52 pages • 1 hour read
Meghan QuinnA Not So Meet Cute
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2021A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Chapters 12-17Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 12 Summary: “Lottie”
Content Warning: This section of the guide contains discussion of sexual content.
Lottie visits her sister. She is still mad, but she needs someone to talk to. She feels guilty after her tryst with Huxley. Lottie first apologizes to Kelsey, but Kelsey interrupts and says that Karla, Huxley’s assistant, called to set up another meeting. She explains to Lottie why Huxley suddenly left the prior meeting and tells Lottie to lighten up around Huxley.
After talking about improvements Lottie has made to Kelsey’s website, she explains what happened with Huxley the previous night. They gossip about it, and then Huxley texts to say that he’s picking Lottie up for a Lamaze class for expecting mothers. Huxley is waiting for her in the car and greets her under the guise of being her fiancé. He explains that they are doing a pregnancy class and then getting ice cream with Ellie and Dave.
Chapter 13 Summary: “Huxley”
Huxley and Lottie join Dave and Ellie at the Lamaze class. They are both mortified as they replicate sex positions and their “conception” experience. After, while they’re having ice cream, Dave leaves to talk to a business partner. Angela then turns up; she recognizes Huxley and says they met the previous year at the “Stardom Gala.” Huxley recognizes her only through context clues but pretends that he doesn’t recognize her at all. Huxley acts like he and Lottie are together and shows off Lottie’s engagement ring. Lottie gets extremely frustrated with Angela, and she and Huxley leave.
Huxley asks if she wants to talk about the encounter with Angela, but she does not. They instead discuss how the charade of pretending to be engaged is draining. Lottie demands a time frame for their deal, which she says that she only agreed to because Huxley seemed like someone with whom she could get along. Instead, he refuses to get to know her due to his fixation on keeping things strictly business. Huxley relents and allows Lottie to ask him two questions during the day and two at dinner.
She asks why the deal with Dave is so important. He admits that Dave’s properties would be very beneficial to his business but that he must be aggressive because commercial property is very competitive. Huxley asks in return why Lottie is so worried about her parents finding out she was fired. She tells him the story of her toxic friendship with Angela and how they cautioned her against taking the job. She then asks him what he does for fun; he likes baseball and spending time with his brothers. They continue talking about music and sports. He listens to music while working, something that Lottie also enjoys.
Chapter 14 Summary: “Lottie”
The next day, Lottie is in Kelsey’s apartment. She texts Huxley back and forth, using up her allotted questions to ask what music he listens to and what games he likes. At dinner, Huxley tells Lottie he set up a meeting with Dave, which could lead to an end to the fake engagement. They exchange their questions, which focus on where they’d like to travel and their hobbies.
The next day at Kelsey’s house, Lottie tells her about the question arrangement. Kelsey accuses Lottie of being interested in Huxley. Huxley and Lottie text back and forth, and it turns into sexting. They meet again at dinner and ask more questions. Afterward, Huxley performs oral sex on Lottie.
Chapter 15 Summary: “Huxley”
Huxley leaves early the next morning to avoid Lottie. He realizes he’s beginning to develop feelings for her. They text back and forth, flirting and sexting before the conversation turns back to business. They discuss how Kelsey and Lottie are getting ready to pitch their business to Huxley today.
Dave unexpectedly arrives around the same time as Lottie for a surprise meeting. Lottie and Kelsey are about to leave when Huxley tells them to head into the boardroom, telling Dave that he wants to hear their pitch first. Dave is impressed and sets up a meeting at a future date through Karla. Huxley’s brothers say that Lottie enthralls him, but he objects, saying that he simply made a promise to Lottie.
Back home, Huxley reflects on how well Lottie performed. Lottie steps into his room, and he congratulates her. Huxley resists having sex with her, which initially upsets Lottie, but she seduces him into showering with her. They have sex and then Huxley leaves. Afterward, in her own room, Lottie texts her two questions. They ask each other what their favorite aspect of themselves is. He says drive; she says loyalty. They then ask what their favorite aspect of each other is. He says that she’s fearless. She comes to his room and tells him her favorite part of him is his helping heart. She leaves, and he texts his brothers to admit that he likes her.
Chapter 16 Summary: “Lottie”
The next morning, Lottie gets up to find that Huxley is already out on a run. She has the house to herself. She sunbathes nude, and Huxley arrives home suddenly. She coaxes him into skinny dipping in the pool with her. They float around in the sun for a while before he brings her inside, where they talk about their growing affection for one another. She teaches him how to make a grilled cheese sandwich, and they eat outside, flirting and asking each other their daily questions.
