Last time in Boy Window... DBD was
doing the creep, and we find out that he is beating his new family
(to no one's surprise). Jake, Liam, and Johnny make a plan to
liberate Johnny's family without telling Amber. Jake cries in Liam's
arms and slash fic is demanded.
Chapter 20
We are back in Amber's POV
and it is a week later. The guys are being suspicious and sneaky.
“They were always off
talking in hushed whispers, and would stop whenever I went near
them.”
Amber mildly suspects they
are talking about her
“I
didn't want to talk about that man ever again, so if they were to
talk about me and leave me out of it, then good.”
What? What does talking
about Amber have to do with talking about DBD? It makes sense for her
insecurities to make her thinking they are talking about her, and it
makes even more sense that she assumes that they are talking about
what happened to her, but nothing in the paragraphs references DBD.
The phrase “that man” is the only indication that DBD still
narratively exists. It just sounds odd.
It's friday morning, Liam is
getting out of bed first. They banter. Liam says he has things to do,
but in the most “I'm obviously lying” way since Jan Brady.
Naturally, Amber jumps to
“He's cheating on
me...”
You know what would have
made this tense, interesting, and make me worry about the state of
their relationship? If we didn't get Liam's side of the conversation
in the last chapter. Moseley spent so much of the first half of this
book asserting how little faith Amber has in Liam. At the time, it
seemed dumb because he is stupidly smitten with Amber (for no
reason). By not giving away in the last chapter that is all a secret
plan to save Johnny's family, there would have been some stakes.
There would have been some pay off for all that “will he break my
heart” business. It would cement the idea in Amber's and the
audiences mind that Liam is not shitty by play with our expectations.
But I guess we are not allowed to think poorly of Liam (since his
earlier manic sexually aggressive behavior is supposed to be
excusable), not even for a few chapters.
And literally, a paragraph
and a sentence later
“I trusted him. I was
sure that he wouldn't cheat on me – that had just been a stupid
spur of the moment thought.”
This sentence is either
Amber lying to herself, or Moseley dismissing logic again, or the
writing is just bad. What is Amber's motivation and reasons as a
character for thinking that Liam might be cheating? Because there has
to be a reason for it. Strong characters are built on motivation. You
know when an actor or director asks “What's my motivation?” that
is a serious question. So why write that sentence and then this one,
if Amber doesn't actually think that Liam is cheating? What purpose
does this serve?
Smooches and sweet nothings
happen, then Liam leaves. Amber finds out that Jake is all
Amber believes him and a
random idiot takes her to school. As it turns out, Johnny is
mysteriously sick too. Again, this would actually be surprising and
curious if we didn't know they were planning something.
“School passed
unbelievably slowly because I didn't have seeing Liam at lunchtime to
look forward to.”
It's going to suck for them
when they get jobs. Or when Liam goes to college. Or if/when Liam
becomes a pro-hockey player and has away games.
“My stomach felt
queasy, and I couldn't even force anything down for lunch.
Great, now I'm getting
sick!”
Either this is some placebo
thing or I'm going to get very angry very soon.
Kate takes Amber home and
while there she runs into the boys, Ruby and the baby.
“What the heck are they
doing here? Wait, I thought Kate said Johnny was sick. He doesn't
look sick.”
Why is Amber the dumbest
person around? Why is she the main character and not a box of dull
pencils? They would be more interesting.
They tell Amber that DBD is
up to old tricks and her first response is
“He'd been getting
abused and he didn't tell me? I could feel myself getting angry with
him.”
Says the girl who didn't
want to tell him about her own abuse even though there was the strong
possibility that DBD was beating him.
Amber stops herself from
yelling at him when she sees that he is distraught. I'm still pissed
because she is hypocritical and not wanting to kick someone when
their down doesn't make you a good person (it only makes you not a
bad one). Instead, she hugs him and says
“'You could have talked
to me'”
Way to rock the guilt trip
Amber.
Amber finds out what we
already know, that they have been planning the escape all week.
Everyone says that Amber doesn't look well and the chapter ends with
“Damn, I'm so hot!
My lips and fingers were tingling and I started to feel a little
dizzy.”
And I think she passed out.
Honestly, I don't know because it just ends there.
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