Lola and the Boy Next Door

Lola and the Boy Next Door Plot Summary

Introduction

Seventeen-year-old Lola Nolan stands at her bedroom window in a rainbow tulle dress, her glittered hair catching the moonlight as she stares across the narrow alley between Victorian houses. After two years of blissful absence, the lavender house next door has new occupants—or rather, old ones returning. The Bell twins are back. Lola's heart pounds as she spots Cricket Bell through his window, impossibly tall now, his dark hair still defying gravity. Once her childhood friend and first crush, he represents everything she's tried to forget since their devastating falling out. Now she has Max, her tattooed twenty-two-year-old boyfriend who makes her parents squirm at Sunday brunch. She has her elaborate costumes that transform her into someone new each day. She has a carefully constructed life that doesn't include Cricket Bell. But as their eyes meet across the darkness, Lola realizes some connections transcend time and hurt, pulling her back into a gravitational field she thought she'd escaped forever.

Chapter 1: The Girl in a Thousand Costumes

Lola Nolan lives in costume. Today she's Cleopatra with kohl-rimmed eyes and golden bangles, yesterday she was a Swiss milkmaid with braided hair and dirndl. Her two fathers, Nathan and Andy, have learned to accept their daughter's theatrical approach to life, though they still worry when classmates like Gregory Figson make crude comments about her "pyramids." Living in San Francisco's Castro district, Lola shares a mint-green Victorian with her family and their rescued dog, Betsy. Andy runs a successful pie business from their spacious kitchen, filling orders for the city's most discerning dessert lovers. Nathan practices law for the ACLU, fighting for justice with the same intensity he brings to protecting his daughter. The rhythm of Lola's life revolves around school, work at the Royal Civic Center movie theater, and elaborate planning for her winter formal dress. She's spent months designing a Marie Antoinette gown complete with panniers and a towering white wig. It will be her masterpiece, her moment to shine at the dance with Max beside her in a rented tux. But that rhythm shatters the moment she sees the moving truck outside the lavender Victorian. The Bells are returning, and with them comes Cricket—the boy who once built her an elevator for her Barbie dollhouse, who shared her first kiss tasting of blue sugar cookies, who disappeared from her life when she needed him most.

Chapter 2: The Return of Cricket Bell

The Sunday family trip to Muir Woods was supposed to be peaceful. Ancient redwoods stretch toward the sky while Andy leads them through forest paths, pointing out native plants and wildlife. But Lola's attention fixes entirely on Cricket Bell, who somehow ended up joining their outing after helping with Andy's emergency pie production. Cricket has transformed during his two years away. The gangly teenager has grown into his height, moving with surprising grace despite towering over everyone. He wears his signature style—well-fitted pants, vintage shirts, and an eclectic mix of bracelets and rubber bands on his wrists. His left hand bears cryptic messages written in black marker, a habit Lola remembers from childhood. During lunch by the creek, Cricket's careful distance crumbles. He tells Lola the truth about his sixteenth birthday party—how Calliope lied about inviting her, how he spent that night wanting only Lola there. His confession hangs between them like morning mist, beautiful and dangerous. Lola feels the old pull, the magnetic force that once drew her to Cricket Bell like stars to darkness. The drive home fills with easy laughter until they discover Norah passed out on Lola's front porch. Norah, Lola's birth mother and Nathan's troubled sister, represents everything Lola fears becoming. Watching Cricket witness this moment of family shame, Lola wants to disappear into the fog rolling off San Francisco Bay.

Chapter 3: Unraveling the Past's Misunderstandings

At Amoeba Records, surrounded by towering stacks of vinyl and the musty scent of used CDs, Cricket approaches Lola with desperate urgency. His words tumble out before Max appears—Cricket likes her, has always liked her, wants to take her out every night. The confession explodes between them just as Lola's tattooed boyfriend materializes like a storm cloud. Max's amber eyes narrow as he takes in Cricket's height, his nervous energy, the way he looks at Lola like she hung the moon. The tension crackles until Lola leads Max away, leaving Cricket looking smaller than his six-foot-four frame should allow. Later, at the Japanese Tea Garden among the koi ponds and cherry blossoms, Max confronts Lola about her mysterious errands and half-truths. His jealousy manifests in sharp questions and harder kisses, as if he could claim her through sheer force. Lola denies everything while her phone buzzes with texts from Cricket, each message a small betrayal of the boy she claims means nothing to her. That night, Cricket appears at Lola's window throwing toothpicks instead of pebbles. She learns about his college life, his strange roommate Dustin, and the girl Jessica who makes Lola's stomach twist with unexpected jealousy. When Cricket offers to help with her dress panniers, Lola realizes she's been seeking excuses to see him, ways to weave him back into her life despite the complications.

Chapter 4: Caught Between Two Hearts

The autumn air carries fog and eucalyptus as Cricket crosses between their bedroom windows on a makeshift bridge of closet shelving. His presence in Lola's room feels electric, dangerous, inevitable. She paints his nails midnight blue by moonlight while he tells her about Alexander Graham Bell—not the celebrated inventor of family legend, but a thief who stole ideas for love and money. Cricket's shame about his heritage mirrors Lola's fears about Norah's genetics, both carrying the weight of ancestors who made destructive choices. But Lola sees what Cricket cannot—his gift for creating beauty through mechanical marvels, his natural kindness that transforms everyone around him. Their friendship deepens through stolen moments and careful touches. Cricket helps design the panniers for Lola's dress, his engineering mind solving problems her artistic vision created. They work side by side in Andy's kitchen, flour dusting their clothes as they roll pie dough and steal glances across countertops. Meanwhile, Max grows increasingly possessive. He trades his beloved 1964 Impala for a tour van, talking about hitting the road with Amphetamine while Lola graduates high school. His dreams involve escape; hers center on staying. At Scare Francisco, the Halloween music festival, Max's rudeness to Lindsey and barely concealed hostility toward Cricket reveal the cracks spreading through their relationship.

