Bittersweet Candy Bowl

Ahh shit, here we go again.

Oh, NOW he feels bad. I get Mike's a kid but seriously, kinda fucked up my dude.

DAMNIT MIKE

I can't express the level of dissatisfaction I have so allow me to just scream into the abyss...

AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Wow Mike is trash 😳

Well isn‘t that great for you Maishul =_=

A LITERAL WALKING TALKING BURNING TRASH HEAP

how is the story ever going to change now its gone back to this

God fucking damnit he really can’t get it into his thick skull that he needs to drop Sandy like the week old trash she is. She cheated on you ya dumbass. you really believe she’s gonna drop Francis? *sigh* I totally get it tho, I did the same thing two years ago. Learned the hard way.

She didn't really though. She got too close to someone she's interacting with daily and saw it as cheating, so she started feeling guilty and stopped communicating with Mike out of guilt, which pushed her closer to Francis. Who, mind, she can't really stop interacting with because she works with him on a daily basis. Kinda feels like a twisted mirror of Mike & Lucy's relationship.

I hate this fucking guy

Back to square -5 in the story progression LMAO

oh wow. i actually passed the point of wanting redemption for mike. i crave violence 🤪

From someone other than Lucy though she's tried her hardest to distance herself from this toxic dynamic and I can stand to see her get dragged back down into this.

Okay so I realy don't want to say this realy realy bad joke but I have only one thing to say :

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fXLicO0CRvk

Really is an eternal flame. God, Mike. PLEASE YOU CAN DO BETTER THAN HER

Doesn't matter which flame he goes with, he's set up to get burned.

Sheeeeet you right though

SAY SIKE. PLEASE SAY SIKE.

.........He broke her heart so fast...Omg.

Also AGAIN

….thanks Mike just thanks

sighs

I knew this why am I disappointed 😭

Well, would you look at that. From joy to heartbreak in the span of a Micheal entrance.

Honestly I have wearily backed Mike even in his lowest moments, but every time I give him the benefit of the doubt he does something even more stupid than the last, and this is just ridiculous now. After 10 years I can no longer defend this grey idiot. He will never learn :(

Yeah, I don't think he needs anyone defending him. Honestly I think that might have been part of the problem, he's always had someone TO defend him in his life, someone to hide behind or rely on, be it Lucy or Sandy. He needs to stop defining himself by them and answering for his own actions, and I have actually no clue how that's going to come about, or if that's even planned right now. Hafta wait and see I suppose.

The thing is, I know that Taeshi is a good writer (why else would I be here?) so I know she must have some plan with Mike, but I don’t see how readers are supposed to like him any more, when he never grows or changes from his bullshit

I'm going to riot, why did I have hope

Regretting your choices already Mike?

me looking at these pages as they come out

https://youtu.be/QC5iq6HYQ1g

Unfortunate

Oh Mike, I am so disappointed in you.

I mean, Lucy was right. In the end, it's always about Sandy for him, friend or no. Lucy deserves better.

We all saw it coming but still:

https://youtu.be/jzq3uoOjmP0

I think I'm done with Mike now....

Mike sucks :)

The only way to save this is if you told me he was lying to keep up an appearance but he would have no reason to do so. So I'm convinced he took her back and to that I say...fuck you Mike there is no more feeling sorry for you the next time she choses to spend her time smooching up another guy instead of calling you back.

Well I'd say it's been fun y'all. Mike, you're dead to me, get cheated on again ya loser

Nooooo say it isn't so.

🙃💙💕 poor lucy, i mean i get that change doesnt happen overnight so i totally get why hes back at it but i hope this made Lucy lose interest in him forever, poor girl doesnt deserve to be treated this way at all

Welp. https://youtu.be/5FjWe31S_0g

Jerkface.

Yup, there's the whammy I was expecting! Mike you dumbass!

Wow I officially hate mike again not comin back from this one

Mike, you dumbass

I hate that I knew this was coming...

Mike, no.

I mean I knew it was happening, but owjsoskwndksks

Yep sounds about right I'll see y'all in a couple of weeks I'm going to take a break from this roller coaster

God I love this chapter. I get why people are frustrated but I'm so excited to see how the conflict and characters continue to grow from this. Will this finally burn that bridge once and for all? Will Lucy be able to move on? Will Mike try to apologize or save the friendship or is he too caught up in Sandy again already to care?

