The Night We Met
by Abby Jimenez
Contents
31: Larissa
Overview
Larissa packs to move in with Mike, while her mother reveals Phil’s third DWI, echoing patterns Larissa wants to escape. A cleared car and shoveled path unsettle Larissa until she realizes Chris likely did it and stayed silent. She wrestles with doubts about Mike’s work future and her unspoken move.
Summary
Larissa spends the morning packing boxes for her upcoming move to Mike’s place, while her mother lingers in the doorway, both supportive and worried. Their conversation shifts when Larissa learns Phil was arrested for a third DWI and her mother refused to bail him out, yet still plans to move with him. Larissa urges her mother to consider being alone rather than unhappy with someone, recognizing the pattern she’s determined to outrun.
Mike comes and goes with boxes, and Larissa’s mother quietly probes whether Larissa is truly happy and what Chris thinks about the move. Larissa insists she and Chris are just friends and admits she hasn’t told him she’s moving because she hasn’t seen him.
When Larissa thanks Mike for clearing heavy snow from her car, he denies it. The mystery deepens until her mother suggests it was Chris. Larissa realizes this is likely true—he knew her schedule and where she lived—and is struck by the effort and his silence. Mike dismisses her concern as a neighbor’s kindness and jokes about moving sooner for safety, which doesn’t reassure her.
Left alone, Larissa fixates on the uncredited gesture, feeling both gratitude and disturbance at what Chris does without acknowledgment. She also frets over Lexi’s revelation that Mike isn’t working for Tony and worries Mike may lack a plan. With the move already in motion, she rationalizes her doubts as pre-move nerves but wonders what else Chris has done behind the scenes.
Who Appears
- LarissaNarrator; packing to move in with Mike, unsettled by a secretly cleared car she realizes Chris likely did, and anxious about Mike’s plans.
- MikeLarissa’s boyfriend; helps move boxes, denies clearing the snow, jokes about moving sooner, and claims a migraine.
- Larissa’s momReveals Phil’s third DWI, worries about Larissa’s happiness, and suggests Chris cleared the car.
- ChrisOff-page; likely cleared Larissa’s car and shoveled the path at dawn without telling her.
- PhilMom’s partner; arrested for a third DWI, prompting concern about recurring patterns.
- LexiOff-page; her comment about Mike not working for Tony fuels Larissa’s doubts about his plan.