53 pages • 1 hour read
Julie Murphy, Sierra SimoneA Merry Little Meet Cute
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2022A 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 7-12Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 7 Summary: “Nolan”
Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of R-rated sexual content, bullying, antigay bias, mental illness, and death.
Nolan tells himself not to look at the new post to Bianca von Honey’s ClosedDoors account. He feels affected by their stage kisses the day before and is convinced that he needs to hide his attraction. However, he breaks his resolve and looks at the picture Bee posted, sees the reflection of the person taking the photo, and believes that she was with someone else the night before.
They meet at the dance studio to rehearse lines, and Nolan reminds himself of the risks of getting involved. When Bee questions his motives for taking a role in the movie, Nolan thinks, “Well, Bee, I need the money. I need the veneer of safe celebrity” (98). Nolan asks Bee about her reasons for taking this role, and Bee reveals that she’s always wanted to act but was discouraged by people who called her “fat.” Nolan shares how he got his start with a reality show called Boy Band Bootcamp and that he also enjoyed high school theater. He’s jealous of Bee’s interest in Kallum but provides supportive feedback when she worries about her acting. Nolan realizes that, like him, she is trying to keep her past a secret.
Chapter 8 Summary: “Bee”
Angel tells Bee about the breakup between Jack Hart and Levi Banks, two stars in the porn world, and Bee remembers that she had promised Jack she would do a scene with him. Bee sits beside Nolan as he gets his makeup done, and when she remarks, “My ass was not made for this chair,” Nolan replies, “No, it’s the chair that wasn’t made for your ass” (110). Bee is pleased by his comment. They film a scene eating cheese fries together, and Nolan jokes that she has to try Kansas City barbeque. As he touches her, Bee reminds herself that they are the duke and Felicity, not Bee and Nolan. Gretchen asks them to mimic a moment from The Lady and the Tramp and eat the same cheese fry together. Bee imagines what it would be like to be an actress in films that her grandparents could tell their friends about.
Bee takes a call from Jack, who is worried that, as a man who does both gay and straight porn, he is losing work. Bee starts to feel that “[a]ll the lies and not quite truths and secret identities fe[el] like they [a]re pressing against [her] chest, holding [her] under” (118). She talks with Gretchen, who explains how she and Pearl met and how they balance one another. Gretchen says she doesn’t want Bee to feel like she needs to be so enthusiastic in her kisses with Nolan. Bee worries that her presence in the film will ruin it for everyone.
Chapter 9 Summary: “Nolan”
Nolan talks on the phone with his mother, getting her advice on how to alter the dressing robe he will wear as the duke. His mother says that she hopes Nolan will settle down with someone nice. Nolan feels responsible for supporting his sister and mother, who is struggling to medicate her bipolar disorder effectively. Though he regrets losing all his money with INK, Nolan thinks, “I couldn’t go back and change the past. I could only fix the future” (126).
When Bee doesn’t appear on set the next morning, Nolan goes to find her in costuming and discovers that she needs help putting on her corset. As they converse, Nolan discovers that Bee is an INK fan and tells her a bit about his work with the community theater in Kansas City. He laces her corset and then puts on her stockings, feeling aroused by the action. His control breaks, and he kisses her. He then rubs against her, and as they both come to orgasm, Nolan calls her “Bianca.” The production assistant calls them back to set, and Nolan worries that by breaking his promise to behave on set, he has just thrown away his future.
Chapter 10 Summary: “Bee”
Bee finishes dressing and composes herself, feeling both desired and embarrassed after her sexual contact with Nolan. As they perform their scene together, Bee thinks that “over the last few days, [she] could feel something inside of [her] that [she]’d been pushing away for years begin to rise to the surface” (145). Gretchen remarks on the connection between her and Nolan. Bee talks with Luca, who is hungover but happy because he and Angel had sex the night before. Bee knocks on Nolan’s hotel door to talk to him, and she realizes, “I could see beyond the Nolan Shaw. He needed this movie to pan out just as badly as I did, if not more so” (149). Nolan confesses that he is a subscriber to her ClosedDoors channel. Bee reveals that she has seen INK in concert. Back in her room, having been prompted to update her channel, Bee defies Teddy’s warning and posts a video of her pleasuring herself, knowing Nolan will see it.
