Crank Chapters 11-20 Summary

Chapter 11: Mutual Assessment

Kristina approaches the guy she thinks is her dad, who's humming a song she remembers from bedtime years ago. He, too, is looking at the faces in the crowd, and she realizes that he's looking for a much younger version of her. Ha.
When she greets him, he hugs her. Unlike Scott, who's pretty fastidious, Kristina's dad stinks of cigarettes, alcohol, and body odor. Kristina realizes that the visit is going to be more awkward than she imagined—after eight years, she and her dad really are strangers.

On the drive back to her dad's place, Kristina and her dad attempt awkward small talk. We learn some stuff about her family in the process, mainly that Leigh's in college and her parents aren't exactly accepting of her lifestyle.
Kristina's mom also has a bunch of issues. She's decided to become a writer as part of her midlife crisis and is obsessed with working out.
Although Scott has high standards and is always riding her about something, Kristina realizes that her stepfather has always been there when she's needed him, which is more than she can say for her own dad.

Kristina and her dad run out of things to talk about, and now the only thing for her to do is realize how totally gross his car is. For one thing, it's barely functional. For another, there's no air conditioning and the whole place smells like motor oil.
As if that's not bad enough, Kristina's dad has the nerve to ask her if she's ever had sex. Um, none of your business, Dad. Then he starts smoking and talking about how her mom made him quit, but that he started up after the divorce.
They arrive in an ugly-looking suburban neighborhood, home of Kristina's dad's apartment complex. Kristina begins to realize that this visit was one big, giant mistake.

Kristina's dad welcomes her to his "castle," which is an odd choice of words considering that the place is a dump. The building's made out of cracked cement and she can hear parents screaming at their kids.
As they climb the stairs, things take a surprising turn of events when Kristina runs into a guy…

Kristina can tell the guy she runs into is kind of a bad boy—a first class violator of the No Shoes, No Shirt, No Service rule. While she finds him really hot, he's not exactly her type.

While she may not want to full on pursue the shirtless guy, Kristina clearly enjoyed looking at him. That's more than she can say for her dad's apartment, which is about as disgusting as we imagined it would be.

After an awkward ride in his lemon of a car and arriving at his gross apartment, you'd think things couldn't get much worse for Kristina. Try again. Her dad actually goes to work and leaves her alone in that place.
Her dad explains that he couldn't take any time off while she's in town because his boss is power hungry. Somehow, we have trouble believing him—especially when he tells Kristina that he didn't tell his boss that the guest he has visiting is his daughter.

Kristina's dad works under the table at a local bowling alley so he can still get disability checks.
The alley is in a really bad neighborhood and he claims that no one will rat him out because the other employees have secrets of their own—apparently some shady stuff goes down in the back room.

Kristina's dad invites her to join him at work, but she says she's too tired from the trip. Hey, after that description, we can't blame her.

Alone in her dad's apartment, Kristina spends a fun-filled day listening to the creepy noises of water dripping in the apartment, tree branches scratching the glass, and neighbors yelling at each other.