51 pages • 1-hour read
Addicted to You
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Chapters 16-23Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 16 Summary
Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of substance use, addiction, sexual content, and emotional abuse.
Although Lily no longer has to wonder if Lo’s affection is real or fake, she feels strange asking him for sex and becomes agitated and shy whenever she wants it. Lo starts to pick up on this and admits that he didn’t realize that Lily wanted him to take the lead. Lo does just that, and they have sex in the kitchen.
Chapter 17 Summary
Lo and Lily go out for a date at an expensive restaurant, and it seems like they’re being judged. The server even reminds Lo that he will have to pay for what he orders. Insulted, Lo asks for the most expensive bottle of champagne to go. The bottle costs $4,000, and Lo and Lily take it to a nearby taco stand to eat tacos and drink champagne. Lily wants to go out for Lo’s birthday, which is on Halloween, and Lo agrees, but only if Lily promises to dress up in their comic convention X-Men outfits.
Chapter 18 Summary
Lily gets a tutor for her economics class, which she is struggling in. The tutor, Connor Cobalt, believes that he can help Lily and commits to ensuring that she passes her upcoming exam. They go back to Lily’s apartment to study, but Lily panics when she finds that Lo isn’t home. Connor offers to come with Lily to find Lo, seeing that she won’t learn anything until she knows he is safe. They go to a nearby party called a “highlighter party,” in which everyone wears white shirts and runs around with highlighters, coloring one another. Lily realizes that Lo isn’t there and goes back to the apartment. She finds Lo asleep in his bed, surrounded by bottles of alcohol. Lily’s tutor promises to be back at six o’clock the next morning to help her study.
Chapter 19 Summary
Connor comes over at six o’clock, ready to get started on tutoring. Lily is a little slower to wake up, but she catches Connor’s implication that she isn’t very smart. Lo wakes up and comes into the kitchen to make himself some breakfast, and Connor recognizes him from one of their classes. Lo isn’t up for being social and goes back to his room, and Lily can’t focus on the problems she’s learning because her mind is preoccupied with sex and wondering about Lo’s whereabouts the night before. She tells Connor that she needs to go talk to Lo, and Lo offers to bring Lily some pornography so that she can relieve herself and then focus on tutoring. Lo also admits that he was at a bar and tried to call his mother, but she wanted nothing to do with him and hung up.
Lily recalls how when she was young, she started watching pornography and eventually started using chat rooms. It became something that she thought about all the time and craved. Lily is grateful for Lo’s help, and after having some lunch, she can focus on her work. She comes back feeling guilty and embarrassed, listening as Connor tries to find out why Lo disappeared the night before. Connor invites Lo to join in the study session, and Lo agrees. Lo asks Connor if he knows about any good Halloween parties, and Connor agrees to take Lo and Lily to one. Connor doesn’t charge Lily for tutoring, saying that he would prefer to use it as volunteer hours. When Lily wonders why Connor is being so generous, Connor explains that because Lily and Lo both come from family corporation backgrounds, he feels like they are unlikely to judge him for the same.
Chapter 20 Summary
Lily finds Connor on Google and discovers that his father owns a major corporation, which doesn’t change her opinion of him. Lily calls Rose to tell her about Connor, and Rose remembers him from an academic competition. She didn’t get a good impression of him and found him arrogant, so she tells Lily that she should find another tutor. When Connor calls, Lily hangs up with her sister to answer it. Connor says that he will have his driver pick up Lily and Lo later that night; then, Rose calls Connor.
At home, Lily gets into her costume but finds it uncomfortable and showy. Lo tells her she looks good, but it doesn’t help. He distracts Lily from the embarrassment of her costume by giving her oral sex before the party, and Lily thinks about how sex with Lo is so much deeper and more meaningful than sex with strangers.
Chapter 21 Summary
Connor picks up Lo and Lily in a limousine, and on the way, Lo tells a story about how he and Lily snuck into the soda factory when they were 12 and spiked a batch of soda. Lo’s father, Jonathan, calls to wish him a happy birthday, but Lo isn’t interested in talking. The limo pulls up to a mansion filled with people, and Lo goes looking for the liquor cabinet. Lily feels tempted by the men around her, so she sticks close to Lo. Lo breaks into the liquor cabinet and drinks tens of thousands of dollars’ worth of alcohol, and Lily does little to try and stop him. She finds Connor and warns him that Lo might get them kicked out of the party. She runs into a couple of guys she slept. Soon after, Lily finds Lo outside, surrounded by guys dressed as Ninja Turtles. The person who lives at the mansion, Matt, accuses Lo of stealing $40,000 worth of liquor and demands that he pay for it. Someone hits Lo, and Lily runs for him, but another person grabs her. She offers to pay for the liquor and lies, saying that her checkbook is in her car. A guy whom Lily has never met before, named Ryke Meadows (dressed as Green Arrow), makes up a story about a fight happening inside to distract Matt and his friends, giving Lily, Lo, and Connor time to get away. Matt asks Ryke to go with them to make sure he gets his money.
Chapter 22 Summary
In Connor’s limo, Ryke looks at Lo, who is now passed out and unresponsive. He takes Lo’s flask, which Lily tries and fails to take back. Ryke carries Lo inside, which makes Lily feel strange because she normally does that. Lily gets upset when Ryke calls Lo an “alcoholic”: She doesn’t want to admit it. She tells Ryke and Connor to leave, and they both promise to come back.
