Alien in the House

wedding.”
    “Chuck is
happy
to have this wedding,” Naomi insisted. And then she went for one of the Standard Girl Arguments. “You’re just jealous he’s marrying me.”
    Amy cringed. Because she’d known me pretty much as long as Chuckie had, and she knew what was coming.
    “Oh my God, really? Babe, let’s be real. If I’d been more in love with Chuckie than I was with Jeff,
you
would not be in this picture. Happily for everyone, Chuckie’s gotten over me and fallen in love with you, hurrah. But Chuckie’s my best friend, and you’re too busy feeling sorry for yourself and telling yourself that you ‘deserve’ the big wedding to pay attention to the fact that he’s dreading the whole thing. He wanted to get married by a freaking Elvis impersonator in Vegas way back when. Buy a clue.”
    “He’s never said anything like this to me! You’re just making this all up!”
    Abigail winced. “Sis, you might want to calm down,” she said quietly.
    Naomi ignored her. “You think you know Chuck better than me, but you’re wrong. He’d tell me if he didn’t want this wedding.”
    “He wants the wedding, you idiot. He just doesn’t want the kind of wedding you’re planning. And he hasn’t said anything because he thinks you’re happy. Or if he has, you’ve ignored it. You’ve turned into a raving bridal lunatic, and you know what? I was sympathetic. Right up until the moment you had the freaking nerve to act like all anyone wants you for is your talents at dream and memory reading or whatever and then to think your wedding is more important than saving people’s lives. It’s insulting to me, to Chuckie, to your brother, and to everyone else.”
    “I’m so sorry that you don’t approve of my having issues with losing something that’s been a part of me for my entire life,” Naomi snarled.
    “You want to keep on with your pity party? Go for it. But if that’s your decision, here’s mine—get the hell out of this Embassy and never, ever come back.”



CHAPTER 88
    T HE ROOM WAS SILENT, to the point where someone honestly could have heard a pin drop.
    Naomi huffed at me and spun on her heel. Abigail grabbed her and held her. “No,” she said quietly. “I’m done. You don’t get to leave.”
    “What? Why not? She’s insulted us and told me to get out.”
    “No,” Abigail said calmly. “She insulted
you
. By telling you the truth, what I should have had the guts to tell you months ago. And she only said to get out if you were refusing to stop feeling sorry for yourself.”
    Gower put his arm around Naomi. “You are not leaving.”
    “Are you getting rid of her, then?” Naomi asked.
    “No,” he said calmly. “Because Kitty’s right. You’ve been acting like a spoiled, petulant child, and we can no longer afford to allow you that luxury.”
    “But she was mean to me!”
    “Did you lose maturity when you lost your powers? I mean that seriously. I’ve never heard you this whiney and out of control, Naomi. Is it just the wedding crap, are you sick, or have you simply become the biggest whining pain in the ass ever?”
    “How can you talk to me like this?” Naomi asked.
    Amy rolled her eyes. “Oh, for God’s sake. She’s talking to you like this because she cares about you, and, more than that, she cares about Chuck. I’m with Kitty—why should we let him marry a whining loser? Or, to put it another way, who are you and what have you done with the Naomi we know and love?”
    “Could she be an android? I’m sort of serious.”
    “You want to cut my head off to find out?” Naomi snarled. “Tito might be able to sew it back on.”
    “Tito. Good call.” I grabbed her wrist and pulled. I was riding on waves of fury—there was no way Naomi was getting away from me. We headed out of the kitchen and for the stairs. Everyone else followed us. Dinner and a show. Though we hadn’t had dinner, come to think of it.
    “Let me go.”
    “Only when we get to the top so you can roll down the stairs.”
    “When did you become my enemy?”
    “When did I become your romantic rival? You played that card, my friend, I didn’t.”
    “You’re pulling rank.”
    “Babe, I
have
the rank. Ergo, I get to pull it all I want.” I’d been moving at the slower hyperspeed, so we reached the third floor quickly. I headed us into the infirmary.
    Nurse Carter stared at us. “You two okay?”
    “Major girl fight between me and Whiney Bridezilla here. Is Nathalie awake?”
    “Yes.