"I will impale you." The good news is that she only sounds irritated right now. I can deal with that. It’s the festering resentment that alarms me.

"Pleasant," I reply, thinking of Vlad the Impaler.

"You need to spend less time with me."

Snorting in disbelief, I scoff, "Says the person who’s making me go to Las Vegas with her."

"Speaking of which, how does Aiden plan to get Spencer’s parents to agree on this?" Finally drained of anger, Talise flops onto her bed.

With a shrug, I fall onto my bed. How does he plan on doing that? From my point of view, it didn’t seem like Spencer’s mother was the type to send her daughter on a road trip with a bunch of college guys to Las Vegas. Maybe she’s really easygoing though and just incredibly homophobic.

Maybe koalas aren’t violent little creatures filled to the brim with evil intent.

Okay, okay, that might be going a little too far, but I’d rather try to clip a wet cat’s claws than hold a disgruntled koala.

Glancing across the room, I notice Talise staring at something in her hands, almost captivated by whatever it is.

"Hey, Talise."

She comes out of her trance and shoves the object beneath a pillow. "Yeah?"

"What’s—"

"I’m going to take a shower," she interrupts, as though she knows what I’m about to say.

As she digs out a bathrobe, I try again. “Is something going on? What’s—” the slamming of the trap door slices into my inquiry “—wrong?”

More silence.

Part of me is drowning under a wave of curiosity. I wonder what she’s got stuffed under her pillow. Talise is always nosing into my business, but she never tells me about hers. Shouldn’t I try to figure out what’s wrong and, I don’t know, help her? At the same time, if I feel patronized when people treat me like I’m about to commit suicide, then Talise will too. And she doesn’t pry that much. She just needs to stop asking me about Spencer. Is it my duty to find out what’s bothering her? Does she expect me to figure it out? Is it wrong for me not to dig deeper? Why are people so complicated?

By the time Talise gets back from her shower, I’m still chasing my thoughts around in circles. It’s too late now.