Chapter 11 Summary: “Nolan”
Nolan reminds himself that he should not fantasize about Bee or be jealous if she has someone else with her, reminding himself, “She got to touch whomever she wanted” (155). He and Kallum share their concerns over their friend Isaac, whose wife recently died. Nolan is upset when Kallum mentions that Maddie, Nolan’s sister, was studying with a boy. As they film a scene of the duke riding his horse, Nolan wants to show off for Bee but stops to take a call from his sister. Maddie is distressed because the medication their mother needs is very expensive and Medicaid isn’t helping. Nolan promises he will take care of it and then feels guilty for stopping shooting, realizing that everyone else on set has their own challenges to deal with.
Chapter 12 Summary: “Bee”
Bee realizes that she has to get over her fear of horses since she will be riding one, and Nolan helps introduce her to her horse, Whitneigh Houston. Bee says more about being an INK fan, realizing that Nolan has already seen her vulnerable. Angel and Luca invite Nolan and Bee to visit the North Pole with them, and Bee appreciates the performance of Prancer. Bee enjoys how the strip club feels removed from the outside world: “Inside here, it was only holiday joy, too-sweet drink, and half-off appetizers” (170). Bee buys a private dance for her and Nolan, and as Prancer provides a lap dance, Bee asks if she likes her job. Prancer says she loves making people happy. When she learns that they are acting in a film, Prancer asks to take a photo with Bee and Nolan. They return to the inn on the town trolley, and Bee posts a photo of herself looking at Nolan, captioning it with “When you want them, but you can’t have them” (176). Nolan knocks on her door, and Bee suggests that they should have sex to get it out of their system.
Chapters 7-12 Analysis
These chapters move the romance plot forward by introducing the first sexual encounter between Bee and Nolan, a key moment in the building of their physical relationship and in the erotic appeal of the novel. They also offer moments in which Nolan and Bee learn more about one another and begin to develop a deeper friendship as well, foreshadowing the fuller love affair between them. This develops the theme of The Dissonance Between Public Persona and Private Self. While both are initially attracted to the other by a prior history of interest in the other’s public persona, in these private conversations, they learn more about each other’s private selves. They are connected by their similar motivations, some of which are still secret and which the reader sees through their internal monologues: Bee has an interest in acting in more mainstream films because of the challenge and vulnerability involved, while Nolan is looking for job opportunities that will provide better financial compensation than what he earns working for the community theater. This knowledge creates dramatic irony since, at this point, the reader can see deeper similarities between the two protagonists than they perceive themselves.
This shared interest in theater also connects the leads, and, fittingly, their first sexual encounter takes place in period costume within what is functioning as a wardrobe room for the production. This setting hints that both are actors comfortable with performing and may, to some extent, still be interacting with a fantasy. Nolan’s identification of her as Bianca within this moment suggests that he, in particular, is caught up in a sexual fantasy, while Bee, also, has moments where she is self-conscious about interacting with the INK member on whom she had an intense crush.
The novel continues to revel in absurd or farcical humor, especially through the setting and puns, like the names of the horses—Whitneigh Houston— or the dancers at the North Pole, who are named after Santa’s reindeer. Many of the jokes involve references to pop culture, particularly well-known celebrities in film and music. The absurdity of a town that celebrates year-round Christmas is played for laughs in the novel, as is the presumed absurdity of a porn star switching to wholesome, family-friendly holiday fare. A closer comparison arises in the pleasure that both genres deliver to their audience, however. Just as porn is often described as being manufactured and predictable in its premises, holiday movies might be accused of the same. There is a larger question in the book as to what the holiday stands for, indicated by Pearl’s inability to write the last page of the script. However, Prancer, the performer at the North Pole, unites the two genres easily when she observes that “nothing brings more joy than Christmas and titties” (173). She suggests that sex work, like romantic comedies or holiday-themed artifacts, is meant to simply deliver joy, speaking to the theme of The Pursuit of Pleasure.
The Painful Effects of Discrimination are further touched on in these chapters as Bee speaks of the barriers she has encountered because of discrimination against her body shape. The main characters also witness discrimination against friends for their sexuality. While Bee and Nolan both accept that they are attracted to both men and women, Bee’s conversation with Jack Hart explores workplace discrimination against those who identify as bisexual. Wider discrimination against those who perform sex work also poses the danger that Bee, and possibly other members of the crew, will risk their roles in the film if their previous employment becomes public knowledge.
Increasingly in these chapters, the network secondary characters are developed, especially to provide foils to the protagonists. These provide alternative relationship models as the main characters’ own relationship grows. Luca and Angel are at the very beginning of a relationship, enjoying the fulfillment of a sexual attraction that both have long harbored, which echoes Nolan and Bee’s situation. Gretchen and Pearl provide an example of a working partnership and a balance for one another’s personalities, which hints at the possibilities for Bee and Nolan if they can balance their professional and romantic priorities.
