Boy Window Chapter 8: Recycle, Reduce, Reuse

Last time in Boy Window...We got actual character development. No, it surprised me too. We also got casual misandry, but at this point, with all the slut shaming, we're better off calling it misanthropy. But character development!

Chapter 8

“I woke to the sound of my phone alarm.”

I'm starting to wonder how many of these chapters start out like this. So far, this is the forth time her phone waking her up starts a chapter, but fifth time this happens in general.

Amber smooches a sleeping Liam and is surprised when he gets a hard on.

“OK, I know I'm new to all this, but this boy seems to lust after me a lot!”

We know. We knew that the last five times you pointed it out. He wants to have the sex. We get. Can we move on?

Make outs happen. Man, I type that a lot. Amber tries to tell him that he needs to leave. They exchange looks of repressed longing, which I imagine look like this.

“Nobody does stares of repressed British longing like Colin Firth” Jill Bearup

“I'd never wanted to even kiss anyone before, let alone the thoughts that were starting to form in my head right now.”

So, Amber is having a “what is this strange feeling in my pants” moment. She reluctantly discusses said feelings with Liam and in one page she manages to address what all of chapter 6 could not.

“'It scares me,' I admitted, feeling stupid and childlike.”

Their exchange here convinces me that Chapter 6 was pointless. All the “important” or “plot relevant” details could have been moved elsewhere and the five pages of dialogue dancing around her insecurities and fears could have been condensed to this moment and it would have been far more effective. As it stands, this feels mildly redundant but better written than when it was talked about earlier.

Liam leaves, they text, the rest of the house wakes up. Jake asks Amber if she has talked to Kate about not touching without consent.

“'...you should be flattered that she likes you, though maybe she'll move onto Liam today.'”

You know I was beginning to think I would never have to use that gif again. I was wrong. Unwanted affection being forced on someone is never flattering no matter who is giving it or who is receiving it.

Liam says he is taken. Jake is confused by Liam not being a douchebag, but proceeds to be a big enough douchebag for both of them.

“'Crazy about her? As in, you're not going to mess her around? She must be a really great screw,' Jake said, smirking and slapping him on the back proudly.”

Perun's bushy beard, Jake you're making defending you uncomfortable when you say things like this. You still don't deserve to be touched against your will though.

Amber is worried that Liam is going to tell Jake. He doesn't. Jake looks on with childlike horror when Liam confesses that his mysterious secret girlfriend doesn't believe in premarital sex. And Liam just laughs asking Amber to tell Kate that he is taken.

“'No way. I give it a week and then Liam will be back to his old self, sleeping with anything that moves'”

You know, for being the two closest people to him, Liam has shitty friends. I know why I question his moral fortitude, but this is his best friend we're talking about. Even if my bestie had all the sex, I would support them if they decided monogamy was for them. It's what you do when you have friends.

Amber thinks for the sixth time that she hopes that Liam won't break her heart. I know that she is emotionally fragile, but this is getting annoying. Liam tells her he won't and we get a page break.

The chapter resumes with Kate and Amber choosing what they will do. Kate says bowling, including Jake, Liam, and two of their other friends. Amber does not care for the idea but agrees. Kate “flirts” with Jake and Liam. I put quotes because it stopped being flirting a few chapters ago and has moved on to propositioning. Finally, Amber puts a stop to this

“'Kate, will you leave them alone? I don't want my slut of a brother, and his reformed slut of a best friend coming if I have to watch you throw yourself at them all day.'”

Not quiet what Kate needs to hear but I will take it.

Jake asks Liam to bring his mystery girlfriend challenging him in a way that I'm not entirely sure men do.

“'Or are you afraid that she'll take one look at me and think she's made a mistake and dump your ass for an up-grade.'”

Considering we know the girlfriend is actually Amber, this is either Game of Thrones-esque foreshadowing or intended to be funny. It's sad that I don't know which.

Liam insists that his lady would not even look at Jake. Kate figures out the world most obvious mystery and demands Amber attend her in the bedroom. They dish, Amber finds out that Liam beat up Trent (assailant number 2, or was it three? Do we count the father and Liam? Are the two guys from the beginning two separate attackers or do they represent one attacker? It is very sad that we are 89 pages in and Amber has had anywhere between 3 and 6 attackers depending on how you number them).

“I gasped, a little shocked”

What? Oh that's right, where were we?

“'He beat up Jessica's brother?' I remembered him pinning him against the wall, but then I ran off to be sick.”

What did you think would happen? A square dance?

Kate gives the low down of the epic battle between – nah I'm just playing with you. Liam punched him a few times and “went home”. Now Kate is speculating about acrobatic monkey sex. Amber denies monkey sex and, once again, we get the same list of Amber's insecurities.

“She grabbed me into a hug, which immediately made the hair on the back of my neck stand up and my stomach squirm uncomfortably.”

The more her “symptoms” manifest the more confused I get. Something as innocuous, non-threatening and non-sexual as a hug sets her off, but she can do lifts during her dance class and be fine. Amber is aware that whoever is her base and spotting her probably has their hands all over her. First, she says that Liam is exempt from the no touching allowed rule, but then we have realistic moments when he is not. Just make up your mind. Make no mistake, one thing can trigger an episode one time and not another, but her insistence that it is “every time” creates dissonance between what the narrator is saying and what is being shown. If this is not Moseley trying to create an unreliable narrator, then it is bad writing.

Kate tries to make Amber feel better about Liam saying he hasn't technically cheated on anyone before. Amber does not want to worry about it anymore, wanting to take it one day at a time. Then the chapter closes out on the classy line

“'Damn it! Lucky bitch!' she muttered quietly, making me chuckle.”

This chapter went by pretty fast. This is mostly because it is largely a recap of what we already have seen/heard/know. Some of those repetitive moment are better written than before but it is a little trying to hear the same conversation again and again.