Larissa Character Analysis: The Night We Met by Abby Jimenez

Who Is Larissa?

Larissa is a financially struggling waitress and single mother in Abby Jimenez's The Night We Met. She carries crushing debt from her father's identity theft, works multiple side jobs to stay afloat, and initially dates Mike—a charming man from a wealthy family—before slowly realizing her true feelings for his best friend, Chris. Her arc is one of survival, self-discovery, and learning to trust her own worth.

Larissa's Role in the Plot

Larissa serves as the emotional center of the novel's love triangle. The story opens with her depending on Chris for a ride to her mother's surgery, and that small act of reliability becomes the pattern that defines her journey: Chris consistently shows up in ways Mike does not. As Mike's alcoholism escalates, Larissa becomes the character through whom the novel explores what it means to recognize love—not as grand gestures, but as quiet, steady presence.

Her role is not passive. She actively makes choices—choosing Mike initially, choosing to pay off her father's debt rather than declare bankruptcy, choosing to leave Mike when his addiction endangers her life, and ultimately choosing to tell Chris she wants more than friendship. Each decision pushes the plot forward and reveals her evolving understanding of what she deserves.

Motivations and Traits Shown Through Actions

Larissa is driven by two competing forces: the need for stability and the fear of becoming her mother. She dropped out of high school to work after her father abandoned the family, and she has been in survival mode ever since. Her actions consistently show grit: she donates plasma, walks dogs, makes snackle boxes, and photographs billboards for secret-shopper gigs—all while waitressing. She refuses to take the easy way out, whether that means filing for bankruptcy or letting Mike give her cash instead of earning it herself.

Her pride is a defining trait, but Jimenez complicates it. Larissa is not merely proud; she is terrified of dependency. She watched her mother cycle through unreliable men, and she vowed never to repeat that pattern. This fear explains why she initially chooses Mike: he seems stable, successful, and different from her father. Yet her refusal to accept help—even when Chris offers it freely—also becomes a barrier she must overcome.

Her empathy is another core trait. She comforts Chris about his mother's death, creates paper-quilled art to honor people she cares about, and gives food to a homeless man named Delta even when she has little herself.

Chronological Character Arc

Early chapters: Overwhelmed but determined. Larissa cannot catch a break. She learns her father stole her identity, her mother's boyfriend Phil is a leech, and she is exhausted from constant side jobs. Her internal monologue reveals shame about her apartment and her family's class position relative to Mike's wealthy friends.

Middle chapters: Growing awareness of the wrong choice. As Mike's drinking escalates, Larissa begins comparing him to Chris without fully admitting it. Chris removes nuts from the cabin pantry for her safety; Mike forgets her allergy and buys almond-flour macarons. Chris drives her to photograph billboards; Mike is too hungover to show up. The evidence accumulates, but Larissa resists acknowledging the pattern because doing so would mean admitting she chose wrong—and that her instincts, which she relied on to survive, might be broken.

The cabin sequence: Crisis and clarity. When Mike's drinking culminates in his failure to clear nuts from the cabin and Larissa goes into anaphylaxis, Chris administers his own EpiPen and punches Mike. This is the turning point. Larissa discovers that Chris secretly bought the jewelry box Mike gave her, cleared snow from her car, and performed countless unnoticed acts of care. The revelation forces her to confront that the man she thought she loved never existed—the qualities she valued in Mike were actually Chris's.

Later chapters: Learning to accept love. After moving in with Chris, Larissa launches Board & Sweet, her nut-free grazing business. She resists accepting money directly but eventually lets Chris co-sign a loan. The arc completes when she tells Chris she wants a real relationship, not just silent devotion. She stops running from what she deserves.

Key Relationships

Larissa and Mike

Larissa's relationship with Mike is built on a foundation she misreads. She sees him as warm and safe—everything her father was not. But Mike is hiding alcoholism, panic attacks, and lies about his work. Larissa's tolerance of his drinking mirrors her mother's pattern with unreliable men, a parallel she explicitly recognizes late in the novel. She tells Mike, "change for somebody else," closing the door on a relationship that never matched her needs.

Larissa and Chris

The relationship with Chris develops through small, consistent acts rather than declarations. He brings her matcha, checks her EpiPen, clears snow from her car at 4:30 a.m., and co-signs her business loan. Larissa realizes that "the man she thought Mike was actually Chris." Their bond deepens through shared vulnerability—his mother's death, her father's betrayal—and the novel argues that this slow build is more trustworthy than instant chemistry.

Larissa and Her Mother

Nancy is both a cautionary tale and a source of love. She embarrasses Larissa by texting Chris for medical advice, but she also names the truth Larissa avoids: when asked which man she would choose if she could relive the night they met, Larissa's hesitation reveals everything. Nancy's advice is blunt but perceptive.

Larissa and Lexi

Lexi serves as the voice Larissa does not want to hear—questioning her lack of passion with Mike, teasing her about Chris, and naming what Larissa cannot admit aloud.

