Chapter 13 #2
Liv: The paragraph deserved consequences.
Halston: The paragraph needed guidance.
Liv: You sound like a man who has never fought with a topic sentence at two in the morning.
Halston: I have fought with many topic sentences. I simply win.
Liv: There it is.
Halston: You invited expertise.
Liv: I invited help, not jurisprudential arrogance.
Halston: My apologies. I’ll be humble next time.
Liv: That seems unlikely.
Halston: Statistically, yes.
Liv: I changed intent to effect.
Halston: And?
Liv: It works.
Halston: Of course it does.
Liv: I am going to pretend I arrived there independently.
Halston: I support this lie.
Liv: How generous.
Halston: I am very generous with lies that improve prose.
Liv: Dangerous thing to say to an art history student.
Halston: I live dangerously.
Liv: You color-code your case briefs.
Halston: Dangerously.
Liv: Creed needs to hear about this.
Halston: Creed doesn't need to hear that I improved your paragraph.
Liv: Creed absolutely needs to hear that you improved my paragraph.
Halston: Why?
Liv: Because he’ll say “good” in that deeply annoying calm way and then ask if I ate dinner.
Halston: Have you eaten dinner?
Liv: Don’t start.
Halston: Liv.
Liv: I had coffee.
Halston: That is not dinner.
Liv: It was emotionally dinner.
Halston: I’m ordering you food.
Liv: You don’t know where I am.
Halston: Library. North reading room. Table by the window.
Liv: That is unsettling.
Halston: You sent a photograph twenty minutes ago.
Liv: Fine. Less unsettling. Still bossy.
Halston: Accurate.
Liv: Creed is also bossy.
Halston: Creed is practical.
Liv: You are both bossy.
Halston: We are attentive in different registers.
Liv: That is the most Halston sentence ever written.
Halston: Thank you.
Liv: It was not praise.
Halston: I’m choosing to receive it as such.
Liv: Of course you are.
Halston: Food will arrive in twenty-five minutes. Finish the paragraph before then.
Liv: Are you assigning me deadlines now?
Halston: Yes.
Liv: I should object.
Halston: You won’t.
Liv: I might.
Halston: Liv.
Liv: Fine.
Halston: Good girl.
Liv: Absolutely not.
Halston: Too much?
Liv: No.
Liv: I mean, yes.
Liv: I mean, I need to finish this paragraph and pretend that it did not do anything to my nervous system.
Halston: Finish the paragraph.
Liv: You’re impossible.
Halston: And useful.
Liv: Unfortunately.
Halston: How was the paper?
Liv: A-
Creed: That sounds good.
Liv: It is good.
Halston: It would have been an A if you had taken my edits on the second paragraph.
Liv: Absolutely not.
Creed: Congratulations, baby.
Liv: Thank you. See? Proper support.
Halston: I want my percentage.
Liv: You get nothing. The grade is mine, and the credit is mine, and you are merely my consultant.
Creed: Consultant?
Halston: Apparently.
Creed: Did the consultant get paid?
Halston: I am negotiating terms.
Liv: You are not.
Halston: Acknowledged. Send me wine next time.
Liv: Done.
Creed: Wine for an A-?
Liv: Wine for academic triumph.
Halston: And legal-adjacent consulting.
Creed: I provided moral support during the crisis.
Liv: You told me to eat dinner.
Creed: Exactly. Essential support.
Halston: Annoyingly, he has a point.
Liv: Don’t encourage him.
Creed: Too late. I feel encouraged.
Halston: That was unwise of me.
Liv: Both of you are impossible.
Creed: And yet, A-
Halston: Because she listened to me.
Creed: And ate because of me.
Liv: I regret informing either of you about my grade.
Creed: No, you don’t.
Halston: She doesn’t.
Liv: I hate when you agree.
Creed: You love it when we agree.
Liv: That is not evidence-based.
Halston: It is observable.
Liv: I am leaving this conversation.
Creed: No, you’re not.
Halston: She is absolutely not.
Liv: I hate that I like you both.
Creed: No, you don’t.
Halston: No, she doesn't.
Liv: I’m muting this chat.
