I actually don't think that that was the writer's intention. I think that part of Lacey's recovery is learning to let go of toxic relationships that keep her in the past. I do think that Mia will take steps to get better and get back in the picture in the very next Act after the breaking point hits, but I think Mia is purposefully written as toxic and one of the anchors that holds Lacey at the bottom of the ocean. Until the line is cut, Lacey will never be able to swim to the surface.
Obviously I could be totally wrong here, but I just think that MC and Lacey aren't mentally equipped to recognize toxicity yet and what is hurting their relationship.
What you are missing here is how EVERYONE loves the pimp and how the relationships are developed.
Anna calls Lacey her sister ater a year of knowing her, without even knowing her past for example.
The pimp is loved so much by Anna that even when her actions destroy mentally the man she loves she cannot even keep away from her for one week before missing her soooo much that she decides to call her begging to be friends again.
MC forgives her for everything, up to the last moment.
The super protective MC that was fine destroying his opponents life when threatened is completely fine when his wife is put in danger with drugs, he doesn't even comment on the pimp being happy that Lacey got SA.
Oh yeah don't worry I am a bit angry with you but if you bark two times we will be friends again.
So it is not only Lacey, everyone loves the pimp and want to keep her around, she gets scolded VERY mildly by Anna two times, one when Anna reads the messages and the second during the king weekend.
I already outlined the fallout of the messages , which is a nothingburger, but then after witnessing that the pimp is trying her best to give MC another PTSD episode like the week before, what happens? nothing.
There are talks about everyone getting separated (obviously a hint for act 3) and MC + Lacey bringing everybody back, hours after the pimp brought the drugs.
The pimp is not purposefully written as toxic, but in a world where no consequences exist for women (Lacey included), the author created a disloyal, abusive and emotionally stunted character that can get away with everything.
And even then he keeps digging! Poor pimp did what she did to Lacey because if she could manage that maybe she would het over her own hangup as well.
This is one of the worst things one can ever read: I used and abused a human being, without ever asking how she felt or what was going through her mind, to fulfill my own agenda.
It is insane, it was obviously a phrase thrown out to garner sympahy and give an explanation of the pimp behaviour and again it failed miserably and actually made her look even worse.
You can see the shallowness of the character every time Lacey's past is brought up, she never understood her, she never cared to, she spews wrong information to MC without thinking a second time about the consequences (exposing Lacey GREAT memory tbh, but that is another topic).
Look:
MC "And she told you how good it was feeling right?"
M "Yeah, all the time."
M "She'd tell me what things she liked and what she didn't."
and
L "Why would you tell him that?"
L "How could you do that to me?"
M "Tell me where the lie is, Lacey."
M "Tell me I'm wrong."
L "What kind of monster did you think I was?"
L "How could you possibly believe that?"
M "I was there dammit!"
M "I watched what you became."
M "You fucking loved it!"
M "I have pictures of you."
Are just small examples of the total fuckup of a character the pimp is, she just went ahead with her ingenious plan without caring for Lacey wellbeing.
She tried to detach her from MC when she needed him the most, because she was jealous Lacey wasn't giving HER all the attention.
She didn't even try to go through her own "fitness pllan" together with Lacey, which shows how abusive the whole thing is, since she spent weeks and weeks manipulating and forcing her to go through with what she wanted.
And to add the cherry on the shit cake (cit.) , she cares so much about her best friend, while admitting to have ruined her life, that she now is trying to STEAL her husband.
Not share, steal, she wants Lacey to be looking in from the outside.
She has literally
no redeeming qualities aside from "oh but she cares about Lacey and MC so much", which is obviously then completely contraddicted by her actions.
I will stop here, but I have a lot more to say about it, I will reiterate, if the author doesn't start showing some consequences of people's actions even if they have a vagina and the pimp doesn't go through a hellish redemption arc, L&J will be stained in my book.
And tbh even if she goes though this redemption arc, I don't know how can you fix two arcs + college past of horrible and monstruous behaviour.
FAILED CHARACTER
All of it where the pimp interjects about that time, the toothbrush, it all discussed me.
Peeps, I am a seasoned veteran Fire fighter paramedic and I have seen in RL some truly discussing things that no human should see. I have been able to put RL shit like that behind me. This story is really bothering me. Don't want to be a debbie downer, but MC really needs to get away from this or going with my earlier story suggestion making everything better.
He does, all the avoidance thing and repression (cheered on by his friends) is going to bite back soon, calling himself an angry little bitch in self loathing while he needs to express his anger towards the injustice he has been forced to live is going to destroy him.
Funnily enough the toothbrush was a downer for me too, I found it pretty heavy in general.
No sex involved, just pure intimacy, tainted forever.
If you add the sex things, all the silly things like eating some dessert from her tits is now off llimits, radioactive waste.
But this is Lacey's struggle more than MC, she needs to come clean about her past and then admit how she doesn't have anything to offer him anymore that could repay those 4 years waiting.
And all of this is because: "she just wanted to".
It is pretty heavy to have to deal with the consequences of your actions when your reasons to do things is that weak.
Obviously it will be very hard for Mc too, having to accept that his relationship will never be whole or good or even average.
He lost all that during those four years.
