The American Roommate Experiment

“I nodded slowly, pushing my growing eagerness down. ‘Because you just fed me, and I’m a man in debt, I’ll let you start.’ Her gaze roamed around my face, one of her eyebrows dipping in thought, as if she was readying herself to uproot my deepest secrets right out me. It was adorable. And a little scary.”

Here, Elena Armas sets up that Lucas is just as intrigued by Rosie, though he has no history of wondering about her before their meeting. He notices her curious eyes, calling her both “adorable” and “scary”—which emphasizes that he is both attracted and intimidated. He is “eager” to get to know her, assuring the reader that the attraction is mutual.

“‘Hey.’ Lucas’s voice registered, making me realize I had been staring into empty space. ‘You’re ballsy, Rosie.’ The right side of his mouth tipped up. ‘That’s something you should never forget. And something you should be proud of.’ Ballsy. I’d never been called that. Not even once. Cautious, responsible, driven, but never ballsy.”

In this moment, Lucas sets himself up as Rosie’s staunch supporter, urging her to celebrate herself rather than give in to doubts. She finds his compliment remarkable because it contrasts with her self-image: Lucas already sees the best of her, encouraging her to embrace the risks she has taken.

“I can’t write, Lucas! And here you are, witnessing the complete and utter mess that is my life. Oh, and to make everything even better, I’ve been craving Cronuts ever since I got my period this morning and when we leave here it will be too late to get them because Holy Cronut will be closed!”

Rosie’s exclamations contrast with her calmer, more self-assured demeanor, setting up the extent of her current crisis. Somehow, Lucas has broken down her reserve, to the point of revealing her setbacks. Armas also injects a note of comedy: Despite the chaos around her, Rosie remains focused on pastries.

“His eyes danced with something I liked knowing I had put there. Even after that reminder of us being friends. ‘Like a code?’ he asked. ‘Just for us?’ ‘Sure,’ I said, loving the idea way more than he did. Far more than I should have. ‘Something like that.’”

This quote underlines Rosie’s efforts to hold herself back—to not read into Lucas’s expressions and not hope for romance. However, Lucas frames the two of them as a team, delighted by the idea of sharing secrets. Moments like this establish the value of dual narratives: The reader knows Lucas is becoming just as infatuated with Rosie.

“I hadn’t cared about the tightness gripping the now weak muscles under her weight. Or the soreness I’ll suffer in a few hours after our dancing session. To be honest, I was sick and tired of paying attention to any of that. I was sick of not being able to do whatever I pleased because of this goddamn injury.”

Here, Armas establishes how much Lucas’s notions of romance are rooted in his expectations for his body, his physicality. He is so drawn to Rosie that he puts aside his leg pain—underlining both his growing infatuation and lack of self-regard. He is “sick” of his current reality, unable to entertain that Rosie values him for more than his physical strength.

“‘Is this a strong enough spark for you?’ His gaze dipped down to my lips, where I was smeared with tomato sauce. I watched his throat bob. ‘Because I can try harder. For you, I will.’ A shiver curled down my spine when his hand moved and cupped the back of my neck.”

Lucas’s flirting draws the reader into the scene to experience the same level of intensity Rosie does. Armas uses moments like this to demonstrate the promise of simulated relationships in romance novels—that the fiction will soon fall away. Lucas is clearly caught up in the moment, eager for real reactions, and Rosie is strongly affected by his words. There is nothing casual or clinical about their dating experiment, despite their insistence on labeling it as such.

“I went with the truth. ‘Because the plan had been to feed you those pizzas. And burning them bruised my ego.’ We fell into silence for a couple of minutes, my head going straight back into my gutter. Thinking of her, of tonight.”

Lucas’s willingness to admit to his hurt pride indicates that he is bringing his real self to his and Rosie’s dates. He wants to maintain the image of an ideal love interest, and so sees his flaws as a betrayal of this obligation rather than an opportunity for bonding, as Rosie does. He castigates himself for his attraction, as he suggests his thoughts are in the “gutter”—somehow beneath Rosie.

“I could tell he wasn’t bullshitting me. He’d probably help if I ever hurt Rosie. And I liked that, I liked knowing that people like Aaron and Lina had Rosie’s back. That was why I looked at him straight in the eye when I said, ‘I’d never hurt her. I could never do that.’ Aaron’s lips tipped up in a surprisingly bright smile. ‘I know.’”

Left alone with his cousin Lina’s husband Aaron, Lucas appreciates his defense of Rosie rather than feeling defensive himself. Aaron’s warm response to Lucas’s infatuation with Rosie speaks to his own experience, as a man hopelessly in love in The Spanish Love Deception.

