The what-if

The what-if names the romantic possibility embedded in Poppy Wright and Alex Nilsen’s longstanding closeness: neither a declared relationship nor a belief that their friendship is simply platonic. It matters because the possibility affects Poppy’s choices and the terms on which the two friends can travel together, even when they do not discuss it directly. The book gives that uncertainty a playful numerical scale, but its force lies in how quickly it can become emotionally consequential.

Meaning and Measure

Poppy describes the what-if as something she has learned to accept as part of the friendship. Her estimate ranges from five to fifteenish percent, a deliberately imprecise measure rather than a literal calculation. The number makes room for a possibility the friends have not resolved: their intimacy can be lived as friendship while still carrying the thought that it might become something else.

That formulation also distinguishes the what-if from a simple claim that Poppy and Alex are secretly a couple. Poppy says she could not believe their bond was wholly platonic, but she does not present the romantic possibility as certain or continuously dominant. It is a margin of uncertainty built into the friendship, one that can grow or shrink with circumstance. The casual, almost comic percentage puts a manageable surface on a question that the surrounding scenes show is not emotionally neutral.

The Question on the Walk

The what-if becomes sharply personal when Alex asks Poppy whether she is going to break up with her boyfriend. They are walking together at night; Alex has drawn a hand from his pocket to smooth his hair, and Poppy has looped her arm through his elbow. His attention to her, visible in his pinched eyebrows and small mouth, catches her off guard. Her heart stumbles, and her first thought is an unqualified yes. What she says aloud is that she does not know, perhaps.

The difference between that immediate thought and her spoken uncertainty gives the possibility real stakes without settling what either friend intends. Poppy’s inward response is decisive in the moment; her answer leaves the decision open. They continue walking and find a Hemingway-themed bar, where they drink three rum cocktails each and share a shot. Poppy repeatedly calls it a celebration, while recognizing that she is trying to forget something. The scene links the question to an unsettled feeling that the drinks and joking language do not dispel.

Sarah and the Friendship’s Boundaries

The what-if is not only private between Poppy and Alex. When Alex tells Poppy that Sarah Torval feels strange about the Summer Trip, Poppy says she understands: she, too, would feel uncomfortable if her boyfriend had a friendship like theirs. She goes further, saying she could not regard such a bond as wholly platonic. Her estimate of five to fifteenish percent acknowledges that a romantic possibility is part of what a partner might perceive in their closeness, whether or not jealousy is the explanation for Sarah’s discomfort.

Poppy and Alex consider what to do and whether to invite Sarah. Later, Poppy does not ask Alex how he persuaded Sarah to join the Vail trip, because asking feels dangerous. She notes that they now talk around certain matters to keep things aboveboard, and that Alex avoids sharing anything that might embarrass Sarah. The what-if therefore affects not just Poppy’s interpretation of the friendship but also what the friends choose to say, and what they take care not to disclose.

A Possibility That Changes Size

The book leaves Sarah’s initial reluctance uncertain: Poppy says there is no discussion of jealousy and allows that there may be another reason. Sarah changes her mind, and the trip goes ahead. Once Poppy and Alex are together, Poppy stops worrying about the issue and describes their friendship as feeling normal again; the fifteenish-percent what-if contracts to a manageable two.

Their Vail routines give that sense of normality concrete form. They ride bikes over cobblestone streets, take a gondola up the mountain, hike, and share meals outdoors. When Poppy pulls her knees into her sweatshirt against the cold, Alex tugs her hood tight around her face and calls her cutie; the gesture feels almost brotherly to her. That affectionate, familiar reading sits alongside the acknowledged romantic possibility rather than erasing it. The what-if remains, but the trip makes it feel smaller: not disproved, merely less pressing in the company of their established ease.