Later, Lottie is working on her laptop when Angela texts about the reunion. Lottie says that she and Huxley will be attending together. Angela falsely claims she saw Huxley with someone else the other night. They fight over text briefly until Huxley comes in and takes the phone away from her. He leads her to the roof, where she can lie in the rain without being disturbed, something she earlier mentioned she has always wanted. They lie in the rain together. Huxley admits to enjoying her company. They flirt and become physically affectionate. Huxley says that he’d release her from the contract any time she wants if it would make her happy. They go inside, and she admits to herself that she’s starting to care about him.
Chapter 17 Summary: “Huxley”
Lottie is at a store waiting for Ellie and phoning Kelsey. Kelsey asks if Lottie feels uncomfortable leading Ellie on and says that she should tell the truth. Lottie reflects on how Kelsey doesn’t know about her increasing intimacy with Huxley. When she admits to liking him, Kelsey is alarmed. However, Lottie mentions that—despite all their intimacy—he has yet to kiss her. Ellie then arrives and greets Lottie enthusiastically. They shop for breast pumps, something Lottie finds awkward.
Back home, Huxley asks Lottie how it went, and she shares that the experience was positive. He reveals that he bought her a T-shirt from one of the original tours of Fleetwood Mac, one of the bands they bonded over. Huxley asks Lottie out on a date to a Fleetwood Mac concert. Lottie finds this incredibly thoughtful and realizes that she’s falling for him due to his kind heart and attentive mind. He has also moved all her original clothes to her room, allowing her to dress the way she pleases.
Chapters 12-17 Analysis
Following the miscommunications and fights of Chapters 6 through 11, this section allows Lottie and Huxley to begin overcoming some of their differences and opening up emotionally. Kelsey becoming upset with Lottie serves as a turning point in the latter’s character arc, as Lottie must put her pride aside and put in the effort to support Kelsey rather than allowing her independence and her frustration with Huxley to get in the way of things. At the same time, Lottie is forced to soften her idea of Huxley as she learns why he left his initial meeting with her and Kelsey. Lottie then understands that she has also been unfair in her behavior and must commit to her agreement. Besides revealing that Lottie is becoming less reflexively suspicious of and defensive around those with more money, this realization facilitates Lottie and Huxley’s growing closeness, though it doesn’t instantly solve her dislike of him—e.g., her impatience with his single-minded focus on business. Instead, Quinn introduces several comedic moments—something for which she is known, as she frequently pens romantic comedies—that force Huxley and Lottie to be close to one another and overcome some of their awkwardness.
Another major instigator in their path to becoming emotionally available is the sudden presence of Angela, who runs into the two following the Lamaze class and later texts Lottie about the reunion. This continues to reveal The False Allure of Wealth. Lottie now has everything she wanted, at least on the surface: a handsome partner with more money and status than Angela. Still, the experiences rile her, which suggests that Lottie is less preoccupied with the economic differences between her and Angela and more wounded by Angela’s betrayal—something money can’t fix. Lottie tells Huxley, “I hate that I know what my answer is because I wish something else would consume me. […] The relationship I’ve had with her has been toxic. At times, she’s made me feel important, special, only to throw me away as if I didn’t matter” (231). Lottie is aware of how Angela controls her and wishes she didn’t feel that way, but Angela’s hold over her is still too strong, due in part to Lottie’s struggles with self-esteem.
The admission helps Huxley begin to understand Lottie’s struggles and complexity and thus gives way to a conversation in which they share how they’re feeling and start opening up to one another. Such interactions also develop themes of The Impact of Societal Expectations on Personal Choices and The Balance Between Authenticity and Appearance, as the characters’ major emotional hurdles—e.g., the mistrusting nature that Lottie originally held and the distant, business-oriented attitude that Huxley maintained for so long—stem in large part from the pressure they feel to perform particular roles. That this sense of pressure begins to dissolve in one another’s company functions as proof of their compatibility and positive influence on one another.
As in many enemies-to-lovers romances, Huxley and Lottie’s sexual relationship precedes any romantic one—a reflection of the initial lack of emotional intimacy. However, the novel does not frame its sex scenes as an end in and of themselves but rather suggests that the couple’s sexual chemistry can be bolstered by emotional availability and honesty. Due to this, their sexual relationship truly begins in this section, the intensity of their physical intimacy increasing alongside the development of their romantic dynamic. As Huxley becomes comfortable with Lottie and understands that she has no interest in undermining or hurting him (and that, furthermore, she genuinely desires to get to know him), he makes gestures of goodwill that increasingly shade into romantic overtures. The ease he feels around Lottie causes him to drop some of the standards he had for behavior, to the point that his brothers notice his improved mood and growing connection to Lottie. Most notably, he buys her a Fleetwood Mac tee, something that doesn’t align with the expensive clothes and lingerie he bought her at the beginning of their agreement, and he moves her original clothes back into her closet. This shows his prioritization of Lottie’s wants and needs over what he feels is expected of him; it also functions as a pointed contrast to the luxurious engagement ring that marked the beginning of their fake relationship, signaling that they are building a more honest dynamic with one another.