“‘Him being here, on vacation, it’s no different,’ Lina continued. I thought back to last night, Lucas confiding in me about his injury. No one but me knew that his break was permanent. I needed to be careful with my choice of words. ‘How is it not different?’ ‘Who’s saying he won’t use his juju on you? You’ll giggle. He’ll smirk. You two will do the nasty. He’ll leave. And boom.’”

Lina’s assumptions about her cousin, Lucas, and their contrast to Rosie’s private thoughts indicate that the two have different images of him. Lina sees Lucas as carefree, while Rosie sees him as vulnerable. Rosie knows Lucas’s secret and takes it seriously, refusing to reveal the truth to Lina—at least for now. The reconciliation of the friends’ views underlines the novel’s themes of Imposter Syndrome and Authenticity and Risk-Taking, Loss, and Recovery.

“My face must have been showcasing every single one of my emotions—happiness, longing, that pang of good-hearted but sharp jealousy—because one of my curls was tugged by the man that was learning to read me like an open book.”

In this moment, Lina and Aaron function as Rosie’s living reminders of a successful romance, also reminding Armas’s readers of the couple’s enduring bond. Lucas brings her out of these thoughts, as if he is a living reminder that romance is in front of her. Rosie herself is an “open book,” a writer whose longing for her own romance is apparent to Lucas, even if he does not yet accept his role in her story.

“Get caught. Never in my life had I let anybody sway my actions. Never allowed the world, or their opinions, to dictate how I lived. Who I befriended, dated, or fucked. I’d never cared enough. And I didn’t care what Lina would think of Rosie and me. I cared about Rosie. About her trust, and about our friendship. I wanted to do right by her. I wanted her to have everything she deserved. Because she deserved everything, as much as that wasn’t me.”

The repetition of “never” reveals how much Rosie has changed Lucas’s life. He has long lived without obligations but now feels them intensely. He speaks of friendship and sexuality, but not love—underscoring that Rosie is his first real romance. Lucas shies away from the truth due to feeling unworthy, in keeping with the work’s theme of Risk-Taking, Loss, and Recovery.

“My eyes returned to Lucas’s face, his expression neutral, his smile stiff. ‘Lucas,’ I said, hating the way his mouth pressed in something that wasn’t his smile. ‘Do you remember Aiden, the contractor?’ Lucas gave him a nod. ‘Yes, I remember.’ Aiden returned it. ‘Glad to see you again, Lucas. You’re Rosie’s…’ He trailed off. My heart seemed to stop, waiting, even though I had no reason to anticipate his answer.”

Rosie pays close attention to Lucas’s facial expressions and notices his smile is unusually “stiff.” She senses his jealousy but unwillingness to claim her as his girlfriend. She refuses to see herself as a heroine, just as Lucas continually castigates himself for his failures as a hero.

“I wanted to lay myself at her feet because no one had ever done something so thoughtful for me. Something this personal, something that had been designed to bring only me happiness. I wanted to pull her into my arms and thank her, worship her, make sure she knew how grateful I was. Fuck. I wanted her. Now more than ever. Taco barked, snapping me out of those dangerous, dangerous thoughts.”

This quote cements Lucas’s feeling of inferiority to Rosie. He considers her care for him remarkable, not his right. His desire for her is “dangerous,” a risk he should not indulge rather than a feeling he could reciprocate.

“‘That’s why I’m crying, because I’m frustrated, devastated, by the fact that I can’t have you. That I want you and I can’t have you.’ Lucas was so still. He had remained unmovable under the rain, but it was only then, when my last words rang, that his whole body came alive. Like a match thrown into a fire, something roared alive inside of him. He pulled me closer. ‘You think you can’t have me?’ His breath fell on my mouth. ‘Am I the one making those tears fall down your face?’”

Lucas and Rosie’s fourth and final date finally does away with the fake dating trope. Rosie weeps as though for a dream unrealized, matching the current rainstorm. Lucas, in contrast, is “unmovable” until the realization of her reciprocation brings him to life. His questions betray his incredulity and resolve the miscommunication between him and Rosie with honesty.

“It wasn’t always about the sparks and the fireworks. Not exclusively. It could also be about the peace it brought you. The comfort. And for all the romances I’d read and the one, almost two, I’d written, I hadn’t known that. I would have never imagined that touching a man could light me up inside and quiet every worry and every noise in the world.”

In this scene, Rosie explores the contrast between the world of romance novels and her real life. She finds that her attachment to Lucas is more than sexual chemistry and that her writing career has not prepared her for the security. Lucas’s presence encourages her to be her best self, assuring the reader that the bond between them will endure.

