And this was yet another reason why it sucked to be in separate houses. When they weren't together, it was more difficult to put up a united front. Marek had been trying for that with his house, or at least his year, to keep them all looking out for each other as well as whoever else they cared about, since they were around each other more often than say, him and Melinda.
The other side, he saw now, was that the distance between them could potentially be used in their favor. He didn't like it, but he could see the logic. He was unable to be entirely logical about this, however. It would put an enormous amount of extra stress on him to pretend that he was angry at Melinda, that she didn't matter. So far he'd managed not to have to put up much of a front at all, with anyone, and he was not at all sure that he could.
"No," he said, before he could stop himself. "Anything we do to try to fool them will just make it worse when they find out. And there's a very good chance they will." Mostly because he'd crack. He'd accidentally look at Melinda with concern, and they'd know it wasn't the truth.