Addicted to You

Lo is the story’s deuteragonist, Lily’s best-friend-turned-boyfriend, and an enabler of her addiction. Lo has alcohol use disorder, which began when he was 11 years old and has continued into his adulthood. Although he is in college, Lily admits that she sees no prospects for his future with his drinking. Lo and alcohol are so interconnected that Lily starts to see alcohol in Lo’s physical features: “Cheekbones that cut like ice and eyes like liquid scotch. Loren Hale is an alcoholic beverage and he doesn’t even know it” (5). Lo is virtually always inebriated and drinks hard liquor during his waking hours. He binge drinks even more when something upsets him, such as a difficult conversation with his father or knowing that Lily slept with someone at the bar. Lily has memories of Jonathan berating Lo as a child, telling Lo that he should be something that a father can be proud of. Lo never knew his mother and learns from Ryke that he is the product of his father’s affair with a minor. While Jonathan was devoted to raising him, he had his own alcohol use disorder, which prevented Lo’s father from ever seeing that Lo needed help. Lo’s alcohol use hurts not only himself but also everyone around him, and it takes a long time for him to realize this. Lo’s lack of self-awareness is part of The Precarious Nature of Addiction and is fed by his relationship with Lily.

Lo’s relationship with Lily is toxic and codependent, and because they each have a severe addiction, they enable and encourage one another’s poor decisions. Lo is possessive of Lily but never clear about his intentions with her, so he comes across as teasing her for the amusement of it. Lily intuitively knows that Lo is not in a state to be a stable boyfriend but desperately wants him anyway, and every time he teases her, it drives her to have sex with someone else. Lo and Lily share the experience of addiction, a love of comic books, and a desire to isolate and hide their true selves from their families. They make up a “club with a two-person quota” and don’t form close relationships (19). All of this changes with the introduction of Connor and Ryke, who, in their own ways, each encourage Lo to realize his problem and seek help for it. Lo is defensive at first and doesn’t want to change: “I’m a rich asshole who has everything. And I like it” (268). After Lily is assaulted and Lo is not there to protect or comfort her, however, he comes to the realization that he needs help. Lo makes this sacrifice knowing that his whole life is about to change, but he puts his own well-being first.

Lily has three sisters: Poppy, who is the eldest; Rose, who is the second eldest; and Daisy, who is the youngest. The Calloway sisters are each different but share the same upbringing and background and remain connected to one another through a deep sense of familial love. Lily disconnects from her family because she worries that her sex addiction will tarnish the family’s reputation and their perception of her. She tells herself that it is more beneficial to keep it a secret and attempts to keep her family life separate from everything else. The result is that Lily neglects her family and loses touch with what is going on in their lives. Poppy is a caring and nurturing older sister, but she has her own child to look after and can’t always be there for Lily. Daisy is younger than Lily and caught up in the fashion world, and she and Lily don’t know each other well.

Lily and Rose are closest in age, and Rose regularly inserts herself into Lily’s life to check on her and try to pull her back into the family circle. Lily admires Rose and likes how cool and guarded she can be. When Rose starts dating Connor, he tells her about Lily being assaulted, and Rose intervenes: “You’re not okay. He got wasted at a bar and passed out while a guy assaulted you!” (316). She reacts with both honesty and firmness as she tells Lily that she should move in with her and take time to figure out who she is. The Role of Family in Self-Healing is not evident to Lily for a long time, but when she realizes it, she holds onto it tightly.

Connor is a secondary character who comes into Lily’s and Lo’s lives to disrupt and act as “the interloper, the guy forcing [them] to confront [their] problems, to truly stare and see them for what they are” (228). He starts out as a tutor for Lily but quickly becomes a friend and ally in both Lily’s and Lo’s lives. Connor initially comes across as having a strong superiority complex, and he has no issue pointing out how much smarter he is than everyone else. Despite this flaw, Lily likes Connor because he is unabashedly himself, and he doesn’t seem to judge her or Lo. One night while tutoring Lily, Lo is missing, and Connor helps her look for him, going far beyond his duties as a tutor. Connor also defends Lo at the party even though Lo is in the wrong, and he encourages Lo to start going to the gym and drinking less alcohol.

Connor is Lily and Lo’s first friend outside of each other, and the experience is new for both of them. His presence proves to be an essential positive in their lives because he acts as an outside source of support and also helps pull Rose into Lily’s life so that she can support her as well. Although Connor is not actually family, he becomes part of the community that Lily and Lo need to heal themselves and embrace healthier lifestyles.