The Greatest of Them All

The Love We Hold, and the Love We Spurn

*Note: I want to give a thanks to Heather, Christy, and Prim for their help with this chapter and all of my chapters! And thank you to my astrology guru, Prim, for really helping me capture Lottie's essence <3

"I'm so sorry to tell you this," Hannah said, her eyes dancing. Lottie irritably squeezed the water out of the purple ends of her hair as she tried to absorb what Hannah was telling her about Gary. They were drying themselves off after their prom pool dive. Hannah had dragged her to the dressing room before everyone else so they could talk.

Lottie was already in a sour mood. A few of the other couples had become official the night before. She thought Gary might pop the question during their speeches, but nothing of the sort had happened. During her own speech, she'd poured her heart out and gotten teary-eyed. His speech was generic. He'd stumbled through some cliches that someone else had clearly helped him write. It didn't even sound like he was talking about her. She'd never felt so disregarded.

Hannah continued. "I went up there to ask him about how things were going with you. See what his intentions were. You know me. I value friendship above all else, and you are my best friend," she said smugly. She laid a hand on Lottie's arm and gave her a squeeze. "But before I could even ask him, his hands were all over me!" A pleased little smirk played across her lips. "I swear, I didn't kiss him or anything." She reiterated again, sending a shot of anxiety through Lottie. She didn't want to believe any of this. She'd invested too much to get here.

"What did you do?" Lottie asked, trying to infuse her tone with interest more than apprehension. Maybe if she acted like it wasn't a big deal, it wouldn't be.

"Well, I was about to push him away, of course!"

"About to?"

"Well, I was about to when..." Hannah looked to the side, as if she were trying to figure out the best way to say something. "We saw Sadie and Bobby...doing some behind-closed-doors things, if you catch my meaning." Normally Lottie enjoyed Hannah's flowery way of describing things, but suddenly it annoyed her, like little jabs Hannah was using to prod a reaction out of her. "And Gary was quite upset at the sight. He almost cried."

"Oh..." was all Lottie could muster. Dread lurched in her stomach and an ache pressed around her eyes. She held back her tears, sensing that Hannah would derive some pleasure from her pain. Lottie thought that Hannah would be the type of friend to feel the pain along with her, to cry with her, stick by her side. But Lottie was a true Scorpio, and her natural intuition allowed her to spot Hannah's real motives behind the facade of her caring friend persona. Hopefully Hannah was a better writer than actress. It wasn't that Hannah was oblivious to her feelings. It's just that her emotions were currency, and Hannah was ready to stuff her pockets full.

It's not that she wasn't aware that Gary had some residual feelings for Sadie. She may be a fool for Gary, but she wasn't dumb. He just hadn't broken free of society's conventional expectations yet, and Sadie represented that to him. Lottie was the wild, magical witch. He thought he was supposed to be with the boring princess that everyone loved, despite what he really wanted. It was in his Taurus nature to seek the safe option, but Lottie knew she could offer a deeper connection. Something sensual and mystical.

Freeing yourself from those chains can be challenging, so Lottie had forgiven him for his emotional reaction the night they had finally coupled up. Besides, since then he'd been quite sweet, and they'd gone at it like root rats. Not that they weren't doing that before. But it was different now. Not as naughty. More like making love than fucking.

In fact, they had slept together the night after their final date. So it was a dagger to the heart that he had snuck away immediately afterwards to grope Hannah. Just like he used to sneak away from Sadie to be with her.