A Not So Meet Cute

Content Warning: This section of the guide contains discussion of bullying, cursing, and sexual content.

“I’ve known Angela since middle school. We’ve had one of those on-again, off-again friendships, me being the victim of the intermittent camaraderie. I was her main squeeze one day, the next it was Blaire—who works in finance, or Lauren—who works over in sales, and then the friendship would come back to me. We’re constantly interchangeable. Who’s the bestie this week? I’d always wonder, and in some sick, demented way, I’d have a hiccup of excitement when the bestie card landed on me.”

Lottie’s relationship with Angela is a major motivation for her actions in the novel. She has been locked in a toxic cycle with her since they met in school. Angela is unreliable and unempathetic, willing to pick up and discard people at a whim. Lottie, due to her low-income upbringing, endured this for many years, enjoying the perks of having a much wealthier friend. She also struggles with low self-esteem and values the validation that winning over someone as capricious as Angela offers her, if only for a short time. Lastly, she is conflict-averse and therefore can’t bring herself to break the cycle.

“There’s a fat chance in hell that our yard would ever be noticed. The beautification committee is made up of a bunch of rich snobs who would never look across the street.”“There’s a fat chance in hell that our yard would ever be noticed. The beautification committee is made up of a bunch of rich snobs who would never look across the street.”

Lottie’s tone conveys her bitterness against upper-class people, a trait that exists as a result of the people she’s been around. She was teased in school for being in a lower socioeconomic class than many of her classmates, and even Angela’s friendship became more unpleasant as they grew up, causing Lottie to become embittered against anyone wealthy. Here, she recognizes that her mother’s boyfriend, Jeff, works hard, but that his efforts won’t be recognized because he doesn’t have the resources that other people in their neighborhood have.