Chapter 49: Pouts and Pending Calls

The walk to the parking lot went smoothly enough, right up until Nicole tried to convince me to give her a ride home, despite her perfectly functional car being parked right in front of us.

"I don't see the problem," she said, looking between me and her Mercedes as though one of us had failed to understand something very simple.

"Your car is right there," I said, pointing at it.

She looked at me for a moment before turning to Chloe, apparently hoping for a more sympathetic audience. Chloe, who had spent the better part of the day making it clear that she supported Nicole's interests whenever they involved annoying me, seemed perfectly happy to let me suffer.

"She has a point," Chloe said, nodding thoughtfully. "I mean, why drive yourself home when you could have my big brother do it for you?"

I narrowed my eyes at her.

"I'll stop talking now," she said.