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Another Shoulder

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Daisy tries to force Mike and Lucy to make up, and it goes about as badly as it possibly could. Heartbroken, Lucy turns up on Paulo's doorstep asking for help, and he rises to the occasion in ways nobody quite expected.

Another Shoulder
Chapter52 of 127 (list of chapters)
PublishedJanuary 15, 2010 (2010-01-15)
Page count16
Major charactersLucy, Paulo, Mike
Minor charactersDaisy, Abbey, Rodrigo
LocationsPark, Paulo's house, Neighborhood sidewalks and streets, Roseville High School
Collected inVolume Two, Omnibus 1
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Synopsis

Mike and Lucy have been avoiding each other all day, and the walk home through the park with Daisy and Abbey is one long uncomfortable silence.[1] Daisy shoves the two of them together and orders them to talk it out. Mike instead tells Lucy he isn't her babysitter anymore. Lucy has heard enough. ".. Fine. I get it. You hate me." She walks off alone, telling him not to follow.[2]

Lucy's own walk home turns into a spiral that ends at Paulo's front door.[3] She tearfully asks Paulo to help her, and he lets her in. She explains that this isn't just another fight — Mike knows how she feels now, and she's sure he hates her.[4]

Lucy collapses on his bed crying, so the evening becomes a long, wordless montage.[5] He cooks them ramen, and by ten o'clock the two of them are lying there laughing together.[6]

Paulo tells her she's welcome to stay the night,[7] and assures her plenty of people love her, whether she knows it or not. When she asks where he fits in, he doesn't hesitate: "No matter what I'm doing or where I am, you got me."[8]

Lucy answers the promise by pulling Paulo into a kiss.[8] Things escalate until Paulo lowers her onto the bed, snaps out of it, and throws up an X with his arms.[9] There is nothing wrong with her, he insists, but she isn't herself right now and will regret this.[9] Lucy pleads that she can't lose him too and pulls him back down. Paulo keeps refusing, and the night ends on a black panel.[10]

 
For once in his life, Paulo keeps his hands to himself.

The next morning, Lucy wakes up against a sleeping, drooling Paulo and greets him with a shriek and a foot to the face.[11] He swears nothing happened, and when she asks how she can be sure, his deadpan "Check if you like." earns him a kick. Downstairs, they run straight into Paulo's father Rodrigo, who just tells them they're going to be late, then hides a smirk behind the sports page.[12]

On the way to school, Lucy thanks Paulo for looking out for her.[13] At her locker she spots a dazed-looking Mike coming down the hall. She ducks behind the open door until he passes, then shuts it and walks the other way.[14]

Critical moments

  • Daisy shoves Mike and Lucy together in the park and orders them to talk it out. Mike answers with "I'm not your babysitter anymore. Pick yourself up and DEAL.", and Lucy walks off in tears, telling him not to follow.[2]
  • Lucy turns up on Paulo's doorstep in tears. After an evening of cheering her up, he makes her a promise: "No matter what I'm doing or where I am, you got me." She responds by kissing him.[3][8]
  • As the kissing escalates, Paulo refuses to sleep with Lucy, insisting she isn't herself and will regret it. The page cuts to black on the rest of the night.[9][10]
  • The morning after, Paulo confirms nothing happened between them, and his "Check if you like." gag breaks the tension for good.[11]

Character dynamics

  • Lucy and Paulo: Paulo used to be the flirty classmate who talked Lucy down after Mike fights, as he did in Pick Me Up.[15] This time she spends a whole night in his care and gives him their first kiss. When she pushes for much more in the middle of a breakdown, Paulo, of all people, is the one who says no.[9] They come out the other side closer than ever, with a standing promise that she's got him and an agreement that things won't get awkward.[8][13]
  • Mike and Lucy: They enter the chapter already avoiding each other after the rejection in A Distance Apart.[1][16] Daisy's forced reconciliation turns that avoidance into open hostility, and Lucy declares herself done.[2] By the final page, she would rather hide behind a locker door than let Mike see her face.[14]
  • Daisy and Mike: Daisy still calls Mike "Mikie" and fully expects the resident nice guy to chase after Lucy. Instead, he yanks his arm out of her grip and leaves her yelling "jerkity jerkjerk" at his back.[17]
 
Rodrigo takes his son's surprise overnight guest remarkably well.

Trivia & observations

  • According to Veronica, the chapter was originally drafted around Paulo stopping Lucy from self-harming. Those early drafts were never posted publicly.[18]
  • Rodrigo makes his first on-panel appearance in the series here. Veronica's commentary greets him with "Hey, look! Parents DO exist."[12]
  • The commentary on the final page jokes that Mike "WAS right in saying the lockers can contain whole bodies all those years ago," a nod to his locker line in Puppy Love.[14][19]
  • The chapter is printed in Volume 2 alongside Another Path, a BCI-exclusive AU story that revisits Paulo's big decision from this night.[20]

Related chapters

  • Back and Forth: David corners Paulo about his night with Lucy, and Paulo admits the two of them only fooled around.
  • Dinner Time: Lucy's mom turns out to be the one Paulo phoned, and Jordan is not thrilled about the sleepover.
  • December: Mike repeats the babysitter line to Lucy almost word for word during their most devastating falling-out.

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Chapter 52: Another Shoulder, page 1
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Chapter 52: Another Shoulder, page 2
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Chapter 52: Another Shoulder, page 4
  4. ↑ Chapter 52: Another Shoulder, page 5
  5. ↑ Chapter 52: Another Shoulder, page 7
  6. ↑ Chapter 52: Another Shoulder, page 8
  7. ↑ Chapter 52: Another Shoulder, page 9
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 8.3 Chapter 52: Another Shoulder, page 10
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 9.3 Chapter 52: Another Shoulder, page 11
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 Chapter 52: Another Shoulder, page 12
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 Chapter 52: Another Shoulder, page 13
  12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 Chapter 52: Another Shoulder, page 14
  13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 Chapter 52: Another Shoulder, page 15
  14. ↑ 14.0 14.1 14.2 Chapter 52: Another Shoulder, page 16
  15. ↑ Chapter 47: Pick Me Up, page 9
  16. ↑ Chapter 50: A Distance Apart, page 13
  17. ↑ Chapter 52: Another Shoulder, page 3
  18. ↑ "Ask response on Lucy self-harm rumors". 2017-09-17.
  19. ↑ Chapter 13: Puppy Love, page 1
  20. ↑ "Is Another Shoulder included in Volume Two?". 2019-11-01.
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