Free Break Me by Evelyn Glass

started to throb. Just let it go to voicemail , she thought. You don’t have to answer . But not answering was like quitting. It wasn’t what she did.
     
    She was proud of her voice, which barely shook as she swiped to answer and lifted the phone to her ear. “Hello?”
     
    “Zoey?”
     
    Her breath let out in a little whoosh. “Claire?”
     
    “Hi!” The girl’s voice was cheerful and happy, everything Zoey couldn’t find herself in that moment, but the effervescence was contagious. “So, for the party Friday.”
     
    Zoey took a deep breath and tried not to let it sound like a sigh. “About that, Claire—I have a lot of work to get done—”
     
    “Nope. Nuh-uh. Absolutely not. Don’t even try. Now, Olivia made the whole thing black tie—god knows why, and if she invited some camera person to do a profile of the happy-mourning Blankenship clan I will throw the most epic of temper tantrums—and I wasn’t sure if you’d have something you’d be comfortable wearing to an event like that.”
     
    She seized on the out. “I really don’t, Claire. Maybe we can go to brunch the morning after?” That had sounded better in her head.
     
    The victory in Claire’s voice surprised her. “I thought you’d say that. Lucky you, I have the perfect solution. We’re going shopping.”
     
    Zoey took a moment to consider. She could tell Claire that she wasn’t coming to the party, get herself off the phone, and then call on Saturday morning to invite her out, now that she had the girl’s phone number. It would satisfy her pride, and it would make her feel miserable. Or she could admit that she wanted to go to the party, avoid Alex, and keep this smart girl in her life. “Doesn’t your brother have you on lockdown?”
     
    Claire scoffed. “Please. We have the Internet at our disposal.”
     
    Which began two hours of excruciating dress shopping, as Claire switched to video chat, started sending links to her email address, and eliminated the vast majority of the clothing Zoey would have chosen for herself based on esoteric criteria about hemlines and waist cuts that Zoey found herself just kind of chuckling at. The websites they were shopping at were the sorts where prices weren’t listed, which made her feel just a little dizzy, but when she tried to bring it up, she could hear Claire’s smile. “Mother dearest gave me a credit card. Please believe how much I will enjoy using it to buy this for you. Plus, I still need something for myself. You’re helping me, too. When she sees the bill, she won’t freak out anywhere near as much if I say I bought two dresses.”
     
    The logic was strange and unfathomable, but she found herself smiling. When the call ended, Claire assured her that if she got the apartment half an hour early, a gorgeous sheath dress with a neckline that made her think of Audrey Hepburn in a shade of wine that had made her oooh, would be ready and waiting. “Get here an hour early, and I’ll help with your makeup,” Claire had offered.
     
    So this was what it was like having a sister. She smiled to herself and told Claire that she would do her best.
     
    She hadn’t done more than put her phone down and flip her laptop open again before she heard the buzz of an incoming text. She rolled her eyes and laughed, expecting another comment from Claire, but the message she saw squeezed her heart.
     
    Meeting was a bust. I have pizza and beer. Can I come up?
     
    She stared at the text and tried to decide. Could she invite Alex in? Could she control herself enough to have a conversation, set some rules, figure out how things needed to go from here? It seemed possible. Likely? Maybe not. But she wanted him. She wanted him very much. Sure , she sent back. I’ll be right down.

 
    CHAPTER ELEVEN
     
    Alex Blankenship stood in her living room, carrying a take-out box from the pizza dive on the corner, and holding a six pack of a microbrewed IPA that had probably cost three times what the