Me too! Whether the end game is MikexLucy, MikexSandy, MikexNobody, or anything else I am invested in the story leading up to it. People getting mad are so valid, but I am loving the twists and turns of this comic so far lol

Michelle M.

Of course he did. Wow, and it really thought for a second that he’d finally be able to move forward from this terrible relationship. Well….:/ I guess I’m not surprised.

Is there any way mike x lucy can really come back from this? If I were Lucy…I’m not her, of course, but I would find it HARD to be vulnerable around him ever again.

What more can mike possibly to do show her “you will ALWAYS come second”?

The shittiest kind of rebound with absolutely no chance of redemption. She took a chance on him again, after everything, and then he does this?

I don't give a damn what happens to Mike. I just hope Lucy can continue moving forward in a healthy manner after this. :( She's been hurt enough... Frankly I hope her friends find out and dump Mike for good. Enough is enough...

Jesus, I gotta quit reading for a bit too.

Nah. I hate this.

Yep. This just proves my point that Mike legit has no self-esteem whatsoever, and has REALLY bad problems with co-dependency and relying on others for his happiness as a result. I was a lot like him - I kept putting up with a lot of horrible mistreatment from guys because I was convinced without them, I'd be nothing and alone forever. Now, I know my issues stem directly from child abuse, but when it comes to Mike...I'm not really sure. Maybe the thing with Alejandro fucked him up - made him scared of ever losing anybody - and now he's like this? Who knows, but I'm sure Vero will explain it at some point.

That being said, my god, poor Lucy :(. One could argue about how much she actually deserved the rant in December because of her past behavior (I mean, I believe she deserved it, but certainly not to the extent that Mike pushed it)...but this? She did NOTHING to deserve this heartbreak. I was worried this was going to happen and I really don't see how Mike and Lucy could happen now. It seems like there would be too much trust issues. But hey, maybe Mike will surprise us and leave her for good soon? I have to hope so.

Lucy's face is how I've felt this entire chapter

I .... Mike. Just stay where you at then.fuck Lucy right? You had her hopes up for no fucking reason...

THIS MOTHERFUCKER. LUCY OPENED UP TO YOU AND FOR WHAT

One change I do hope to see going forward, even if Mike's just back in his unhealthy relationship with Sandy, is that he stops glaring or screaming at Lucy anytime she looks at him.

Mmm, I dont think that will continue to be the case, but I'm not entirely sure what we're replacing it with is going to be any more healthy for either of them.

YEah there is no way it isn't going to get WORSE

He was entirely manipulative with Lucy the night before. Idk how anyone thought that he actually had feelings for her. It’s always about him. He’s extremely selfish and hurt Lucy along the way because why not? Honestly, I hope this just means Lucy will completely move on from this loser. And I hope Sandy finds out he made out with Lucy 🙃 they deserve each other tbh. Even Daisy won’t be able to forgive him if Lucy tells them exactly what happened the night before. Toxic Mike is toxic and no one needs that. He’s always been the one so keen on establishing boundaries, but then violated all of his friends boundaries time and time again.

Or, devil's advocate... he actually does love both of them, but due to being branded a cheater constantly at the start of the comic after everyone learned about Sandy and saw how affectionate he was with Lucy, he just doesn't feel like it's a possibility to show affection to one without feeling like he's cheating on the other, so he chose and devoted himself to Sandy over Lucy. That kiss with Lucy the previous night, however, is gonna threaten to throw Mike's emotional state through the wringer, especially now that he sees how much he's hurting Lucy and how flawed his worldview actually is.

Honestly it's embarrassing enough that it happened, she shouldn't want to make a spectacle about how she fell for Mike's bs again. If I was Lucy I pretend it didn't happened and go right back to pretending Mike didn't exist with twice the resentment.

Love isn’t lust. Mike loved having control over Lucy even in previous chapters. When she said she didn’t like him anymore, he still kept up the delusion that everything she does is to get to him. That’s not love. He disliked Lucy getting close to Paulo, made fun of him being her rebound. He disliked Lucy getting close to Augustus. He even said she wanted him when he was drunk. The only time he has any internal conflict is when he comes close to admitting to himself that he needs her to want him. The reason he’s attracted to Sandy is because she doesn’t give a shit about him. He wouldn’t have cared about Sandy not texting him if he could still treat Lucy like a punching bag. They were both shitty to each other, but only Lucy has grown. How is not manipulative to physically stop someone from leaving, to tell them “oh I never stopped thinking of you” despite thinking she’s the worst? Mike doesn’t care, he’s in a toxic codependent relationship.

