Odd One Out: Chapters 26–30

I’ve got way too many secrets involving our newly coupled mutual friends, and I don’t trust that they won’t explode out of me with the right prodding.

“I’ll have you know that Mr. Ice, as he referred to himself, sampled that track from the greatest band in the history of bipedal man.”

Wow, zero points for finesse, Jupe.

They say you don’t know what you’ve got till it’s gone, and I have to confess: after being with Coop and feeling his ravenousness for me all those nights, the dearth of such a feeling is...

They say you don’t know what you’ve got till it’s gone, and I have to confess: after being with Coop and feeling his ravenousness for me all those nights, the dearth of such a feeling is...

My mom is the epitome of Black Church Lady.

Well, when I finally came out to her, she cried and went on this whole soliloquy about ‘What am I gonna do if my baby ends up in hell?’

I’m on my back in the Sanctuary listening to “Bohemian Rhapsody” on repeat as tears run down into my hair.

Is this sticky feeling of shame my comeuppance...? Maybe.

I roll over and sit up. Stare at my legitimately petrified face in the mirror on the inside of the closet door. “Is this a terrible idea?” I say.

Britain is smiling tentatively and there’s a twinkle of excitement in his blue eyes, and Golly is flat-out beaming.

You’re defiling a holy place right now. Jupe-and-Coop only.

“Yeah. But I do love Coop, and I think that needs to take precedence,” I go on.

“And why wouldn’t we be?” Golly says with indignation.

I called and asked if they wanted to do something because I figured Coop would shirk our tradition, since he’s still pissed at me.

“He deserves it, man,” Britain says. Coop’s still standing in my driveway with his mouth open. “Actin’ like everything’s all hunky-dory. Golly, did you see his eye twitch when I said that birthday thing? Bet he won’t be blowin’ you off now, Miss Jupiter. There is no shutting down the competitive nature of an adolescent dude. Especially if his closest homeboys are involved.”

Rae, of course, looks like a kid on Christmas and is totally oblivious.

He and I make eye contact, and I blush and look at the ground. Between my outfit, his outburst, and my red face, I have no doubt most of the people in this room now know exactly which boy I “like.”
So much for discretion.

As he trots off, Golly shakes his head. “That guy has absolutely no concept of subterfuge.”

She looks me over a little lasciviously when she says this...

By the time we reach her room, the silence feels rabid, like any second it'll attack and fry my central nervous system and I won’t be able to speak.

“I thought you were unattainable. I could see how you and Coop looked at each other, and when I learned that he told you something he never told me, I just...shut down.”

“Fellas, fellas,” from Coop. “Can we not inundate this amazing young woman with our masculine vitriol on her birthday?”

“Fellas, fellas,” from Coop. “Can we not inundate this amazing young woman with our masculine vitriol on her birthday?”

First, it is my genuine hope that this card isn't overly offensive. Out of all the available options, it was the most apt expression of how I feel about our friendship.

Yes, I was also grappling with feelings for Courtney, but it wasn't until after you shut me down that I even considered him a possibility.

When you explained what you’d really come to tell me the day I professed my feelings for him, I felt culpable because you’re right: I did lead you on.
I'm sorry.

Meanwhile, I hope you have a prodigiously wonderful birthday!

I love you very much (in a strictly platonic way!).

“You know, this is normally where’d I’d make some ‘friggin’ patriarchal’ joke to rile you up, but I’ll refrain because that might be the nicest thing you’ve ever said to me, Jupiter.”