Later that day, Damen cancels on hanging out that night and oh god I can’t tell you how little I care.  Like, why is this even a thing?  Am I supposed to be concerned about this?  Is it supposed to mean anything?  In fact, wondering why the book includes this is more interesting than what’s actually in the book.

Miles is not happy at the news, because he’s got a one-track mind that’s stuck on Damen, just like the book.

“But what did you say that made him cancel?” He glares at me.

“Nothing.”

The smirk deepens.

What smirk?

“It’s just that I so don’t get you. It’s like, nothing about you makes any sense. […] For one thing, you’re completely knock-down, drag-out gorgeous, at least I think you might be, because it’s really hard to tell when you’re always hiding under those ugly stretched-out hoodies. I mean, sorry to be the one to say it, Ever, but the whole ensemble is completely tragic, like camouflage for the homeless, and I don’t think we should have to pretend otherwise. Also; I hate to be the one to break it to you, but making a point to avoid the completely hot new guy, who is so obviously into you, is just weird.”

…if the book had tried, it could not have put itself in a nutshell any more clearly than this.

Looks are all that matter.  If you’re hot and you don’t let that define you, that’s unfathomable.  Having thoughts or opinions outside of the resident hot-boy is unimaginably weird.

The fact that Ever does buck this doesn’t help, because this is still the base presumption of the book.  It calls her weird for this, not everyone else.  Like we’re supposed to praise her for being so awesome as to reach the level of “not a braindead joke.”

Miles conclusion is that she clearly must be a lesbian, because fuck this book.

His second assumption is that she’s holding back for the sake of not ruining friendships.  First, if she were, that would be a valid choice.  Instead he mocks her for it.  MOCKS HER.  Because to his mind getting fucked by the hot boy (yes, they specifically mention sex) is more important than preserving friendships.  I would not want to be friends with this asshole after hearing that.  Second, he’s still stuck on the idea that she must be attracted to Damen, ignoring all her arguments that there’s more to attraction than physical appearance.

By the way, her arguments are pretty weird anyway.

“There’s a lot more to attraction than just looks, you know.”

Like warm tingling touch, deep smoldering eyes, and the seductive sound of a voice that can silence the world.

Alright, technically two of those three aren’t visual attributes, but they’re still physical, so I think it still counts as being lust-driven.

As it turns out, Friday night was cancelled. Well, not the night, just our plans.

Wow, thanks for telling us.  I might have been confused for a moment and thought you’d erased time or some shit.

So Ever makes plans to go out to dinner with her aunt and dresses up for it, at which point Riley comes back around to chitchat about clothes and ex-boyfriends.

Ever snaps are her for being annoying, so she disappears, and good god I’m so bored.  That whole chapter was just…so much pointless time wasting.  What really happened?  One plan got canceled and another one was made.  That’s it.  NOTHING IS HAPPENING.

Next chapter they finally get to the restaurant, which is fancy so Ever complains about it being fancy.  Ever could complain about the sky being too blue in heaven, I bet.

“So, how’s everything? School? Your friends? All good?”

I love my aunt, don’t get me wrong, and I’m grateful for everything that she’s done. But just because she can handle a twelve man jury doesn’t mean she’s any good at the small talk.

…What was wrong with that?

I mean, it’s not like you’re helping, Ever.  What with your sullen ‘I’ll just sit here in silence and emo about everything’ stance.  Toss the lady a conversational opening if you’re that concerned about the small talk.

Still, I just look at her and say, “Yep, it’s all good.” Okay, maybe I suck at the small talk too.

Maybe?

Then when Sabine tries to keep the conversation going, Ever jumps up and leaves for the bathroom.  I’m thinking Sabine isn’t the one with a problem here.

Out in the hotel lobby (they went to a restaurant in a hotel) she runs into Damen.  Because of course.  After seeing him, she runs into the bathroom.

There, we finally at least get a hint of guilt over leaving Sabine, but she got a psychic mood blast that overwhelmed her.  Jee, that would have been nice to know a few pages ago.

But as much as I’d like to reach out, as much as I’d like to ease her pain, I just can’t. I’m too damaged, too weird. I’m a freak who hears thoughts and talks to the dead. And I can’t risk getting found out, can’t risk getting too close, to anyone, not even her.

So…are you going to give us a reason for that?

Anything?

Anything at all?

Nope?  Well, fuck you, too, book.  This is really starting to annoy me.  I’ve read a long string of paranormal books where stuff like this goes down and there’s no reason given for why it has to be secret.  Not even a bad reason, no, there is literally no reason at all.  Like the mean girls thing, it feels like they’re doing it simply because that’s what you do in this genre, not because it makes any sense.

Mind you, if there’s valid reasons for staying hidden, fine.  If there’s a half-assed reason for it, I can roll along.  But when there’s no reason at all, then Ever’s just stupid.

It’s not like she can’t prove all this.  She can read minds for crying out loud!  Just tell people stuff about themselves.  Sure, they’re going to doubt at first, but that’s why you keep doing it.  Get Riley to help.  We saw her arrange pillows in the last chapter, so presumably she can affect the physical world, that would be pretty easy to prove.

Yes, at first she would be called a charlatan because we have a lot of people now who are so good at reading people that they can pretend to read minds.  But they fall apart under the slightest bit of scrutiny, whereas Ever could be scrutinized all you want because she really is psychic!

She collects herself and goes back to the table so that dinner can be over a paragraph later.  As she’s outside waiting for the valet, Damen comes by to talk to her.  He meets her aunt, they make small talk, then they leave.

WHAT IS THE POINT OF ALL THIS?

Oh, wait, Damen is at the hotel with some gorgeous chick who gets a passing mention as he walks back to her.  Is that the point?  Well, Ever’s been so staunchly “I don’t like this guy” that I’m not sure why the fuck anyone is supposed to care.  Besides, we all know what kind of book this is, don’t try and act like you’re creating credible tension, book.

She wakes up later that need to someone rummaging around in her room and thinks it’s Riley, but when she talks to them they answer back in a not-Riley voice and dun, dun, dun!  That’s the end of the chapter.  Tune in next week to see who it is!  Or just, you know, guess, since it’s not that hard.  Remember, this is recycled Twilight we’re dealing with.