I think it's written that way , so I have a theory that all of the other girls make up aspects of Lacey that she either never had or has lost due to her brain injury
I am not sure, I think the writer missed the train here, he tries to show some sweet aspects of Lacey but misses the point by looking for some shock value.
In this situation, the Lacey that is hanging by a thread, just cheated in a very rough way just a few days before (without counting all the previous awful behaviour), forced MC to accept her flirting (1 or 2 days after her breaking all the rules that she set and destroying MC agency), is attacking MC relentlessly on his weak points, then she discovers her mistake and cries about it and all is forgiven.
We are left in the dark about what actually happened there, but looking at Lacey's past actions we kinda get that she is lying, after all people with a gf don't leave sweet notes attached to your door (a message signed by both could have made more sense).
I will state this again, the brain damage is a hoax, it is there but it is not the reason Lacey is acting like she is.
Even if she had chronic encelophathy (causes erratic behaviour), which she doesn't, the constant behavioural issues would not match, as she is confrontational and hurtful only to MC.
Not to her friends, not to the guy that tried to rape her, not to Isaac or Evan that did terrible things but MC writes some bad messages? Immediate retaliation with cheating, MC wants to stop the flirting or the dresses? More flirting and more dresses.
This is what people often miss when playing this game, Lacey is nice and almost submissive to everyone except MC, who is held hostage by his own issues and weaponized sex/emotional blackmail from Lacey.
She is lying to herself and everyone else about it, she is an addict looking for excuses for her behaviour.
Ketamine brain damage does not work like that, I already wrote extensively on what the actual damage is (serotonin and dopamine issues).
Her memory problems are false or overstated, she remembers everything up to dick size and the dresses she used to wear and when, even in the oh so hard "third phase".
Her NTS aatempt is never consensual by the way, so it is not NTS.
She wants to feed on MC jealousy, full stop.
If you look at the facts, not the lies (again she lies to herself to justify her actions), you can see that her explanations do not match at all.
Even before that if your husband says "stop", you stop, unless you are enjoying his suffering, knowing full well there will not be any repercussions.
Correct. They went out from work (and yes, the new collegue and his gf drop her off and yes he leaves a bote on the door, she is pissed with the way 'he' replied but in reality it was Mia she text. What bothered me was the 'way' Mia replied and 'what' she said...little harsh (the way I read it) and that was just never brought up at all. I wondered why Mia replied the way she did, very off-hand, curt and altogether not giving a fuck. Makes me wonder if Mia is at the end of her tether, despite it being her that enabled Lacey's behaviour in the first place.
We don't know how Mia and Lacey interact in private.
Mia is jealous that Lacey was able to move on from the abuse she subjugated Lacey with.
Maybe this is how Mia is written, the "fun" girl, even if her idea (and maybe the writer's) is high school freshman level (Anna wants to give you a blojob? Is that a funny joke to anyone that reached puberty?).
I don't think Mia is at the end of the rope, she happily joked with Lacey about dick sizes after Lacey cheated and her husband was missing for hours.
I mean, husband with suicidal tendencies goes missing for hours after a tragic event, but hey do you remember how good I got railed by that dick? Totally normal behaviour, right? (Again I think this is the writer looking for shock value but also shows that Mia loves being in the center of Lacey attention).
So Mia is fine with Lacey, she just made one of her "funny" jokes IMO.
That said Mia should have been gatekept from the friends circle by Anna and MC, she is a disgusting character (abused Lacey for years, abused MC and tried to break off the marriage, couldnt even show happines for Lacey when it happened) with her own agenda working against Lacey and MC.
Edit: the main issue of the writing here is that a lot of stuff is left behind and never explained, to try and give uncertainty and shock value, but that leaves more and more flaws in the story, especially if you read it more than once.
I hope that the author will give most of the answers in act 2, or modify act 1 to include these explanations.