The Hating Game

Lucy and Joshua sit beside each other on the bus. Joshua asks if the roses he gave her have wilted. She wants to know how he knows about them. She does her best to hide her lust for him. He feels her arm, and she says how hot she is. She also feels a little dizzy and nauseous, but assumes it’s stress from the job application process.

Joshua explains to their coworkers how the paintball event will work and that the grand prize is a paid day off. The group arrives at Paintball Shootout and suits up. Lucy and Joshua are on the same team. As they play, Lucy doesn’t feel right. Her stomach hurts. Her arms give out when she tries to crawl. She feels hot and sweaty. Regardless, she continues playing.

Lucy saves Joshua by taking paintballs hits to the front of her body. Joshua pivots them, taking paintballs to his back. Eventually, she vomits; Joshua is the only one who notices how sick she is.

The game ends. It seems to have worked to create comradery. Lucy heads to the bathroom where she is sick again and again, and Joshua arrives to help her. She resists, but he won’t have it. He supports her on the way back to the office, then insists he drive her home. Once there, he cares for and stays with her for the next few days. They grow vulnerable with one another.

Amid Lucy’s delirium from the fever, she touches Joshua’s face and neck and remembers she once wanted to strangle him. He thinks it’s funny and hears his laugh for the first time: “When Josh smiles, he is blinding” (116).

When she wakes later, Joshua is there with his brother Patrick, a physician. Joshua and Patrick bicker about her diagnosis and treatment needs. After examining Lucy, Patrick and Joshua step outside the bedroom, and Lucy gets up to eavesdrop. She hears Patrick ask Joshua about his RSVP to Patrick’s wedding. Patrick says he knows the wedding will be hard, but he needs an answer. Joshua relents, and Patrick tells him he will mark him down with a plus one.

After Patrick leaves, Lucy and Joshua grow even closer. He asks about her parents and the strawberry farm, and she tells him about her childhood. He admits he’s been fascinated about the farm and even thought about making the trip there. Lucy grows emotional; she tells him about how she fears letting her parents down, losing her friend Val, and being lonely. She says she fears that Joshua, who she assumes wants to kill her, is her only friend. He kisses her cheek. Later, while she’s in his arms, he asks if he can find a way to get them “out of this mess” (128); would she want that? She says she would. 

Lucy’s fever breaks. She regrets having shared so much with Joshua the night before, assuming he’ll use information against her. She practically pushes him out of her apartment and falls back asleep. When she wakes up, she admits: “I don’t hate Joshua Templeman” (132). He had been open and kind while he cared for her; she regrets kicking him out so hastily.

Danny calls to check in on her. He says he called a few times, and that each time Joshua answered. He offers to give her a ride to work. In the car he gives her daisies and tells her he thinks Joshua has a “big-brother protective vibe going on” (135). Lucy doubts Joshua’s romantic and sexual interest in her. Danny goes with her to the tenth-floor office, and Lucy sees Joshua’s dismay. Danny and Joshua have an uncomfortable, hostile exchange before Danny establishes a dinner date with Lucy that evening. Lucy notices has Joshua left a red rose on her desk. She realizes he had been the one to send her the roses weeks ago.