Return

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Return
Chapter45 of 127 (list of chapters)
PublishedJanuary 25, 2009 (2009-01-25)
Page count18
Major charactersLucy, Zachary, Mike, Paulo, David, Catherine
Minor charactersTess, Daisy, Abbey, Yashy, Lily, Chirpy, Blur, Sue, Amaya, Alec McCain
LocationsSilvershore Islands, Airport
Collected inVolume One, Omnibus 1
Chapter navigation
← InterventionNew Beginnings →
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It's the last night in the Silvershore Islands, and Zachary has something Lucy needs to hear about Mike. By the time the plane touches down at home, she's said the words out loud, Paulo has been caught red-handed, and Daisy has news of her own.

Synopsis

Lucy spends her last night of the trip alone on the beach rocks, and Zachary, passing by on his walk home, asks to sit with her.[1] He asks whether Mike is really good for her, reminds her that Mike already has someone else, and when she furiously denies having any feelings for the boy, he blurts out the rest of it: Mike "kind of.. hates you?"[2] In his telling, Mike sees her as a chore, her attachment is a one-way obsession, and someday Mike will leave with his girlfriend.[3][4]

Lucy fights him for as long as she can until the dam breaks and, sobbing, she finally admits "Dammit, Zach, I love him.."[5] Zachary does his best to catch her on the way down — she has friends who understand her, things do get better, and if anything ever happens to her, he'll be there somehow.[6]

Back at the hotel, Lucy opens her room door on Paulo and Tess in each other's arms.[7] She informs Mike next door that the two are having sex and that she'll be crashing in his room for the night.[8]

Later that night, while Mike shivers on the floor under a single blanket, Lucy slips out of bed, wraps her arms around his shoulders, and kisses him on the forehead.[9] Mike smiles and nestles closer in his sleep, and Lucy rests her head against him.[10]

In silhouette, Lucy kneels beside the sleeping Mike and kisses his forehead, a small heart floating above them.
Mike sleeps right through the biggest moment of the trip.

The next morning, the group trades goodbyes outside the terminal.[11] Once the kids are inside, Catherine confesses her love to Zachary, and the two embrace as the sun comes up over the ocean.[12]

On the flight home, Lily reveals she woke Lucy before Mike could catch the two of them cuddling, and urges her to tell him how she feels; Lucy will only commit to a maybe.[13] Across the aisle, Paulo grumbles to David that he got cold feet with Tess because he couldn't get Daisy out of his head.[13]

Daisy is, in fact, waiting at the airport — hand in hand with Abbey.[14] Paulo blurts out the least delicate version of the question imaginable, and the couple confirm they're dating.[15] It takes Paulo a long, blank moment to work out what this means for his recent daydreams; then he gags in disgust and chases David down for brainwashing him.[16]

Critical moments

Lucy shoves her hotel room door open and stares blankly ahead while Paulo and Tess freeze mid-embrace, eyes enormous.
Ten seconds later, Lucy needs a new room for the night.
  • On the beach rocks, Zachary asks Lucy whether Mike is really good for her, then tells her that, as far as he can see, Mike "kind of.. hates you?"[2]
  • Pushed past every denial she has, Lucy admits her love for Mike aloud for the first time: "Dammit, Zach, I love him.."[5]
  • Back at the hotel, Lucy walks in on Paulo and Tess in her room, and moves herself into Mike's for the night.[7]
  • While Mike sleeps on the floor, Lucy embraces him and kisses his forehead. He never wakes.[10]
  • Outside the terminal, Catherine confesses her love to Zachary, and the two embrace at sunrise.[12]
  • Daisy and Abbey greet the returning group hand in hand, revealing they're now a couple. Paulo needs a long moment to process the news.[14][16]