Creed: See you tonight, baby.
Halston: See you tonight, Liv.
Liv: Fine. Tonight.
Halston: I have a proposal.
Liv: Indecent?
Creed: We’re not there yet. Though the last time he kissed you was . . . very hot.
Liv: We’re not talking about that.
Halston: We could, but after my proposal.
Creed: Efficient.
Liv: Horrifyingly efficient.
Halston: Thank you.
Liv: Not praise.
Halston: Accepted anyway.
Creed: What is it?
Halston: You two move temporarily to my place. I’m closer to the arena—and the training facilities. Plus, Liv won’t be alone all day.
Liv: That’s not a proposal. That’s relocation with legal confidence.
Creed: I’m listening.
Liv: Of course you are. It involves logistics and me being supervised.
Creed: Supported.
Halston: Protected.
Liv: Imprisoned by attractive men with calendars.
Halston: Temporarily housed.
Creed: Fed.
Liv: That part has merit.
Halston: My place has more space than your apartments combined. You can work in the library. Creed can get to practice faster. I can study without wondering whether either of you remembered to eat.
Liv: I’m heading to Greenwich with the fam for the holidays.
Halston: I was talking after the holidays. Even when I don’t want to do it, I have to travel to British Columbia, where we’ll be spending the Saint Claire Christmas.
Creed: Saint Claire Christmas sounds like there will be assigned seating and emotional frostbite.
Liv: And napkin rings with generational trauma.
Halston: There will be assigned seating.
Liv: Oh no.
Creed: The napkin rings?
Halston: Probably silver.
Liv: I was joking.
Halston: I was not.
Creed: Have fun, watch my games. Let me know what we decide about the temporary move come January.
Liv: Where are you spending the holidays, Creed?
Creed: I . . . I haven’t checked the family chat. I’m sure it’ll be close by since Vesper is studying at NYU and Luther is in Boston.
Halston: Wow, that’s well organized.
Liv: Yeah, nothing says we love Christmas like last-minute plans.
Creed: It works for us.
Liv: Does it?
Creed: Mostly.
Halston: That is a careful answer.
Creed: It is a true answer. We’re not formal about it. Mom decides where, and everyone shows up.
Liv: That sounds nice.
Creed: It is. Unless you have to read the chat.
Liv: Is it bad?
Creed: Well, Vesper sent a poll. Luther responded with a picture of a raccoon. My father asked whether the raccoon was coming. Mom asked if the raccoon has been vaccinated.
Liv: I love them.
Halston: I have several questions.
Creed: My mother says Christmas Eve at Juniper Ridge if the weather cooperates. Christmas Day in the city, if it doesn’t.
Liv: That is both a plan and not a plan.
Creed: Exactly.
Halston: Fascinating.
Liv: You sound like you’re studying a foreign government.
Halston: I am.
Creed: You’d like them.
Halston: Would I?
Creed: My mother would interrogate you politely. My father would feed you. Luther would decide you’re secretly funny. Vesper would know too much in ten minutes.
Halston: I’m not secretly funny.
Liv: You absolutely are.
Halston: I regret this chat.
Liv: You started it with a proposal.
Creed: An indecent one, apparently.
Halston: The proposal stands. January, you move in, temporarily. No pressure.
Liv: You said no pressure like a man applying pressure in a tailored coat.
Creed: He does do that.
Halston: I want both of you close. That is the whole proposal. I can dress it in logistics if that makes it easier. Arena, training facility, library, food, transportation. All true. But not the whole truth.
Liv: What is the whole truth?
Halston: I sleep better when I know where you are. Both of you.
Creed: Fuck.
Liv: That was unfair.
Creed: January, then. We talk about it after the holidays.
Liv: We talk.
Halston: We talk.
Liv: For the record, I still think “move into my place temporarily” is a wild thing to drop into a group chat.
Creed: It was very Saint Claire.
Halston: It was practical.
Liv: It was a love confession wearing a floor plan.
Creed: That’s exactly what it was.
Halston: I’m leaving this conversation.
Liv: No, you’re not.
Creed: He’s not.
Halston: I'm not.