Audre & Bash are Just Friends

The narrative shifts to Bash’s perspective. The teenager is exhausted after spending the morning surfing at Rockaway Beach in Queens, which is far more unpredictable than the California beaches he’s accustomed to. He used to have to sneak out to surf because his father disapproved of the sport. Milton is California University’s director of track and field. Bash reflects on how his father heaped pressure on him his entire life but disowned him in a heartbeat. His father told him, “I want you out of the house. You’ve got till tomorrow. After that, you’re no longer my son […] And you know why” (82).

Since moving to New York, Bash has sought out a series of distractions to keep himself from dwelling on his shattered dreams of Olympic greatness and his disownment. His decision to become Audre’s fun consultant is the latest of these distractions. He considers her “[u]psettingly pretty” and “extremely out of his league” (83). Bash longs to tell Audre that he understands what it’s like to be an overachiever with an extremely regimented life, but he tries to subdue his feelings for her.

Back in California, Bash had to conceal his passion for tattoo design from his father, who discouraged his love of art. He improved his skills by secretly practicing on fruit with a secondhand tattoo gun. Now he runs a hidden tattoo parlor in the stockroom of his mother’s gift shop. Bash receives a call from Mack Rhodes, the owner of Fifth Angel Ink Designs in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. Bash sent his best designs to Rhodes and 24 other business owners he deeply respects in the hope of pursuing his dream job as a tattoo artist. At 17, Bash is too young to have his official license, but Mack invites him to come to South Carolina and do some test art after he turns 18 in August.

The narrative moves back to Audre. The days seem to drag as she awaits her Friday meeting with Bash with a mixture of excitement and nervousness. She worries that he might be dating Clio and doesn’t want the other girl to think that Audre’s trying to take her boyfriend. On Thursday, Bash texts Audre to see if she can meet him at noon the next day and tells her to bring an open mind.

Later that day, Eva mentions that she is finding it difficult to revisit aspects of her childhood in her new book. Audre has many questions about her mother’s youth and Grandma Lizette, a businesswoman who used to be a model and pageant queen, but she restrains herself. Thinking about her grandmother reminds her of the family’s motto. The Mercy women’s exalted legacy makes Audre reluctant to open up about her panic attack on prom night, so she evades her mother’s questions about Ellison. Similarly, Eva dodges Audre’s questions about the men in Grandma Lizette’s life. Audre feels a combination of stress, exhaustion, and anger when her mother says that Audre is “the one thing in [her] life” that she doesn’t have to worry about because she wishes Eva showed more care and concern for her (100). She tells Eva that she’s spending Friday afternoon with a boy but will be home in time to watch Alice in the evening. When Eva asks if the boy’s parents will be present, Audre bristles at being treated like a child and ends the conversation.

As Audre walks to Just Because on Friday, she tries to subdue her attraction to Bash by reminding herself that he might be dating Clio. The teenagers greet each other with an awkward hug, and Bash notices Audre’s nerves. The first Experience Challenge on Audre’s list is to do a risky physical activity, so he proposes that they go surfing. Their conversation turns to sports, and he shares that his father qualified for Jamaica’s Olympic track team but was unable to compete due to an injury.

At Rockaway Beach, Audre lingers on the shore and watches Bash surf. When he goes underwater and doesn’t resurface, she fears that he’s drowning. She hurries into the ocean, locates him on the seafloor, and tugs him towards the surface. Bash panics for Audre’s safety and carries her ashore. She explains that she was rescuing him, and he answers, “I don’t need rescuing. I never need rescuing” (113). He apologizes for not warning her that he’s been training to hold his breath underwater. Audre and Bash both sense a romantic spark between them, although she tries to dismiss this as adrenaline. Sensing the onset of a panic attack, she runs from the beach.

The narrative shifts to Reshma. Less than two weeks into her summer in Argentina, her parents sent her back home because she had a brief relationship with a 20-year-old assistant at their recording studio. The couple was discovered when Reshma convinced the assistant to break into the studio and accidentally destroyed thousands of dollars in equipment. Reshma’s parents have largely ignored her since she stopped being “the little brown cutie-pie they could flaunt on red carpets” (117). In an attempt to cheer herself up, she goes to Prospect Park, where she is chased by a swan. She’s saved by Clio, who volunteers at the park. Reshma is stunned by her rescuer’s beauty and makes Clio laugh by asking if she’s a princess.

The narrative moves back to Audre. She runs along the boardwalk and collapses on a bench in tears. Bash follows her and gently encourages her to open up about what happened. She shares that she sometimes has panic attacks, and he mentions that he knew someone in California who did, too. Clio calls Bash repeatedly, but he doesn’t answer. Audre asks if Clio is his girlfriend, and she finds it suspicious when he says that Clio’s just “an acquaintance.”

Bash offers to take Audre back home. As they walk, Audre opens up about her belief that her mother has replaced her with Alice and the panic attack she had before she gave a speech at the awards ceremony. Bash shares that his mother didn’t challenge his father for custody and that he’s been a famous track star since he was in middle school. 

When Clio calls again, Audre brings up the rumors about Bash and girls. He explains that he didn’t have sex with the girl who had the pregnancy scare but helped when she said she needed Plan B but was afraid to buy it herself. Audre tells the boy that he’s “guilty of being too nice” (130). Bash encourages Audre to recite the speech that she wrote for the awards ceremony, and he bursts into applause when she finishes. As the teens promise to keep the secrets they shared that day, they sense that a bond of friendship has been forged between them. Audre’s bliss is broken when she returns home and discovers that her mother has been anxiously awaiting her return. The chapter ends with the fifth rule in Audre’s self-help book, which advises the reader to wear nude-colored underwear if they plan to swim in a light dress.

Audre left her phone on the beach, so she didn’t realize that her mother has been calling her for hours. Eva is furious because Audre promised to watch Alice so that Eva could have an important meeting with her editor. She’s alarmed when she learns that her daughter was alone with a boy, and Audre explains the Experience Challenges. Eva says that she needs to be able to rely on Audre because of the baby, the upcoming book, and the approaching wedding. Audre reminds her mother that all these stressors are the results of Eva’s decisions and inwardly wonders when her own desires will ever matter. Eva grounds Audre for the weekend, but the teen resolves not to give up on the Experience Challenges.

Later that night, Audre lies awake, wishing that she could text Bash and wondering if he’s thinking about her. When she goes to the kitchen for a snack, she sees that her mother accidentally left a note for her memoir where someone else could read it. The note mentions that Lizette has done something shameful, that Audre’s grandmother Delphine passed as white during the Jim Crow era, and that her great-grandmother Clothilde had an exorcism. Audre isn’t sure what to think of this shocking glimpse into her family’s past. 

When Audre doesn’t respond to his texts, Bash goes back to the beach, retrieves her phone, and asks one of her neighbors to bring it to her. In the note that accompanies the phone, Bash shares that he thought she might like surfing because she’s “half-Malibuian (not a word)” and apologizes if he pushed her too far (146).

Audre is thrilled that Bash went to the trouble of retrieving her phone, but she tells herself not to fall for him even if he is a “misunderstood cinnamon roll” (148). She texts Bash to thank him for bringing back her phone and to explain that she’s grounded. Bash shares that he was underwater for a few minutes because he was looking for one of the Smurf lunchboxes that have washed up on the beach since the 1980s. Bash is currently at a concert with Clio, and he tells Audre that he wishes she were there, too. The chapter ends with the sixth rule in Audre’s self-help book, which is actually a question: “If the person you like is super nice to everyone, how do you know if they like you specifically?” (156).