Mmm, not sure I entirely agree with how you're reading things. If anything, Mike just doesn't know how to be self-dependent. Almost his entire life he's grown up with either Lucy or Sandy by his side, so he's always had someone he could talk with, lean on, and get feedback from. When Sandy left, the only option he had to keep in contact was through the mail. That left a disconnect that allowed Lucy back into the role of his co-dependent. But after he got Sandy's number, all of a sudden there was less of a disconnect so he could be more dependent on Sandy, though at the time he was also still more dependent on Lucy on a daily basis. Then Sandy started pointing out Lucy's toxic behavior, and to avoid losing Sandy, who he was absolutely dedicated to at that point, he confronted Lucy, effectively driving out the one constant he had outside of Sandy, who started getting more and more distant after that too. So now you have a kid, who has never really been truly lonely or emotionally starved his entire life, basically losing BOTH of the people he depended on throughout his life. I don't think it's as simple as Mike wanting to be in control of Lucy, I think it's possibly more a reflection of his own issues and insecurities. After all, if you're only allowed to love one other person in your life or you're a branded a cheater, and everyone you know loves someone other than you, then none of them will have room in their life for you as well, right?

There is one thing I agree with though. Regardless of the reasons behind his actions, Mike is being EXTREMELY toxic in both relationships. He's made a TON of bad decisions over the course of this chapter that he DESPERATELY needs to be confronted with if he's ever going to develop a healthy relationship with ANYONE.

He confronted Lucy prior to December. And then she confessed to him. And he rebuffed her and then she “rebounded” with Paulo and started hanging out with Augustus, and that’s when Mike got particularly nasty with her. She tried to be nice but detached. The whole thing with him going off on her in December was in response to her being positive about him engaging with Sandy. He had nothing to do with him being dependent on Lucy herself, or even Sandy since he wasn’t engaging with either of them that much. He definitely does have self esteem issues but it’s not about him being used to having one or the other in his life, he’s just a user lol. Lucy was gone for a whole year, Paulo tried to fill the friend void and he was then subjected to verbal and emotional abuse whenever Sandy was a topic of conversation. Mike might not realize he’s in a toxic relationship, but he is effectively taking it out on those around him and Lucy was always the more convenient punching bag because she had feelings for him that he knew he could manipulate. He explicitly said how much of an effect he has on Lucy throughout the chapters, including to Zachary. He called her dependent. He has talked about boundaries, etc. he knows these terms, and just doesn’t think any apply to him. I’m not saying he’s malicious, but he’s definitely a manipulator and needs therapy to deal with his toxic behaviors.

TBH, I might've forgiven the rebound attempt if he hadn't physically stopped her from leaving several times!

Jokes aside though, I feel like this has some great potential to it.

I am really hoping that now that he knows that both he and Sandy were emotionally cheating on each other pretty much the whole time can potentially lead to an important discussion between the two. One that can finally show some growth on Mikes part. Sandy confessed that she liked someone else this whole time, but notice how Mike didn’t confess to Sandy that he was pretty much in love (begrudgingly) with his ex-best friend? I feel like it’s a line of dialogue that could be important eventually. Mike seeing the hurt clear as day on Lucys face after a night of confessions might be an important catalyst of him finally growing up a little and have some self-reflection.

At the VERY least, Mike is aware now that he has the bad habit of driving people away. Since both he and Sandy got huge weights off their backs I feel that if Mike continues his relationship with Sandy that their communication will be hundredth fold and can finally pave the path of a “healthier” relationship together. And a healthier relationship between the two would undoubtedly cause a positive ripple effect to Mike and he’ll be much more chipper and less defensive since he’ll feel much more secure and communicative in his relationship (FINALLY). All the dude wanted was to be talked to by his girlfriend!

