him.
Bad.
Odette was sobbing now. “Just stay away from me, Theodore Antov! I never want to see you again!”
In full Odette-style, she ran down the road wailing. Theo shook himself out of his stupor, and went to go after her, but I held him back. “Theo, wait here. I’ll talk to her.”
He hesitated, then nodded quickly. I think he was in too much shock to know what to say.
I rushed to catch up with Odette. I grabbed her arms and spun her around, forcing her to talk with me. “Odette, what is going on? Did you sleep with Igor to make Theo jealous?”
Odette shook her head rapidly, flinging tears everywhere. “Igor said I needed to show him I loved him. If I didn’t do it, he was gonna leave me, and—”
“No, Odette, no.” I took her into my arms and gave her a hug, wondering where it’d all gone sideways. Igor wassucha prick.
Odette continued to sniffle. “I don’t know what I’m doing wrong. Igor says that I don’t love him.”
How anyone could think Odette wasn’t capable of love, I didn’t know. She was the sweetest thing on earth. “He can’t put this all on you. It takes two people to make a relationship work.”
“Ihavebeen relying on him a lot,” Odette confessed. “My mom cut me off, so I had to ask for some help, but now he says all I care about is his money.”
I snorted, “Girl, he could give you a million dollars, and it wouldn’t be enough payment for putting up with his ass.”
“I just wanted someone to love me!” Odette wailed, and my heart fell. “Theo’s so unsure, and it’s so confusing, and my family just doesn’t care about me anymore, so I thought Igor was the only one who would love me, so Ihadto do it, and— and—”
Odette whimpered. “I want to fix things, but I don’t know what else to do. I feel like I’m failing my boyfriend. I try and I try, but nothing is ever good enough.”
“Break up with him! He doesn’t deserve you!”
“You don’t understand what we have together!” Odette pulled away from me and put a hand over her mouth. “He’smychoice. I love him!”
“He’s manipulating you to get what he wants. That’s not love,” I insisted. “It doesn’t matter what you feel about Theo, but Igor is definitelynotyour true love!”
“You don’t know that! I just need to try harder.” Odette wiped frantically at her eyes. “It’s my fault the relationship’s failing. I make it sound worse than it is. I’m a bad girlfriend.”
“You aren’t the problem. It takes two people to make things work. If anything, it’s him!”
“I want us to go to therapy, or at least, I want to talk to someone on my own, but I can’t because he’ll get mad,” Odette worried. “He thinks the therapist will brainwash me against him.”
“Wow.” I shook my head. “He is seriouslysoinsecure.”
She didn’t hear me. “Maybe if I wasn’t autistic, or so forgetful, or—”
“There isnothingwrong with you. Do you hear me?” I shook her shoulders. “Stop letting him into your head.”
Odette’s face turned red. “Emma, you’re acting like I’m in some kind of abusive relationship, and to be honest, it’s really offensive! I’m kinda getting pissed you’re attacking me like this!”
I was pretty sure I was more offended than she was. That she’d say such a thing really got my blood boiling. Couldn’t she see the light? Why was she so insistent on defending someone who hurt her over and over? I was herbest friend. I was only looking out for her. I wasn’t the one doing the attacking— it was fucking Igor!
But then I forced myself to see things from Odette’s point of view. In my eyes, hell yeah, it was an abusive relationship. But in Odette’s, this was ordinary couple stuff. If she didn’t think she was being abused… or at least, didn’t want to admit it... nothing I could do would pull her out of it.
Odette’s lip trembled. “I just need support, okay? Ineedyou on my side, Emma. Please.”
Her voice was so pitiful it made my heart break. “I’ll always be here for you,” I said, because I didn’t know what else to say. Whatever I could come up with about Igor, she’d just discard. My words were useless.
She sighed. “I need a break. I’ll have Gus take me back to school. Just get Theo away from me.”
