Audre & Bash are Just Friends

Audre and Bash stroll hand-in-hand through the streets of Brooklyn and try not to overthink what the kiss they shared means for the future of their friendship. By the time Audre is sober enough to return home, there are only 12 minutes left until her curfew. Bash carries her and sprints to her apartment, arriving just before 11 pm. Shane answers the door, regards the bruised Bash with suspicion, and berates Audre for not checking her phone. 

Eva’s migraine was so severe earlier that night that the paramedics came to their home. When her mother demands to know what happened that night, Audre explains that she had a traumatic experience on prom night and that Bash fought Ellison on her behalf. Eva is angry and alarmed that her daughter didn’t tell her about Ellison sooner, and Audre argues that her mother isn’t “interested in anything other than [her] baby and the wedding and [her] book” (252). She demands to know why Eva assumes the worst whenever she’s unavailable or with a boy. Shane intervenes and talks to Bash as if he were one of his young mentees, and the teenager appreciates having an engaged adult to speak to since his own father “just yelled.