"Yes, right," Claire said, punctuating the declaration with a fist punch to her own leg. "You are totally hotter. Hotter than coma girl, hotter than her original body. And you're not a skanky ass smoke cloud either, which is about as far from hot as you can get." What were best girl friends for if not to prop up battered egos and insult the other 'woman'?
The statements about drugs took a little longer to ponder, as Faith was saying things that Claire could do nothing but agree with. Not knowing how long Sam had been doing this, there was no way to draw a line in the sand to say that one thing had been sober Sam and another thing had been strung out Sam.
And did that part entirely matter? That meant putting all the blame on Ruby's blood, but Sam... Sam had made those choices. He'd wanted it, he hadn't been kidnapped and force-fed it, which meant it wasn't as simple as just drying him out.
But he'd been different, once. "It wasn't all a lie," she finally said quietly. "He was your best friend before the blood, he loved you like one before the blood."
It wasn't the same, but it was all Claire had left to offer, that there had been a point once where Sam had felt and said things and meant them, completely soberly.
"He could come out of this. He doesn't deserve to get anyone back after what he did, but he could still come out of this."