Good Enough

From Candypedia
Good Enough
Chapter117 of 129 (list of chapters)
PublishedDecember 16, 2022 (2022-12-16)
Page count16
Major charactersPaulo, Daisy, James, David
Minor charactersMike, Chris
LocationsBurger-Tron, Daisy’s house
Chapter navigation
← Link PlayDate Night →
Read chapter

James is walking on air over his upcoming movie night with Mike, and Paulo is taking it hard. A milkshake heart-to-heart with Daisy carries him within a hair of confessing something else entirely, and sends her to bed in tears.

Synopsis

James floats through his Burger-Tron shift wrapped in a golden glow and actual sparkles.[1] Mike arrives at the counter with his mom and little brother Chris to finalize plans with James for a movie the next evening. Chris slams the counter demanding a toy, and accepts his electric mouse with a lordly “Thanks, minion.”[2] Afterwards, James gushes about the film, a “weird indie thing” Paulo probably wouldn’t like. Paulo never gets an invitation, and he retreats to the wash station thoroughly deflated.[3]

Daisy turns up just as Paulo’s shift ends, and he hands her a milkshake before they settle into a booth.[4] Her delight fades when she notices his smile slipping. After she coaxes him to talk, Paulo tells her what happened: James asked Mike on “a damn MOVIE DATE,” and Paulo has known James way longer than Mike has. Daisy gently points out that this sounds like a crush. Paulo refuses the word, but admits he’s liked James since around May and never told a soul.[5] He tries to brush her off with the excuse that he’s not Abbey and nobody would care anyway, but Daisy plants her hand on his arm and insists that she cares, a lot.[6]

Then, gazing right at Daisy, Paulo edges toward a bigger admission: he likes “other people.”[7] Daisy, suddenly guarded, assumes he means someone hopelessly out of reach. She disguises her own feelings as advice and uses Lucy to illustrate the kind of unattainable crush she thinks Paulo means. All you can do, she says, is grow up and try to get over it.[8] Paulo starts to correct her, then gives up. Watching her glow across the table, he thinks that he still wishes he could deserve her love. What actually comes out is “Uhh, Lucy’s. Lucy’s love.”[9]

David has been leaning over the booth behind them for who knows how long, and he announces himself with “Why don’t we spy on ’em?”[10] Once the screaming stops, Paulo refuses to ruin what might be a real date. So David offers the innocent version instead, where everyone simply happens to see the new horror movie “Plight of the Zombie” at the same time.[11]

That night, Daisy lies in bed replaying the goodbyes.[12] She remembers her own reassurances, especially the bit about finding “someone who isn’t out of our leagues”, and begins shaking as she clutches her pillow.[13] She pictures every person Paulo has ever been drawn to, from Lucy and Rachel to Tess and even David. She presses her face into the pillow and cries.[14]

Character dynamics

David leans over the back of the booth behind Daisy and asks "Why don't we spy on 'em?" while Daisy and Paulo freeze in shock.
Private conversations are more of a suggestion when David is around.
  • Paulo and Daisy: Paulo and Daisy are close friends, and each privately wants more from the relationship. Paulo does not realize Daisy feels this way, while Daisy mistakes his feelings for her as interest in someone else. Daisy put her old feelings for Mike to rest back in Track Meet,[15] and here she listens as Paulo names his feelings out loud for the first time. When he nearly tells her how he feels about her, she mistakes it for another unrequited crush. Her advice to accept that the person is out of reach and try to move on is the same advice she has been giving herself. Later, Daisy cries alone while imagining everyone Paulo has wanted before.[8][14] Paulo thinks Daisy is beyond his reach. Daisy never realizes he was talking about her.
  • Paulo and James: They are friendly coworkers, though Paulo privately wants more. Paulo has liked James quietly since roughly May and told nobody, while James’s attention is fixed squarely on Mike.[5][3] James does not realize how Paulo feels. Paulo finally tells Daisy that he likes James and admits that seeing James with Mike upset him.[7]

Trivia & observations

Daisy cries into her pillow while picturing Lucy, Rachel, Courtney, Jessica, Madison, Sandy, Mike, James, Jasmine, Tess and David.
Daisy takes stock of the competition.
  • The authors’ commentary notes that roughly four in-story years have passed since the comic began, which is why Chris is visibly bigger these days.[16]
  • Paulo’s crush was hidden from the audience on purpose. Per the commentary, “Paulo is such an unreliable narrator that he won’t even admit to the READER that he’s actually had a crush on James for months!!!”[6]
  • The authors later confirmed on Tumblr that Daisy’s “unachievable” speech was really about Paulo all along, adding that “She’s used Lucy as an example to mask her feelings as advice for Paulo.”[17][8]
  • The commentary mourns that “Classic Paulo” “would totally just burst in and completely ruin James and Mike’s date,” but this Paulo has had too much character development for that.[11]
  • Paulo’s view of Daisy in the booth, bathed in a gentle glow and sparkles, is exactly the treatment James gets in the opening panels. Both ends of the chapter are drawn through somebody’s lovestruck eyes.[1][9]
  • David makes Daisy’s closing lineup of Paulo’s past attractions, huddled at the bottom of the crowd looking offended. The authors marvel, “man paulo has had feeling/associations with A LOT of people, how can you even compete”.[14]
  • Lauren, the coworker dreading her graveyard shift, makes her first on-panel appearance here. Until now she was only ever a name in Paulo’s dialogue.[4][18]

Related chapters

  • Track Meet: James recruits Mike onto the track team there, and Daisy tells Paulo she’s finally done wanting Mike.[19][15] Daisy also prompts Paulo’s first grudging admission that James is good-looking. In this chapter, Paulo tells her that he has liked James for months.[20]
  • Date Night: The movie night itself happens in the very next chapter. James and Mike get their outing, and David, Paulo and Daisy turn up for “Plight of the Zombie” just as agreed in the booth.[21][11]
  • Rain Check: Daisy lies awake there while shadowed images of Tess, Jasmine and Courtney surround her. The scene mirrors her crying into her pillow here while picturing people from Paulo’s romantic history.[22][14]

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Chapter 117: Good Enough, page 1
  2. ↑ Chapter 117: Good Enough, page 3
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Chapter 117: Good Enough, page 4
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Chapter 117: Good Enough, page 5
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 Chapter 117: Good Enough, page 7
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 Chapter 117: Good Enough, page 8
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 Chapter 117: Good Enough, page 9
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 Chapter 117: Good Enough, page 10
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 Chapter 117: Good Enough, page 11
  10. ↑ Chapter 117: Good Enough, page 12
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 11.2 Chapter 117: Good Enough, page 13
  12. ↑ Chapter 117: Good Enough, page 14
  13. ↑ Chapter 117: Good Enough, page 15
  14. ↑ 14.0 14.1 14.2 14.3 Chapter 117: Good Enough, page 16
  15. ↑ 15.0 15.1 Chapter 115: Track Meet, page 14
  16. ↑ Chapter 117: Good Enough, page 2
  17. ↑ “Ask response on Daisy’s “unachievable” speech”. 2024-09-29.
  18. ↑ Chapter 97: After You, page 25
  19. ↑ Chapter 115: Track Meet, page 9
  20. ↑ Chapter 115: Track Meet, page 20
  21. ↑ Chapter 118: Date Night, page 15
  22. ↑ Chapter 122: Rain Check, page 13
Retrieved from “https://candypedia.wiki/index.php?title=Good_Enough&oldid=5386”