Chapter 16 Summary: “THIRTEEN” — Key Events and Analysis

⚠️ Spoiler Warning: This guide contains detailed spoilers for the entire novel. Proceed only if you've finished reading or are comfortable knowing the plot.

Summary

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The chapter opens with Elias reflecting on a small but significant change: for the first week since he turned eighteen, he has not woken from his recurring nightmare. The dream typically replays his parents' horrified faces, a dirty house, a screaming woman, and a man smashing a beer bottle—images tied to his past and to the discovery that his biological father was blackmailing his parents. Elias connects the nightmare's frequency to stress, and he is surprised that the one new variable in his life—the fake relationship with Sage—has not made things worse.

Aiden confronts Elias about the arrangement, calling it out of character for someone who has never lied. Aiden reminds him of the support system around him, referencing the dark period when Elias learned about the blackmail. Elias brushes off the concern, insisting he knows what he is doing.

Meanwhile, Sage has postponed their planning coffee three times, each time citing a ballet emergency. Elias decides to take matters into his own hands. He cooks tacos—cooking is his meditation, a habit from his childhood and college years—and brings the food to her apartment unannounced. He finds her mid self-care night: face mask, eye patches, freshly painted toes, candles, and her comfort movie, Dirty Dancing, playing on her laptop.

Sage is flustered by his arrival, but she lets him in. Her apartment is run-down—water-stained ceilings, flaking paint, worn carpet, chipped cupboard doors—yet spotless. Elias notices the care she takes locking the door with four bolts. During dinner, Sage admits she has been avoiding him because she is worried they are in over their heads. She has read online comments suggesting she is not good enough for him, and she is afraid people will see through the act. Elias reassures her, and they decide to write out rules for the arrangement.

The rules they establish cover who may know the truth (Aiden and a few of Elias's friends; Sage has no friends to tell and refuses to tell her brother Sean, who commented that she looks genuinely happy), social media posting, public dates in Toronto, attendance at the Thunder's pre-playoffs dinner, and attending each other's events—Elias will come to her small performance, and she will come to one of his games. Sage mentions that an ex has recently reappeared in her life, though she deflects when pressed.

Sage then suggests they practice kissing to make the act believable. Elias refuses, setting a strict no-PDA rule. Sage teases him, adds a no-falling-in-love rule, and they agree the arrangement ends when his season concludes and she hears about her NBT audition. Before he leaves, Sage sends him a photo of the two of them leaving the Pint—taken by someone else and tagged—so he can post it to sell the story.

Key Events

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Elias realizes he has gone a full week without his recurring nightmare for the first time since he was eighteen.
Aiden questions the fake relationship, referencing Elias's history with his biological father's blackmail.
Sage cancels their planning meeting three times with ballet emergency excuses.
Elias cooks tacos and brings them to Sage's apartment unannounced, interrupting her self-care night.
Elias sees Sage's run-down but clean apartment for the first time.
Sage reveals she has read negative online comments about her and worries she is not good enough for Elias.
The two draft a list of rules for the fake relationship, including who can know the truth, social media posting, dates in Toronto, the pre-playoffs dinner, and attending each other's events.
Sage mentions an ex has recently reappeared in her life but does not elaborate.
Sage proposes practicing kissing; Elias refuses and establishes a no-PDA rule.
Sage adds a no-falling-in-love rule, and they agree on an end date for the arrangement.
Sage sends Elias a photo of them from the Pint for him to post.

Character Development

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Elias shows a quieter, more vulnerable side in this chapter. The absence of his nightmare suggests that Sage's presence—or the distraction of the arrangement—has shifted something in him, even as he insists the lie should be stressing him out. His decision to cook for Sage and show up unannounced reveals a caretaking instinct, and his reaction to her ex's dismissive comment about seeing her as a wind-up ballerina triggers a protective response he does not fully explain. His refusal to kiss her, paired with his discomfort at the no-falling-in-love rule, hints that he is more invested than he wants to admit.

Sage is equally layered here. Her nervousness about Elias seeing her apartment and her self-care routine shows how rarely she lets anyone in. Her admission that she has no friends—delivered with casual confidence—underscores her isolation, as does her reluctance to tell Sean the truth because he noticed she looks genuinely happy. Her humor and teasing (the Build-A-Boyfriend idea, the vibrator joke) serve as deflections, but her willingness to share her comfort movie and her fears suggests she is beginning to trust Elias more than she planned.

Themes, Symbols, or Motifs

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Vulnerability and trust: Sage's run-down apartment and her self-care night become a space of unexpected intimacy. Elias seeing her without makeup, in an old T-shirt, and her letting him in despite her embarrassment, mirrors the emotional exposure both characters are beginning to risk.

Rules and boundaries: The list they create is a way to control an inherently uncontrollable situation. The rules—especially no PDA and no falling in love—are attempts to protect themselves from the very feelings the arrangement is starting to generate.

The nightmare as a barometer: Elias's nightmare has historically tracked his stress. Its absence signals that something about Sage is calming him, even though the fake relationship should, by his own logic, be a source of anxiety.

Cooking as meditation: Elias's description of cooking as grounding ties his care for others to a ritual of control and comfort. Bringing food to Sage is both a practical gesture and an emotional one.

Self-care as intimacy: The face masks, candles, and comfort movie create a domestic scene that feels more real than any public performance. It is the private, unguarded version of their relationship, in contrast to the staged photo they plan to post.

Why This Chapter Matters

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This chapter formalizes the fake relationship, giving it structure and an expiration date, which sets the stakes for everything that follows. It also deepens both characters' backstories: Elias's nightmare and his history with his biological father's blackmail, and Sage's isolation, her ex's reappearance, and her fear of being seen as not good enough. The no-falling-in-love rule is an explicit warning that the arrangement is already blurring lines, and the photo Sage sends Elias creates a concrete next step for their public performance. The chapter also establishes the emotional foundation—shared meals, self-care, comfort movies—that will make the eventual shift from fake to real feel earned.

Study Questions and Answers

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1. Why does Elias bring tacos to Sage's apartment unannounced, and what does this reveal about his character?

Elias brings the tacos because Sage has been avoiding him with repeated ballet emergency excuses, and he wants to force the planning conversation before his upcoming game. But the gesture also reveals his caretaking nature: cooking is his meditation, and he uses food to connect with people, as he did with his parents and college housemates. Showing up unannounced is a risk—it could have embarrassed her—but it signals that he is willing to push past her defenses, which foreshadows how he will handle her emotional walls later.

2. What do the rules they establish reveal about each character's fears and expectations?

The rules are a map of their anxieties. Elias's no-PDA rule suggests he is uncomfortable with physical intimacy or worried about losing control of the narrative. Sage's no-falling-in-love rule, delivered as a joke, reveals her fear of being hurt or of the arrangement becoming real. Her insistence that he not spend money on her and that she does not like flowers points to a discomfort with being cared for. The rule about who can know the truth—Sage has no one to tell, while Elias has Aiden and friends—highlights the asymmetry in their support systems.

3. How does the setting of Sage's apartment contribute to the chapter's themes?

The apartment is run-down but spotless, which mirrors Sage herself: outwardly polished and capable, but carrying signs of struggle and neglect. The four bolts on the door suggest a need for security, both physical and emotional. The self-care night—candles, face masks, Dirty Dancing—creates a private, vulnerable space where the fake relationship starts to feel real. Elias's presence in that space, and his acceptance of it, is what allows Sage to lower her guard and begin trusting him.

Navigation

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