“‘I went under, Rosie. Sunk straight to the bottom.’ ‘You didn’t,’ I told him, slipping my fingers in his hair, clasping the back of his neck. ‘You’re here. Breathing. Whole. Alive.’ Lucas’s features pinched. ‘You lost so much that day, and yet, you’re here,’ I repeated, allowing myself to say what he needed to hear. ‘You’re not the same, and you don’t need to be. Because you’re here, with me.’”

Lucas’s words could be literal—referencing his near drowning—or reflect that his life without surfing means nothing. Rosie reminds him that he is enough as he is, emphasizing basic functions like breathing over accomplishments. She tries to show Lucas how she sees him—as a survivor, a person who endures and can reinvent himself. This underlines both the depth of her love and the existential crisis he faces.

“‘We’re past playing coy. Tell me everything,’ she said, meeting my gaze with something that did mad, crazy things to me. ‘I want to hear it. I want you to watch me like I’m watching you.’”

This scene illustrates Rosie’s character growth. She no longer depends on Lucas to initiate and orchestrate moments and instead tells him the time for flirtation is over. She makes her demands and desires clear, with no embarrassment. Lucas’s eagerness demonstrates that he appreciates these changes in Rosie.

“I wanted to live in this moment, right here, right now. I wanted to have this one next time he was talking about and all the times after that. For as long as I had him. Even if that was only a week. I didn’t want Lucas to have to define what we were or weren’t on top of having to do that with himself after he’d lost so much.”

Here, Armas shows how Rosie’s love for Lucas has changed her approach to risk. Like her career change, she has chosen happiness over certainty. This choice is a gesture of empathy, as she thinks Lucas is in enough turmoil without added pressure from her.

“‘That’s my girl,’ he said, my heart losing it just like the first time he’d ever uttered those words. ‘I’m so proud of you, Ro. So, so proud.’ And for some reason, hearing that from him, that he was proud of me, felt like I’d accomplished something big. Something amazing. Something extraordinary.”

Rosie’s remembrance of Lucas’s past utterances shows the depth of her love—though now, the gesture has more romantic weight than before. Lucas openly celebrates Rosie’s accomplishment (her finishing her book), underlining that his sincerity is what she loves about him (rather than his physicality). His respect has alleviated her imposter syndrome.

“I can’t make you do this. I can’t let you uproot your life for me. Not when nothing is waiting in Spain for me. But the words wouldn’t come out, paralyzing anxiety, fear, flooding me. One single tear slipped down her cheek and it killed something inside of me. It smothered a light, bringing only darkness.”

In this scene, Armas’s dual narratives allow the reader access to Lucas’s thoughts. Ashamed, he cannot confess his feelings of inferiority and loss but compares hurting Rosie to darkness and death—underlining his despair.

“‘I can’t believe you ran after him at the airport like a total romance hero.’ I groaned, not because I regretted it—I’d do it again—but because I knew that years from today, Lina was never going to let me forget this. ‘Not my brightest idea.’ We smiled at each other, but just as quickly, our lips fell.”

During a conversation with Lina, Rosie finally recovers the honesty between them, underscoring that while she believes Lucas is lost to her, their relationship brought clarity elsewhere in her life. Lina teasing her for her attempt to make fiction reality provides a brief moment of levity, but it does not last due to Rosie’s heartbreak.

“Why else would she chase you down at a freaking airport and offer to follow you anywhere? That was her grand gesture, and trust me, as big into romance as she is, she’s never done something like that. Not for anyone. Not ever. Rosie thinks everything through; she plans. And she blew up her rules for you.”

As she did with Rosie, Lina argues with Lucas that trying to make one’s own romantic narrative real is worth doing. Lina’s exasperation is more loving than her earlier criticism, demonstrating her ability to change and repair her relationships. As for Rosie, her grand gesture is proof of her devotion to Lucas and how much he has encouraged her to embrace spontaneity over routine.

“He parted my lips, deepening the kiss, telling me with it how much he’d missed me, how sorry he was, how much he needed me and wanted me. And I took all of it. I took it for myself, keeping it in the safe place where I’d stored everything else he’d given me and I’d thought I’d lost. Only now, it didn’t hurt anymore. Now it only filled me with happiness.”

In this moment, Rosie finally feels what she has always wanted from Lucas. Their public embrace serves as his delayed reciprocation of her grand gesture at the airport. The repetition of “how much” underlines the depth of their shared passion—proof that Rosie’s authentic sharing with Lucas has borne fruit.