And that did it. He shoved Elly to the side and started to stalk toward me. But Elly surprised us both when she kneed him in the groin, making him fall to the ground as he cried out in pain. She grabbed the pepper spray from my hand and walked over to him. With tears running down her face, she said, “We’re over, you asshole. That’s the last time you put a hand on me.” And then she proceeded to use my pepper spray on him. We left him howling in pain as we walked back to Pierre’s apartment.

Pierre called the cops as soon as we explained what had happened. Holding a bag of frozen peas on her eyebrow, Elly turned to look at me and nudged me on the shoulder. “Thank you. I—”

“You don’t have to explain yourself. And don’t even think about it.”

She was quiet for a moment, staring at the floor, when she broke the silence. “That was really dumb, you know?” she said warmly.

My eyes zoomed in on her split lip before meeting her gaze. “I know, but it’s the least I could do.”

“I don’t want to sound ungrateful because I’m so lucky that you were there …” She closed her eyes momentarily and sighed. “I-I don’t know what would’ve happened if you hadn’t, but why didn’t you just go get Pierre? I didn’t take you for the kind of person to—”

“To go out of my way to help others?”

Blushing shamefully, I saw color return to her pale face, accentuating the red of her lips. “Yeah …”

“I’m not,” I said, shrugging carelessly, uncomfortable by the heart to heart that I felt coming.

She stared at me for a moment too long, almost as if she were seeing me for the first time. I fidgeted under her penetrating gaze because maybe she was seeing through me after all. “Actually, I was wrong. You are the kind of person to go out of your way to help others, you just like to pretend you’re a—”

“Cold-hearted, self-serving bitch?”

“I wasn’t going to put it so bluntly, but yeah … that.”

“I am all those things, Elly, and much more. Don’t be fooled by what I did. Anyone would’ve done it.”

She shook her head as her smile widened. “Keep telling yourself that, but you won’t make me change my mind. You’re a good person, Blaire, even if it pains you to admit it.”

“Listen, what happened doesn’t make us friends.”

“Yes, it does.”

“No, it doesn’t. I like to be alone. I don’t do girlfriends and shit like that.”

“Thank you, Blaire.”

“Don’t think about it. I did what anyone in my position would have.”

“That’s a lie and you know it.”

And thus, our friendship was born.

I find Elly and her date admiring a very famous painting of a landscape hung above the fireplace in the formal living room. I’m not surprised because I did the same thing when I first saw it and immediately recognized the artist’s timeless work.

I stop and admire the bold colors jumping out of the canvas once again. “Insane, huh?”

Elly turns to look at me, and the expression on her face makes me want to laugh. It’s hard to impress my best friend, and I think Lawrence just managed to do so. Really, it’s so typical of him and so unfair.

“Please tell me that it isn’t real, Blaire,” Elly says, awe and disbelief warring in her voice. But she interrupts me before I have a chance to reply. “Seriously? The dude owns a fucking Monet?” She pauses, shaking her head. “I can’t believe it.”

My gaze lands momentarily on the beautiful man standing next to her, before bouncing back to a flabbergasted Elly. He seems bemused by her reaction as well. “Believe it, my friend, because he does. He’s what you’d call a collector.”