One Day: Chapter 7 Summary & Analysis

Thursday, July 15, 1993. Part Two–Emma’s Story. Ian checks his watch at a Covent Garden restaurant and notes that Emma is 15 minutes late. His standup comedy career has gone nowhere, and he wonders whether he needs to change his name to something catchier. He now has a job at an electronics shop where he happened to run into Emma during his lunch break. He waits now at an Italian restaurant for their second date. He’s been in love with her for years. Their first date was to the third Evil Dead movie, and Emma enjoyed the date more than she expected.

When Emma finally arrives at the Italian restaurant, Ian stands so eagerly that he spills his water. After they sit, Ian worries about paying as Emma orders a double vodka tonic, but she insists on splitting the bill. Ian runs through jokes he’s prepared about items on the menu, and Emma feels increasingly less inclined to have sex with him afterward. After he keeps going and going, she eventually tells him to shut up. She’s embarrassed at first, but after that, Ian becomes more pleasant.

Dexter continues to leave voicemails for Emma. Meanwhile, at the Italian restaurant, she and Ian reminisce about Caliente Loco. She decides she deserves to celebrate after working hard for her teaching certification, then interviewing for a job that she feels confident she’ll get. Still, she has only found Ian funny about twice in the time she’s known him and knows she can never admit this. Dexter, on the other hand, is funny without trying. Ian suddenly brings him up and asks if Emma’s been watching Dexter on TV. Emma admits to watching occasionally but says Dexter has been “nutty” recently with his mother ill. Ian says he never liked Dexter and that he seemed to take Emma for granted.

Emma starts talking to Ian about the new school where she interviewed, and he slips back into his comedy act. She tells him again to stop, that it’s unnecessary to perform. He says he latched onto comedy because he had no other talents and needed something to make people like him. He says he thinks Emma has her own way of putting on an act around people, like when she pretends not to care about Dexter’s girlfriends. Emma is offended at first but begins to grudgingly consider how he might be right.

Emma and Ian split the bill and leave. They go outside, and Ian seems discouraged. He admits that he feels like he blew it with Emma. But then she kisses him. He tells her that she is “absolutely the Bollocks,” and she suggests going back to his place. Ian’s studio flat rumbles because it’s near a train station. As Emma goes to kiss Ian, she stops because she’s nauseous from how much booze she’s had and how bad Ian’s place smells. She suggests going home and sobering up, but he suggests she could sleep over and they don’t have to have sex.

Meanwhile, Dexter calls Naomi, wanting her to come over. She says he’s drunk and should call Emma instead, but he convinces Naomi to come over for sex anyway. He tells her she’s saving his life.