Character dynamics

  • Lucy and Mike: Lucy opens the chapter still loudly denying she has any sort of thing for Mike.[2] Zachary's warning tears that cover off, and his read comes straight from Mike himself, who told him the night before that Lucy "needs" him and that's where it begins and ends.[17] By the flight home, Lucy has admitted her love out loud, kissed Mike in his sleep, and started weighing Lily's advice to confess.[10][13] Mike sleeps through the kiss and hears none of the rest, so the whole shift is on Lucy's side.
  • Paulo and Daisy: Paulo took Daisy's friendship for granted right up until this trip, and only now that she's out of sight has he found he can't get her out of his head.[18] It bothered him badly enough to wreck his night with Tess, as he admits on the plane home.[13] All the same, he's a week too late. Daisy comes home on Abbey's arm, and Paulo copes by gagging at his own daydreams and blaming the lot on David's brainwashing.[16]
  • Zachary and Catherine: The fondness was already there, and the awkwardness was the sticking point. Watching the teenagers fumble their crushes all week is what finally moves Catherine to be "frank about my love", and the pair end the chapter embracing at sunrise.[12]
  • Daisy and Abbey: The two became a couple during the week the group was away, a story New Beginnings tells in full.[19] Here the secret goes public, with Abbey admitting he'd hoped not to make it too obvious.[15]

Trivia & observations

  • Veronica's commentary under the final page calls this the close of "what might have been the longest arc in Bittersweet historyyyyy," and notes that Lucy "has opened up a whole new storyline."[16]
  • Per Veronica's commentary, the panel of Lucy thumbing toward the hallway unintentionally resembles the Sonic the Hedgehog 2 logo.[8]
  • Working on the beach conversation made Veronica notice a recurring drawing flaw she calls "cone heads" — Lucy sprouting a huge forehead whenever her ears go down — and resolve to fix it.[4]
  • David's "Cute couple wants to battle!" is a Pokémon nod, borrowing the games' "Cute Couple" double-battle trainer class.[15]
  • The nighttime bedside scene plays out almost wordlessly over two pages, much of it in silhouette. Lucy's only utterance is a heart.[9][10]
  • This is the last main-continuity appearance for both Zachary and Catherine. Zachary returns afterward only in Lucy's memories.[13][20]
  • Lucy flies home still owing Zachary a song. Back in Arrival he paid her $100 to sing, and the goodbye comes and goes without a note of it.[21][11]

Related chapters

  • Intervention: Mike's boardwalk conversation with Zachary in the previous chapter is the source of everything Zachary tells Lucy on the rocks. It's also where David's fairytale cast Daisy as a princess, the same "princess crap" Paulo complains about on the plane.
  • Arrival: The island stretch of the vacation arc begins here, with Zachary pulling Lucy out of the surf and Catherine debuting to defend him.
  • New Beginnings: The story Daisy starts telling at the airport is told in full here, in flashback, covering how she and Abbey got together while everyone else was away.
  • A Distance Apart: Lucy finally takes Lily's advice from the plane in this chapter, working up the nerve to confess her love to Mike.
  • Unrequited: Zachary's warning catches up with Lucy here. Faced with proof of Mike's girlfriend, she sobs Zach's name through her tears.

References

  1. ↑ Chapter 45: Return, page 1
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Chapter 45: Return, page 4
  3. ↑ Chapter 45: Return, page 5
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Chapter 45: Return, page 6
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 Chapter 45: Return, page 7
  6. ↑ Chapter 45: Return, page 8
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 Chapter 45: Return, page 9
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 Chapter 45: Return, page 10
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 Chapter 45: Return, page 11
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 10.3 Chapter 45: Return, page 12
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 Chapter 45: Return, page 13
  12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 12.2 Chapter 45: Return, page 14
  13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 13.2 13.3 13.4 Chapter 45: Return, page 15
  14. ↑ 14.0 14.1 Chapter 45: Return, page 16
  15. ↑ 15.0 15.1 15.2 Chapter 45: Return, page 17
  16. ↑ 16.0 16.1 16.2 16.3 Chapter 45: Return, page 18
  17. ↑ Chapter 44: Intervention, page 5
  18. ↑ Chapter 44: Intervention, page 17
  19. ↑ Chapter 46: New Beginnings, page 10
  20. ↑ Chapter 52: Another Shoulder, page 4
  21. ↑ Chapter 42: Arrival, page 30
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