Regretting You

Clara waits in the school parking lot for Miller. He arrives and brings her a cup of coffee. While complaining about her mother, Clara proclaims to Miller that she will “no longer be following her rules” (249). Clara attends her first-period class with Jonah. When she does not immediately confront Jonah, Clara praises herself. Later, when Jonah gently asks Clara to put her phone away during class, Clara aggressively throws her phone across the room and breaks it into pieces. Jonah escorts Clara into the hallway, hugs her, and apologizes. Clara begins to cry. He asks Clara to discuss what she saw with her mother.

Miller and Clara skip the second half of the school day. At the local park, they discuss their fathers. Clara shares how afraid she is to talk to her mother about the kiss. Miller encourages her to talk to her mother about it. Convinced that Morgan has forgotten the tradition of birthday dinners, Clara asks Miller to come over for dinner that evening.

Clara arrives home from school and asks Morgan what they will be eating for her birthday dinner that evening. Morgan begins to prepare lasagna, Clara’s favorite dish. As she cooks, she is surprised when Jonah and Elijah arrive for dinner. Jonah gifts Clara a new phone. Later, Miller arrives for dinner. Morgan tells Jonah about discovering Miller in Clara’s bed that morning.

Clara rushes through dinner and attempts to leave early with Miller. When Morgan protests, Clara grows angry. She defies Morgan’s command to stay home and leaves with Miller. Jonah advises Morgan to let Clara leave. Morgan asks him to leave her home.

Outside of the house, Clara observes Jonah preparing to leave with Elijah. Before leaving, he comes over to Clara and kisses her on the head. When they’re alone, Miller tells Clara he’s uncomfortable with how she uses their relationship to aggravate her mother. They argue because Miller declares he wants to go home alone. Miller leaves. When Clara enters the house, Morgan confronts her about skipping school earlier that day. Clara retreats to her bedroom and calls Lexie to come over.

As Lexie comforts Clara, Morgan cleans out Chris’s closet and plans to donate his clothes. She looks through a memory box with photos. Discovering a set of photos featuring Jonah, she reminisces on one moment captured in film that shows her and Jonah sharing an intense stare. She recalls hanging on to a pool floatie with Jonah at his pool and feeling their strong attraction to one another. Morgan finally admits to herself that she has feelings for Jonah and that she always has.

Morgan arrives at Jonah’s house. When he answers the door, she confesses that, if she had not gotten pregnant at 17, she would have left Chris. They begin to kiss passionately. Before their kissing grows more intimate, Jonah stops and confronts Morgan about her desire to keep the truth of Jenny and Chris’s affair hidden from Clara and Elijah. They argue briefly before they begin to have sex. Morgan feels a natural chemistry with Jonah. After they have sex, Jonah promises not to tell Elijah the truth about his paternity if Morgan agrees to tell Clara that she wants to begin a relationship with him. Elated, Morgan confesses her love for Jonah.

Lexie and Clara drink wine and discuss Morgan’s relationship with Jonah. Morgan enters in the middle of their conversation and discovers that they have been drinking. She orders Lexie to leave. Drunk, Clara angrily confronts her mother again. Morgan calmly gathers Clara’s phone, laptop, and books while Clara continues to berate her.

Morgan checks on Clara who is passed out in her bed. She answers a call from Jonah. They chat, share their favorite memories of each other, and confess how much they love each other. After hanging up, Morgan discovers Clara vomiting in the bathroom and cares for her. In her bed, a still intoxicated Clara tells Morgan she feels guilty over texting Jenny the morning of the accident and asks Morgan to sing her to sleep.

The next morning, Clara travels to school before classes to reconcile with Miller. Miller confesses his love for Clara. Still recovering from her heavy drinking the night before, Clara returns home to rest.

Morgan is excited about a job interview at a real estate company next week. She remembers what she wrote on her birthday board with Clara and decides to ask Clara if she wants to complete her birthday board. Later that day, Clara emerges from her room and adds three wishes to her board. She wishes for Morgan to accept Miller, for her mother to be honest with her, and for her mother to support her acting career. They calmly discuss Morgan’s resistance to Clara’s dreams of becoming an actress. Morgan expresses her support of Clara.

Before Clara leaves the conversation, Morgan asks Clara about her blaming herself for Jenny and Chris’s death. Clara reluctantly confesses that she was texting Jenny during the accident. Morgan comforts Clara by revealing that Jenny was not driving at the time of the accident. Confused, Clara confronts her mother about her contradictory statement, as Morgan had said that Jenny was the one driving. Morgan attempts to avoid the conversation, but Clara pushes her to tell her the truth about why Jenny and Chris were together. Reluctantly, Morgan reveals the entire truth to Clara. Devastated, Clara attempts to leave to find Miller. Worried about Clara’s ability to drive safely in her current mental state, Morgan agrees to take Clara to Miller.

Distressed, Clara arrives at Miller’s movie theater and waits for him. When he arrives, she reveals what she has learned about her father and Jenny’s relationship and Elijah’s paternity. As Miller comforts her, Clara expresses empathy for her mother for the first time.

Morgan waits for Clara to return home. Anxious, she decides to return to the theater herself to check on Clara. Miller greets her at the theater, apologizes for sneaking out of Clara’s room, and guides her to the theater Clara is waiting in. In the theater, Clara admits she’s worried that she may have inherited Chris’s ability to betray someone he loves. Morgan comforts Clara and encourages her to remember Chris for how great of a father he was.

Clara and Morgan leave the theater together holding hands. Miller observes them from afar and smiles at Clara. She smiles back.

Morgan and Jonah have dinner together the next day while Clara is out with Miller. When Clara returns home, she catches Morgan and Jonah embracing on the couch and expresses her comfort with their affection. Clara plays with Elijah on the floor and encourages him to say the word “Dada.” When Elijah repeats Clara, Jonah, Morgan, and Clara begin to cry. When Clara leans her head on Jonah’s shoulder, they begin to cry even harder.

Morgan walks Jonah to his car at the end of the night. They kiss. Jonah asks Morgan to be his girlfriend and expresses his insecurities regarding their relationship. He worries that his lack of financial success—as compared to Chris—and Elijah’s young age will be hindrances to Morgan’s happiness. For the first time, Morgan openly tells Jonah what she loves about him and says she will never regret being with him. Later that evening, Morgan shreds the letters between Jenny and Chris without reading them.

A few months later, Miller and Clara show their film to Jonah, Morgan, Lexie, and Efren. The film is a humorous mock documentary called Chromophobe about the fear of the color orange. While the others react with confusion, Jonah loves the film and praises Miller and Clara. Miller surprises Clara with one additional film that showcases a montage of clips that Miller has taken over the last several months. Throughout the video, Miller asks Clara to go to prom with him. The film includes footage from the day Clara picked Miller up from the side of the road. In the clip, Miller states that if Clara picks him up, he will break up with his girlfriend and ask Clara out. The last scene is from years earlier when Miller saw Clara starring in a school production and fell in love with her.

Later that evening, Miller invites Clara over for pizza with his grandfather because he has successfully moved the city limits sign. Clara has been helping care for Miller’s grandfather. As they wait for the pizza, Miller’s grandfather gives Miller a copy of his will, which details that Miller will inherit property that he owns in New York City that is worth $250,000. He states his wish for Miller to use the money to attend college. Miller and Clara are excited to both attend the University of Texas in the future but suddenly come to the realization that the school color is orange. Clara jokes that she has purchased an orange prom dress.