>>149884020
That's generally what I was getting at with the comment about Mike's self-worth/image. Remember how he got so pissed at Lucy for immediately jumping ship to the next available boy once he was out of the picture? It made any protestations of love extremely suspect because Mike kept having every reason in the world to think Lucy only saw him as a replaceable security blanket. Now more or less the same thing has gone down with James. He's allegedly been infatuated with Mike for months now, moved schools just to be near him (I may be misremembering that plot point), lovebombed gray cat to hell and back, and then the moment that Mike asks to stay friends, James hyperfocuses on someone who isn't even a real character. If all that attention and emotional building-up can swivel on a dime to target someone else, leaving Mike high and dry...well, then, was there ever anything to it? What's so special about Mike? Nothing, that's what. He got replaced by fucking DAVID. He's completely interchangeable and thus worthless.