Chapter 23 Summary
After the party, Lily reflects on her relationship with Lo and how getting together only seems to have worsened both of their addictions. Even though they don’t have to lie about their relationship status anymore, everything is piling up. The next morning, the doorbell rings, and Connor is there to take Lo to the gym. Lily answers the door, and Lo comes out showered and ready to go. He starts making himself a drink, but Connor suggests that he drink some Gatorade instead, and Lo makes the switch. Lo asks Lily to come to the gym, promising to have sex with her there. Lily knows that he is trying to get out of having to apologize for the night before, but she can’t resist the temptation.
At the gym, Lo puts off sex as long as possible, teasing Lily. She wonders if he’s trying to manage her compulsions. When Lily asks Lo about the party, Lo acts like it wasn’t a big deal and calls it a bad night. Soon, Lily can no longer resist being teased and runs off to the locker room with Lo close behind her.
Chapters 16-23 Analysis
As soon as Lily and Lo decide to commit to an official relationship, the fragile balance of their lives begins to unravel further. While Lily had hoped that formalizing their relationship would eliminate the lies and create stability, the reality is far more complicated. Their addictions continue to dominate their lives, and their mutual dependency only deepens. While Lily no longer has to constantly wonder if Lo’s affection is real or staged, she now has to rely solely on him for her sexual needs and finds the adjustment to be much more difficult than she imagined. While being concerned with the relationship does occasionally distract Lily from her impulses (such as when she and Connor spend the night looking for Lo), it ultimately only makes her rely on Lo more than she should. One positive difference is that Lily is no longer having sex that is meaningless and devoid of connection because she feels that meaning and connection with Lo. Ironically, Lily feels uncomfortable asking Lo for sex, even though it’s something she’s used to doing. Lily’s newfound exclusivity with Lo also challenges her in ways she hadn’t anticipated—sex with Lo carries an emotional weight that she never experienced in her encounters with strangers. This emotional depth brings her addiction into sharper focus, highlighting how it intertwines with her feelings of inadequacy and her complicated self-perception. Despite this, Lo’s teasing and somewhat manipulative behavior persist, such as when he suggests that Lily drink to suppress her sexual compulsions, reinforcing the risks of their dynamic. However, Lily and Lo are still living a lie because of their unwillingness to admit, to each other and to themselves, that they need help. Lily’s sex addiction began when she was a child, and admitting to herself that most of her life has been filled with a toxic obsession is not easy for her.
The introduction of Connor and Ryke into Lily and Lo’s isolated world turns out to be just the positive change and influence they need, although they both find the presence of new friends overwhelming and overbearing at first. Connor, initially a tutor, becomes a voice of reason and stability, demonstrating care through actions like staying up all night to help Lily find Lo and encouraging healthier habits. Although Connor is arrogant, he can be warm and caring, which makes him suited to point out the issues in Lily and Lo’s situation. Lily sees Connor as “the interloper, the guy forcing [them] to confront [their] problems, to truly stare and see them for what they are” (228). Connor’s influence begins to chip away at the denial that has defined Lily and Lo’s relationship, aligning with The Role of Family in Self-Healing, as he serves as a surrogate family member advocating for their well-being.
Similarly, Ryke’s blunt honesty forces both characters to confront truths they’ve long avoided. His observation of Lo’s alcohol use disorder sparks anger and resistance but also plants the seeds for Lo’s eventual breakthrough. Connor takes Lo and Lily to a party in which Lo steals expensive liquor, and this becomes the segue into introducing Ryke into the story. Like Connor, Ryke disapproves of Lo’s drinking and Lily’s position as Lo’s caretaker. He sees that Lo is irresponsible and doesn’t understand how his drinking affects others and makes it his personal duty to step in and try to change it—something nobody has ever done for Lo before. Ryke’s intervention to protect Lily and Lo underscores his growing role as a stabilizing force. The introduction of external accountability through Connor and Ryke creates cracks in the isolated bubble that Lily and Lo have built, forcing them to begin acknowledging the precarious nature of their addictions. Hearing the truth about Lo’s addiction deeply upsets Lily because she knows that their carefully carved world is about to be exposed to the outside and that there will be no turning back. Lily begins to reflect on her situation more objectively, and she realizes that being with Lo doesn’t actually solve their problems: “No one told me you can love someone and still be miserable” (224). This quote captures the duality of their relationship: While they genuinely care for one another, their addictions prevent them from fostering a healthy partnership.
The novel also deepens its exploration of The Truths and Lies of Love in these chapters. While Lily and Lo’s relationship is now official, the foundation of their bond remains shaky. Lily begins to see how their compulsions are intertwined, as Lo’s alcohol use encourages her to retreat further into her own addiction. Their relationship becomes an emotional barrier, hindering their ability to address their issues independently. Lily’s growing awareness of this cycle is evident in her hesitance to accept Ryke and Connor’s support, as she fears the vulnerability required to step outside her comfort zone.
These chapters also emphasize the importance of confronting past trauma and its role in shaping present behavior. Lo’s unresolved pain from his childhood, particularly his strained relationship with his father and the absence of his mother, surfaces as a significant barrier to his recovery. Lily’s own history with sexual compulsion comes to light in moments like her recollection that she attempted to seduce Lo at 14, revealing how her coping mechanisms formed early in life. This intersection of past and present underscores The Precarious Nature of Addiction, as both characters grapple with the ways their histories continue to influence their destructive behaviors.
Ultimately, these chapters set the stage for major shifts in Lily’s and Lo’s lives. The increasing presences of Connor and Ryke, along with the beginning of Lily’s reconnection with her sisters, represents the gradual erosion of their denial. Core ideas of self-healing, familial support, and the need for external accountability come into sharper focus, laying the groundwork for the pivotal moments to come in their journeys toward recovery.
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