Key Decisions and Consequences

Choosing Mike over Chris on the night they met. Larissa later questions this choice, realizing her low self-worth led her toward the man who seemed more attainable and away from the one who actually saw her.
Paying off her father's debt instead of filing bankruptcy. This decision adds immense strain but reflects her refusal to let someone else's wrongdoing define her financial future.
Moving in with Mike despite doubts. The decision traps her and forces her to confront his addiction in the most visceral way—finding him passed out in his own vomit.
Leaving Mike after anaphylaxis. This is the moment Larissa stops excusing behavior that endangers her. She chooses her safety over loyalty.
Telling Chris she wants more. In chapter 48, she refuses to live in limbo. She says, "Someone is going to get hurt. No matter what we do, someone will lose. I guess the least selfish thing would be for it to be us." This decision pushes Chris past his guilt and into the relationship.

Theme and Symbol Connections

Grief and Loss

Larissa carries grief for the father who abandoned her, the financial security she never had, and the childhood she lost. Her arc toward Chris involves acknowledging these losses so they stop driving her decisions. For more on this theme, see grief and loss in The Night We Met.

Financial Hardship and Class Divide

Larissa's shame about her apartment, her mother's behavior, and her inability to "keep up" with Mike's friends is a constant undercurrent. The novel uses economic anxiety not as set dressing but as a force that shapes her choices—including why she tolerates Mike's behavior longer than she should. See financial hardship and class divide.

Love and Sacrifice

Chris's love is sacrificial: he clears snow, buys EpiPens, and suppresses his feelings. Larissa's journey involves learning to receive that love without feeling indebted. See love and sacrifice.

Addiction and Recovery

Larissa is not the addict, but she is the partner of one. Her story shows how addiction distorts relationships and how enabling can masquerade as loyalty. See addiction and recovery.

Self-Worth and Independence

Larissa's arc is fundamentally about self-worth. She starts the novel believing she must earn every scrap of security and ends it accepting that she is worthy of love and support simply because she exists. See self-worth and independence in The Night We Met.

5 Book-Specific Questions About Larissa

1. Why does Larissa choose Mike over Chris on the night they meet?

Larissa herself offers the clearest answer during her conversation with Chris in chapter 25, though the realization builds across the entire novel. She reflects that her self‑worth was so low she gravitated toward the man who seemed more attainable. Mike was loud, confident, and pursued her openly. Chris was quiet, steady, and held back. Larissa was not ready to trust the kind of love Chris offered because she did not yet believe she deserved it.

2. What makes Larissa finally leave Mike?

The immediate trigger is anaphylaxis caused by Mike's negligence with macarons. But the deeper reason is the accumulation of broken trust: Mike lied about his drinking, about working for Tony, and about the migraines that masked hangovers. When Larissa discovers him passed out in vomit and urine in chapter 34, it confirms a pattern she had been ignoring. The anaphylaxis makes ignoring it impossible.

3. How does Larissa's relationship with her mother shape her choices?

Larissa's mother Nancy represents the life Larissa is desperate to avoid: dependency on unreliable men, financial instability, and a lack of agency. Larissa's pride, her refusal to accept help, and her initial attraction to Mike all stem from watching her mother's mistakes. Yet Nancy also gives Larissa the most honest advice in the novel, naming the hesitation that Larissa cannot face on her own.

4. What role does Larissa's graze board business play in her arc?

The business—Board & Sweet—is not just a plot device; it is the physical manifestation of Larissa's independence. She builds it from nothing using skills she developed on her own. Accepting Chris's help with the business forces her to confront her fear of dependency while also proving she can create something beautiful and sustainable. The moment she receives her first large order, covering a month of income, marks a genuine turning point away from survival mode.

5. Does Larissa act on her feelings for Chris before breaking up with Mike?

No. The novel makes clear that while Larissa feels attraction to Chris—she notices his scent, his calm presence, and his considerate actions—she never acts on those feelings while with Mike. She suppresses them, rationalizes them, and even convinces herself her relationship is "fine." The emotional honesty comes only after she leaves Mike, and the physical relationship begins only after she and Chris explicitly choose each other in chapter 48.

Interpretation vs. Explicit Fact

What follows is interpretation, supported by textual evidence, rather than claims the narrator makes outright. Larissa's choice of Mike over Chris likely reflects a deeper psychological pattern: she equates struggle with virtue. She has spent her life proving she can survive anything, and part of her may have unconsciously chosen a man who would require more endurance rather than one who would make life easier. The novel never states this directly, but Larissa's actions—refusing Chris's money, insisting on earning her own way, and staying with Mike long past the point of reasonable doubt—all point toward a character who has not yet learned that ease is not the same as weakness.

Another interpretive layer concerns Larissa's mother. Nancy is often comic relief, but her role is more complex. She is a mirror of what Larissa fears and a voice of uncomfortable truth. The fact that Nancy approves of Chris and names Larissa's hesitation as proof of her true feelings suggests that Nancy sees Larissa's potential for a different life even when Larissa cannot.