Something Borrowed

When Rachel tells Hillary about kissing Marcus, Hillary encourages her to break things off with Dex so she can move on with her life. Rachel finds herself making excuses for Dex not ending his engagement but agrees when Hillary insists that she take two more weeks to figure it out. She must plan Darcy’s bachelorette in the meantime, but when she and Claire call Darcy to discuss it, Darcy sounds subdued. Rachel senses something is wrong and calls her back to find out what, but Darcy only complains about Dex’s stepmother and blames her mood on PMS.

Rachel meets Dex for lunch later in the week after he was away on a business trip. As they head towards her apartment after grabbing bagels, they run into Claire. Dex makes up a story that he had to give Rachel a note for Darcy before the bachelorette weekend. Claire buys his lie and asks Rachel to take the afternoon off and go shopping with her for the party. Rachel says she needs to change first and receives a call from Dex once she’s alone in her apartment. He insists on coming up to see her and give her the impromptu note. He tries to initiate sex, but she says she must meet Claire, and he tells her he’s sorry about the bachelorette party and thinks about her—and their situation—all the time. Rachel fails to respond, determining it’s not the right moment. She feels that the entire situation is spiraling out of control.

Rachel finds the bachelorette party to be “agony” (210). Rachel thinks Darcy’s PR friends are superficial and materialistic and feels too old to participate in a scripted bachelorette party for twenty-somethings. Darcy wants to spend the night at Rachel’s, feeling nostalgia for “old times” (212). She convinces Rachel to stay up and talk with her and Rachel tells her about kissing Marcus, which she regrets because she realizes it will get back to Dex. Darcy then confesses that things with Dex have been “sort of weird” (216) and they haven’t had sex since before the Fourth of July. Rachel suggests maybe it’s stress from all the wedding planning. The play 20 questions and comment that it feels like a sleepover from when they were younger. Rachel feels sadness for their younger selves and all that’s transpired between them. She briefly longs to go back in time and erase everything that’s happened.

The next morning, Darcy asks Rachel if they can spend the day together doing nothing. When Darcy runs out to grab them breakfast, Rachel finds two messages from Dex asking if he can come over later. She leaves him a message telling him Darcy is over, then wonders to herself if Dex is worth the price of losing Darcy. Darcy returns with junk food for the day and demands they sit and watch in front of the TV like they used to. Rachel finds the sentimentality touching, but her bossiness annoying. Darcy pours them cereal, then tells Rachel Dex calls her “Slurper” (124) because she slurps her milk too loudly when eating cereal. Rachel thinks of herself as possibly “too bland to deserve” (224) a nickname.

As they sit and watch TV, Darcy asks Rachel “out of the blue” (225) if she should marry Dex. Rachel gives Darcy her undivided attention, curious as to her reasons for asking such a question. Darcy explains that the relationship sometimes feels boring. Rachel knows she has an opening to talk Darcy out of it, but she can’t bring herself to take it. As Rachel tells her to consider postponing, Darcy sees a music video on TV and tells Rachel to turn it up. She doesn’t bring Dex up again. While she searches for their yearbook, Darcy finds Rachel’s tin with her dice from Dex and asks her why she has them. Rachel stumbles with her response, finally explaining that they are her “lucky dice” (227). She decides she’ll “tackle” (227) Darcy if she rerolls the dice, but Darcy ends up putting them back. Darcy settles on watching When Harry Met Sally—a movie they’ve seen numerous times—and Rachel finds herself enjoying the familiarity of Darcy saying some of the lines, even when she gets them wrong. Darcy’s “sameness” (228) is one of the things Rachel likes best.

The next night Darcy calls Rachel hysterically crying because she’s lost her engagement ring. Rachel feels relief that the call isn’t about Dex. Darcy insists on coming over to see Rachel, sobbing that the ring was stolen when she arrives. She tells Rachel she’s her best friend and confesses that she’s been cheating on Dex and took the ring off in another guy’s apartment. Rachel knows she shouldn’t be surprised but can’t help feeling “floored” (232). Darcy explains it’s a guy from work and they’ve slept together a few times—including earlier that day. She took her ring off because it made her feel guilty. When they went back to his place later in the afternoon to look for it, the cleaning lady had been there, and the ring was gone.

Rachel helps Darcy come up with some plausible cover stories, wondering if everyone engaged cheats. Darcy claims she isn’t in love with the guy and wanted a fling because she feels panicked about getting married. She gets defensive when Rachel tells her she’ll support Darcy whatever her decision, insisting that she’s still going to marry Dex. Rachel explains that it’s normal for the relationship to evolve and the initial thrill to be gone, surprised at herself for talking Darcy back into her relationship with Dex. During their conversation, Dex calls and Rachel tells him Darcy is there. When they hang up, she tells Darcy it was Ethan. Before Darcy leaves, she asks Rachel if she’s a terrible person, to which Rachel reassures her she’s not and that people “make mistakes” (238).

When Darcy leaves, Rachel ponders whether to tell Dex. She determines that she has many reasons to tell him, including the fact that she loves him and wants what’s best for him. She also feels it’s the right thing to do because she respects the institution of marriage; however, such reasoning means Darcy should also know about her and Dex. Rachel also doesn’t think it’s her place to tell. She further reasons that Darcy and Dex shouldn’t get married, not because they’ve both cheated, but because they aren’t right for each. If they can’t figure that out, then getting married “is their mistake to make” (239). She ultimately decides not to say anything.

Rachel receives a wedding invitation for Dex and Darcy’s wedding. She knows this presents “one more obstacle” (241) to calling off the wedding but reassures herself it can still be done. Rachel feels “weak” (234) when she tells Dex he can come over, since she just got his wedding invite, but she’s determined not to give up on him yet. As Dex makes love to her later, Rachel thinks there’s no way he’ll marry Darcy and begins to cry silently. He convinces her to come to the Hamptons for the weekend.

At the office the next day, Hillary accusingly asks Rachel why she got an invitation to Dex and Darcy’s wedding. She worries Rachel is the type of woman who lets the affair go on indefinitely, finally resolving that the man will never leave his wife, but Rachel defends herself by reminding Hillary that Dex isn’t married yet. Hillary tells Rachel to break up with him because she’ll feel so much worse watching them get married. Rachel insists she wants Dex to be the one to make the decision. Later at work, she realizes she’s been passive about the situation because she doesn’t believe she can ever be happy.

When Rachel gets to the Hamptons, Hillary asks Dex who he wants as his partner for badminton—making it obvious that she knows about his tryst with Rachel. Rachel didn’t tell Dex she confided in Hillary, and she can tell he’s upset. Darcy agrees to be his partner and the game is tense and competitive. Dex and Hillary heatedly argue over whether the bird is in or out at the end of the final match. Dex finally concedes the game when Hillary accuses him of cheating his way through life. At dinner, Dex ignores both Hillary and Rachel, then later at the bar angrily asks Rachel why she told Hillary. Rachel is surprised by her sudden confidence and anger, insisting that she can tell anyone she wants. Dex warns her not to kiss Marcus again, but she angrily retorts that he should just marry Darcy and walks away, feeling in total control. He quickly finds her and tells her he loves her, but she refuses to say it back and explains that she’s tired of waiting for him. She tells him not to talk to her again unless he’s called off the wedding.