Before We Were Strangers

Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of illness, death, sexual content, addiction, and substance use.

In the months before Matt leaves for South America, he and Grace spend all their time together. Sometimes he worries that Grace isn’t as serious about him as he is about her, but he also knows they’re both “trying to protect [their] heart[s]” (148).

One day, Grace insists that she, Matt, Tatiana, and Brandon spend the day together. First, they have drinks at the Old Hat. Then they head to the campus photo lab. They take photos together and Matt and Grace develop them in the darkroom, where they end up having sex. Afterward, they head to a jazz bar. Grace plays a song she wrote on the piano. Then they head to the park to sit under their favorite tree and smoke. 

Finally, Grace announces that she got into NYU’s grad program. Tatiana accuses Grace of putting her life on hold for Matt; she thinks she’s staying in New York instead of joining Dan’s orchestra so she’ll be there when Matt returns from South America. Grace accuses Tatiana of being attached to Brandon, too. The four get into an argument about the seriousness of their relationships.