You Deserve Each Other

Naomi wakes up the next morning fully committed to winning the break-off-the-engagement game. She digs her ex-boyfriend’s hoodie out of her closet and applies excessive makeup, knowing Nicholas will hate both. Next, she calls Deborah, pressing for the phone numbers of the florist and bakery who are taking care of the wedding, gleefully enjoying the woman’s increasing irritation at the idea of her plans being thwarted.

Sunday night, Naomi wears her ex-boyfriend’s hoodie to dinner with Nicholas’s family. She notices a bouquet of roses in the backseat of the car, and though she knows they are for his mom, she thanks him for the flowers. Nicholas argues Naomi told him she didn’t want flowers and that impractical gifts are pointless. Naomi thinks this is ironic because he named a star after his mother for her birthday, adding that if the universe explodes her last thought would be, “Ha ha, there goes your fucking star, you bitch!” (61). When they get to his parents’ house, Nicholas and Naomi glare at each other until his mom opens the door. Then, they pretend to love each other.