Chapter 5: Finding the Real Lola Beneath the Layers

Crisis strikes when Lola returns from Max's apartment in tears, their relationship finally shattered by truth and cruel words. Max saw through her elaborate costumes to something he deemed false, while Lola realized she'd been playing a part even in love. Cricket finds her broken, appearing at her window in the early morning hours to offer comfort without expectation. He stays through the night, their bodies curved together in innocent sleep, until Nathan discovers them and erupts in protective fury. Cricket scrambles from Lola's bed like a startled deer while Nathan's rage threatens to ban him from their house forever. The confrontation strips away pretense, leaving both teenagers exposed and vulnerable. Andy's disappointment cuts deeper than Nathan's anger. He reminds Lola that leading Cricket on while dating Max was cruel to both boys, that her actions have consequences beyond her own heart. The grounding that follows feels less like punishment than recognition of the mess she's created. In Berkeley, Lola surprises Cricket at his dormitory, desperate to retrieve her embarrassing dress binder but really seeking connection. Their friendship teeters on the edge of something more as they share takeout from New Seoul Garden and Cricket's roommate makes crude assumptions about teenage girls and older college boys.

Chapter 6: Breaking Free and Breaking Down

The Japanese Tea Garden becomes Lola's refuge as she processes Max's departure from the city. He left without goodbye, running to Los Angeles and the arms of another woman, proving her parents' warnings about older boyfriends. But his absence brings unexpected relief rather than devastation. Cricket's weekly visits home establish new rhythms. He helps care for his baby niece Abigail while his brother Aleck recovers from his wife's betrayal and abandonment. The Bell family crisis reveals Cricket's essential role as emotional anchor, the one who keeps everyone else steady while sacrificing his own needs. At the theater, Lola's coworkers Anna and St. Clair offer perspective from their own complicated romance. They met while dating other people, struggled through misunderstandings and jealousy, but found their way to truth. St. Clair's advice echoes in Lola's mind—you have to do the hard thing, be honest with yourself. When Calliope's skating costume gets destroyed by baby Abigail's curious hands, Lola sees her chance to prove herself worthy of the Bell family's acceptance. Working through the night, she transforms old costumes into something new—black gossamer that makes Calliope look like a warrior princess ready for battle.

Chapter 7: Rebuilding with Stars in Her Eyes

Nationals arrive with the weight of Olympic dreams. Calliope's short program falters under pressure, leaving her in sixth place and fighting for redemption. But her long program, performed in Lola's creation, becomes transcendent artistry. She doesn't win, but second place tastes like victory after so much struggle. Cricket returns from competition with a handmade gift—an astronomical automaton that mirrors the real moon's phases, its tiny stars winking in mechanical precision. The golden device represents everything Lola loves about Cricket's mind, his ability to capture wonder in gears and springs. His accompanying story about the boy who made wishes on stars, filling the sky with light just by thinking her name, leaves Lola breathless. The winter formal arrives with fog and possibility. Cricket helps arrange Lola's hair with the skill learned from years assisting Calliope, his fingers gentle and sure as he weaves pink roses through brunette curls. When Lola's elaborate wig fails, threatening to ruin months of planning, Cricket's quiet competence saves the night. Their first kiss tastes of cherry lip gloss and two years of waiting. Cricket's declaration of love comes with no expectations, just truth offered freely. Lola's response acknowledges what she's always known—Cricket Bell has been the constant star in her sky, the one she measures all others against.

Summary

Lola and Cricket make their grand entrance to the winter formal hand in hand, her Marie Antoinette gown flowing behind them like ocean waves. The combat boots beneath pale blue silk tell their own story—beauty and strength, tradition and rebellion, the past and future walking together into whatever comes next. Their classmates part like curtains, applauding the theater of young love made manifest. The automaton rests in Lola's palm, its mechanical moon glowing steady and true. Some connections transcend time and distance, proving that the deepest love grows not from perfection but from seeing and accepting someone's authentic self. In choosing each other, Cricket and Lola choose hope over fear, truth over performance, the messy reality of love over its polished imitation. Under star-filled skies, they dance toward a future bright with possibility.

About Author

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Stephanie Perkins

Perkins explores deep emotional connections and personal growth in her writing, blending elements of romance and horror to craft stories that resonate with a wide range of readers. Her novels, such as "Anna and the French Kiss" and "There's Someone Inside Your House," demonstrate her versatility in creating heartfelt coming-of-age tales and spine-chilling horror narratives. By drawing on her experiences as a librarian and bookseller, she constructs authentic characters and settings, often inspired by her upbringing and life in North Carolina.\n\nHer work in the young adult genre primarily revolves around themes of love, self-discovery, and the complexities of human relationships. In contrast, her horror novels introduce suspense and thrill, offering a different yet equally compelling reading experience. Perkins’ upcoming adult romance, "Overdue," signals her continued evolution as an author, presenting a mature, nuanced take on relationships that promises to engage her audience with its slow-burn romance.\n\nReaders who appreciate character-driven stories and emotional depth will find Perkins' books particularly rewarding. Her ability to seamlessly blend genres allows her to reach diverse audiences, ensuring her stories remain relatable and impactful. This short bio highlights her achievements, including international bestseller status and a Netflix adaptation of her work, underscoring her significant influence in contemporary fiction.

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