Betting on You

Charlie is as unhappy as Bailey is to be seat neighbors. While she is excited to fly, he hates it. After spending a summer with his father’s family in Alaska and dating a girl named Grace, he feels homesick about leaving it behind to go live with his mother and her new boyfriend.

While he longs to keep in contact with Grace, Charlie is a pessimist. After watching his own parents’ marriage fail, he has little hope that any relationship is successful—especially a long-distance one. To distract himself from Grace, he decides to bother Bailey for the duration of the plane ride.

Charlie talks through the flight attendant’s emergency instructions, which Bailey is attempting to listen to. He claims to be a realist and states that if the plane goes down, none of the flight attendant’s instructions will save them from death. The cynicism is appalling to Bailey, who Charlie jokes is sheltered and naive. He guesses that she even complies with the rule about storing liquids in baggies before security—which she does. Then, he proves that he purposefully breaks the rules by pulling a hidden shampoo bottle from his shorts pocket. He admits that it feels good to break the rules and best the rule setters by getting away with it.

Charlie surprises Bailey by asking about her parents, correctly assuming that they are divorced. He explains that divorced parents tend to be the main reason why kids go on flights alone. Bailey doesn’t confirm his guess, as she’s still in denial about the finality of her parents’ split. When she requests a half-Coke, half-diet-Coke drink from the flight attendant, Charlie calls her a labor-intensive girl. This is further confirmed to him when Bailey requests a vegetarian meal because she thinks the airplane food is questionable.

Bailey notices Charlie texting his girlfriend. When he says that he plans to ghost her because he doesn’t do long distance, Bailey says that the right thing to do is be forthright so that when he returns, they can at least be friends. Charlie insists that friendships between boys and girls don’t exist, as the boys will always look for something more. Bailey vehemently disagrees.

A year later, Bailey sees Charlie at a movie theater while on a date with her boyfriend, Zack. The lobby erupts into cheers, and when Bailey and Zack investigate the commotion, they find a clever “promposal” planned by Charlie for a petite blonde. Bailey and Charlie recognize each other, but she pulls Zack into the movie without acknowledging Charlie. He reminds her of the depressing time in her life after her parents’ split.

While grabbing popcorn mid-movie, Bailey is approached by Charlie in the lobby. Bailey congratulates him on the successful promposal, and Charlie happily reveals that he and his girlfriend, Becca, have been dating for over a year. Bailey is surprised that the cynic who had a bleak outlook on relationships has changed his opinion. As Bailey is about to head back into the movie, Charlie asks how many solo flights she’s taken since they met. She says four, and a moment of understanding passes between them.

Charlie is disappointed when Bailey walks away. He feels a connection to her despite the fact that they annoy each other. He is surrounded by people who “[a]re heavy into mind games” (34): His mother takes turns upsetting her kids and her new boyfriend, his father chooses his new wife over everyone, his sister pretends not to love their parents’ new partners just to protect his feelings, and he never knows what his own girlfriend is thinking. In comparison, Bailey is straightforward and open in a refreshing way.

Becca texts him while he’s in the lobby, asking if he wants to go to their friend Kyle’s after the movie. Though Kyle’s is always fun, Charlie doesn’t want to. It felt like something big happened between him and Becca tonight, and he just wants to spend time alone with her. He realizes how sappy he’s become over a girl and thinks of how smug Bailey would be if she knew.

Bailey is at Starbucks with her friend Nekesa. They are spying on her ex-boyfriend, Zack, who takes his new girlfriend, Kelsie, for Saturday coffees, just as he did with Bailey. After they leave, Bailey’s mother, Emily, texts to check in, and Bailey begrudgingly admits that her mother’s theory about Zack was correct. While Bailey and Emily have grown closer since the divorce, Bailey hates how her relationship with her father has changed.

Nekesa and Bailey attend training for their new jobs at Planet Funnn, a huge hotel that is opening soon and has a water park, trampoline super center, arcade, movie theater, and concert hall. When Nekesa points out an employee who keeps glancing at Bailey, she is surprised to discover that it is Charlie.

Bailey tells Nekesa that she met Charlie on a long flight a few years ago and complains about how obnoxious he is. Charlie approaches, and he and Bailey formally introduce themselves for the first time. When Bailey asks about Charlie’s girlfriend, he admits that they broke up. Bailey admits that she and Zack have broken up too.

Charlie asks about Bailey’s parents. She tells him that her mother has met someone new and that her father is not as enthusiastic about buying plane tickets anymore, so she isn’t sure when she’ll see him next. Charlie sympathizes with Bailey about divorced parents dating. His mother’s boyfriend practically lives with them now and has some behaviors—such as eating Charlie’s favorite snacks—that enrage Charlie. Bailey finds this amusing; she shares some similar frustrations with her mother’s boyfriend.

The employees are split into four groups. Bailey and Nekesa are put with the “Protostars,” while Charlie is called to join the “Red Giants.” After an hour of instruction on Protostars’ administrative duties—working front desk, concessions, restaurants, and as concierges—Charlie re-enters the room. He says that he was mistakenly put in the wrong group and has been sent to join the Protostars.

As they break for lunch, Nekesa spots an old church friend named Theo among the employees. Though Nekesa is happily dating her current boyfriend, Aaron, Bailey notices flirtatious banter between her and Theo. Nekesa and Theo leave for Constellation Pizza, and Charlie invites Bailey to the pub with him.

Bailey asks Charlie why he decided to work at Planet Funnn. While the real answer is that he did it to annoy his mother’s boyfriend, who “convinced [his mother that he] needed to get a responsible job so [he] didn’t waste time ‘scrolling apps’ and ‘gaming’ […] all day” (60), Charlie jokes that it was either Planet Funnn or Chuck E. Cheese, and the mouse is creepy. While they grab lunch, Charlie relaxes more than he has in weeks, finding Bailey comfortable to be around. He does his best to ignore how attractive she’s become.

Bailey and Charlie bond over their parents’ divorces. Bailey, a people-pleaser, keeps her feelings inside, while Charlie admits that he speaks out against his mother’s boyfriend, calling him a “mooching loser” when his mother’s not around. Bailey admires Charlie’s ability to speak his mind without caring about others’ feelings. Just as they’re starting to get close, Charlie interjects to make sure that Bailey knows he’s not hitting on her, and it annoys her.

Charlie tells Bailey that he thinks Nekesa and Theo will hook up. Bailey disagrees, stating that Nekesa is in a happy relationship with Aaron. She realizes that Charlie clearly has the same ideas about male-female friendship as he’s always had. He gives Bailey his number and states that he will contact her later about betting on Nekesa and Theo.

Bailey returns home after work to find her mother’s new boyfriend, Scott, on the couch. He reprimands her for staying out past 11 o’clock, which is her curfew. Though he promises not to tell her mother, he advises her not to do so again. Bailey bristles at being parented by a man who is not her father, but instead of biting back, she goes upstairs to her room.

When Bailey receives a text from Charlie, she rants about Scott to him. Charlie urges her to tell Scott what she really thinks of him, but she refuses. Charlie calls Bailey so that they can speak verbally. He tells her that she needs to stand her ground with Scott before it’s too late.

When Charlie brings up the bet, Bailey insists that it’s a bad idea. He claims that she won’t make the bet because he knows “deep down […] the truth about love” and that “everyone—even Nekesa—is capable of infidelity when faced with chemistry” (81). Bailey is provoked into accepting the bet to prove him wrong. After they hang up, Bailey begrudgingly wonders if Charlie’s notions about love contain some truth. After all, her own parents decided to get divorced when they felt chemistry outside their relationship and realized that it no longer existed in their own.