The Upside of Falling

Becca creates a pro-con list to help Brett decide whether or not he should tell his mom about his dad’s infidelity. However, Brett is too upset to take the list seriously. Instead, Becca decides to make the ultimate sacrifice to get Brett’s mind off what’s happening with his parents. She invites him to join her and her mom for dinner, and when they arrive at Becca’s apartment, she introduces Brett to her mom once again, but this time she calls him her boyfriend. Becca’s mom is delighted at this development. After dinner, Becca gives Brett a tour of the apartment, and they end up in Becca’s room. Brett admires Becca’s expansive book collection, and he thanks Becca for convincing him to get out of his house because being away from home “kind of makes everything else shrink a little bit” (149). Becca explains that her mom’s “overenthusiastic” reaction to Brett is because she wants Becca to be happy, but Becca insists that when it comes to love, “the odds are always stacked against [her]” (149) and anyone else who dreams of finding true love. Instead, Becca brags that reading her books gives her “all the fun [of romance] without the pain” (150).