The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks Chapters 17-18 Summary

Cheese Fries

  • Frankie gets an unexpected email from her ex-boyfriend, Porter Welsch, apologizing for the things that went down with Bess the year before. 
  • Skeptical, Frankie sends back some mildly snide emails, but Porter persists and asks her if she'd like to go get a burger on Wednesday with him. 
  • She's initially offended that he doesn't remember that she's a vegetarian, but he tells her that he remembers that she always got the cheese fries. He also says there's something that he wants to talk to her about. 
  • Trish tells Frankie that she has to tell Matthew about going to see Porter, so she does. 
  • When she tells Matthew, he tells her not to go. He wants her to have a picnic with him instead, but she stands her ground and assures him that nothing sketchy will go down. 
  • Matthew tells her not to let Porter push her around, which she just finds insulting.

The T-Shirt

  • Frankie's in Matthew's room when she picks up a china dog statue of a basset hound. Matthew tells her to put it down, and we sense that something's off.
  • But then gives her his Superman t-shirt, which he's had for three years. All's well.
  • She puts the t-shirt on and wears it the next day, excited that everyone knows that it was Matthew's. 
  • However, when she calls Zada, big sister isn't too excited. She says that the shirt is a kind of a possessive gesture and that it's "retro." By that, she means that it's very 50's Sandra Dee letterman jacket kind of stuff. 
  • Zada warns Frankie not to let Matthew erase her, and Frankie responds that she's indelible.