A Visit from the Goon Squad

Sasha is in college and dating Drew. Rob, the narrator of this chapter, is Sasha’s best friend. Rob is still recovering from a suicide attempt two weeks earlier. He resents Drew and Sasha’s public displays of affection. Sasha and Rob became friends when she asked him to be her “fake boyfriend” (192), because she believed her stepfather had a detective following her. Sasha confessed to Rob about her stealing and told him that, in Naples, she’d had a sexual relationship with a man in exchange for money, saying, “I thought he was my boyfriend . . . But I think I wasn’t thinking anymore” (194). Rob confessed to Sasha that he once “drove to a secluded place and spent maybe an hour alone in the car” (195) with a football teammate. Rob observes that Sasha has seemed less troubled since meeting Drew, and this causes him to worry that he’ll lose her emotional support.

Sasha, Drew, and Rob go to a Conduits concert. While Sasha stays close to the stage, Drew moves back to where Rob is, and Rob begins to fantasize about having Drew as his brother, a fantasy that shifts into something more erotic, as he thinks, “If you could see Drew naked, even just once, it would ease a deep, awful pressure inside you” (199).