>>88918027I can imagine for the entire year leading up to that night, that he's been rehearsing that entire spiel for months while sitting alone in bed trying to sleep at night. Every time thinking he'll finally tell Lucy once-and-for-all how he really feels but then the feeling passes the next day and he goes back being passive-aggressive. Telling himself it's not fucking worth it.
Then every time she does something to piss him off, he's back in bed that night rehearsing again and again. Hurt turning to resentment, resentment turning to anger, anger turning to hate, and more & more he feels like nobody could understand, and that he's alone in this. But every morning, it subsides and he just buries it and goes on with the day pretending everything will blow over.
Lucy had no idea how many months worth of tear-filled preparation Mike had for that moment when she pushed him about Sandy's text message. It didn't matter that Lucy was "Happy for him", it didn't matter that they spent that last hour playing video games and reminiscing about old times. He was already a volcano ready to blow and she pushed a button that she didn't know was there and once he started, there was no going back.
I know Mike had a right to his feelings but holy shit, that entire chapter is just devastating from Lucy's perspective. She spent months trying to repair a relationship that was unsalvageable and she was on the verge of giving up, but for the first time in ages it seemed like they were getting along again. There was suddenly a glimmer of hope. She could finally let her guard down only to get emotionally curb-stomped.
It's hard to take any sides there. Mike was in tears during the whole thing, but then he just drops it like a hot potato when he mom comes home and he has to go tell her the news about Sandy. Leaving Lucy standing there in a catatonic state. Then comes back like nothing happened and expects to get back to working on the essay.
