Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants

The following morning, Effie comes into Lena’s room to borrow an outfit and finds the drawing of Kostos. She proclaims that Lena is clearly in love with Kostos and will regret it if she doesn’t tell him how she feels.

Tibby and Bailey wake up together. Bailey says that Tibby’s presence “gave [her] good dreams” (163). Tibby tells Bailey about Mimi’s death. Bailey encourages Tibby not to blow off her next shift at Wallman’s but asks her to come back afterward.

Carmen is waiting for Tibby outside. She offers to walk Tibby to work, but first insists that they switch clothes so that Carmen can wear the traveling pants. On August 19, she flies to South Carolina, arriving just in time for her father’s wedding. She watches the family at the altar and is sad, knowing they wanted her with them. As the ceremony ends, her father spots her in the crowd.

Bridget’s friends visit her, bringing her gifts and expressing their concern. She agrees to go to dinner with them. Afterward, Eric asks her to accompany him on a walk. As they walk along the beach, he tells her that he was too blinded by her confidence to realize how inexperienced she was with love and sex. She admits that she is only 15. Eric tells her that he thinks about her all the time, but that they can’t be together right now. Bridget wishes his words made her feel better, but they don’t.

At the reception, Carmen’s father hugs her for a long time without saying anything. He insists that she join him for family photos, saying, “you belong with us” (168). Carmen is surprised that Lydia is happy to include her in the photos. She dances with Paul and then her father. Later, she sends the traveling pants to Lena with a note saying that she and Tibby have both done good in them.

At work, Tibby is visibly upset. On her break, she is approached by Tucker Rowe, who asks her out for coffee. Tibby turns him down. Instead, she’s joined by her coworker Angela, who tells Tibby that she knows Bailey has cancer. Angela had a young niece die of cancer and understands Tibby’s grief. Tibby is ashamed that in the past, she only noticed Angela’s fingernails.

The traveling pants arrive on Lena’s last day in Greece. She wears them to the forge, where she finally confronts Kostos. She gives him her painting and apologizes for her part in the feud between their families, then tells him that she likes him. Gathering her courage, she leans in and kisses him, and he reciprocates.

After visiting hours at the hospital end, Tibby visits Brian McBrian at the 7-Eleven. He teaches her how to play Dragon Master. Brian tells Tibby that he, too, visits Bailey every day. He’s bought her a Sega Dreamcast so she can play Dragon Master from her bed. As Tibby walks home, she wonders whether happiness is about “stringing together a bunch of small pleasures” (177). She concludes that everyone is doing their best to get through life, regardless of their individual circumstances.

On her last morning in Greece, Lena is determined to have a conversation with Bapi, but when she looks at him, she realizes that their amiable silence is the core of their bond. Bapi tells her that she is his girl, and Lena knows it’s true.

Bailey’s condition worsens over the next few days. Tibby visits again, and they play Dragon Master together. Tibby tells Bailey that Bailey was right about Brian. She admits that she judges people without knowing them, but Bailey adds that she is always open to changing her mind.

The following day, Tibby gets a call from Mrs. Graffman, who tells her Bailey has died. She attends Bailey’s funeral with Carmen; Angela and Margaret are also in attendance. That night, she is unable to sleep. She takes Mimi out of the freezer and brings her body to the cemetery, where she buries her next to Bailey. She lies down, briefly wishing to die and be reunited with her friends, but then realizes that she must keep living in honor of Bailey.

Bridget writes several letters to Lena, saying that she feels scared and dissociated. Lena ponders the letters on a plane back from Greece, worried for Bridget. Instead of flying home when she lands, she books a flight to Baja, arriving on Bridget’s last day of camp. She gives Bridget the pants and tells her they will fix everything, but Bridget says that Lena already has.

Carmen once again narrates in first person, describing the girls’ joint birthday celebration at Gilda’s at the end of the summer. They tell one another about the experiences they’d had while apart. Carmen remarks that their summer apart has made them “strange to one another” (184) but is comforted by the knowledge that they will share everything in due time. The traveling pants represent their promise that “nothing [will] be lost” (184), and they will always find their way back together.