Maybe now he can finally mend some of his friendships. Or at least clear his mind enough to make him eventually realize some fundamental issues in his relationship with Sandy and will eventually break things off. Whether it be the whole “mutual cheating” part, or he’ll realize that him and Sandy live in two different worlds and don’t have enough similarities to really keep the steam going for long. Remember the whole debacle in Model Girlfriend? They’re so...dissimilar. Other than Mike cheering her on in her blooming career, what do they HAVE exactly? The more they talk and get to know each other, the more he'll realize they're not meant to be.

And then there’s Lucy. There’s a good chance she’ll become reclusive again and will back off from the friend group once more to put a lot of distance between her and Mike. This is IF the friend group doesn’t find out about the whole ‘make-up and make-out” between Mike and Lucy anyway.

Ahh, I'm glad to see this optimistic take on what could happen between Mike and Sandy.. I immediately felt a lot of empathy for what Lucy must be going through in the situation, so for the the past few updates I have been struggling to contemplate what the positive uptick could be from here. I do hope that Michael has learned about /communication/ finally... It is truly one of his greatest blind spots! The significance of just being forward and telling people what he is thinking.

I do want to be hopeful that he could extend that improvement in communication to Lucy, and make an effort in closing the gap of investment (where Lucy humbled herself a lot in their conversation last night before they impulsively kissed...) I do think she will instinctively isolate, but I hope it is not going to be her entirely shouldering the embarrassment of all that occurred. I hadn't considered the friend group finding out about this either..! I wonder what the potential ripple effect this could all have...

*looking at all these set pieces with great anticipation*

I f*cking knew it he literally only wants Lucy when he’s fighting with it doesn’t have sandy

TRASH!

Alright, time to properly cut off this relationship for good and not give him the time of day. And maybe send Sandy a heads up that Mike literally cheated on her with Lucy that very night they fought, because that just isn’t fair to anyone.

Not expecting it to actually happen, but that would be one way to force some introspection on Mike. He desperately needs it at this point.

I'm so disappointed in mike DX

I have usually been on mikes side, but I can’t stand next to him right now..

Mmm, yeah, such is the danger of picking sides.

Damn.. Poor Lucy.. I hope she tells the others what happened last night..

I hope she blurts out “did you tell her you kissed me under “your tree” last night?

Assface

I just…… I can’t believe this. The whip lash is just so much. In the ten years I have been reading this, this hurts to most.

I hate mike so much now… i have been a MikexLucy shipper since I started reading this comic back in 2011 but that ship is officially sunk and not coming back

OOP THERE IT IS

Fucking called it... Poor Lucy.

As someone who has been in Lucy's shoes in a situation like this. I hope she crushes her love for him for good with this, he didn't even hesitate a day to get back with Sandy and that shows more than him simply getting back with her over even a short period of time

Not surprised...Mike is in character.

Mike and Sandy forever. They want each other...ok. Leave Mike to his phone.

Mmm, honestly, that would be ideal for Mike, but it leaves a lot of his mistakes unanswered for, and those still need to be brought up. He's hurt quite a few of his friends at this point, and even if he doesn't care about them anymore, it doesn't make the things he's said and done just go away.

@Alec mistakes he Won't listen to anyone But Sandy about. But if he would listen I do quite agree with you. Lucy just needs to cut her ties and move on.

Oh, goddamit Mike! Not surprised, but still disappointed. Just wait until the rest of the BCB community sees this.

Faith in humanity lost

Fortunately, they’re cats

Goddamnit assface

T H I S F U C K I N B O I

Lucy: Dude you kissed me.....

I hope Lucy reveals the events of last night to everyone so they can all see just how shitty he is at this point in his life.

Teenagers doing stupid things, teenagers doing irredeemable things...Sigh...and I tried to defend Mike...I did. But I can't defend THIS.

you can accurately predict events in the comic by always knowing mike will make the worst decision possible

once a doormat, always a doormat

I'm hopping aboard the Hate Train for Mike and I'm not getting off.

The Hate Train's too crowded. If he doesn't get right fast, I'll do worse.

My heart just falls reading this page. Time to cut this self absorbed idiot out of your life.

And so here we are. Again. And you know, I hate that I was still surprised Mike fucked up again.

michael........................................ OTL you have failed her.....

.....whelp gg

I don't think there is anything "sweet" about it. This is Bitterrotten

Once a simp, always a simp. -_-

Well, that look shows he realizes his own guilt here. You had your breakup, rebound, and back together so fast that whiplash happens slower in races. And really, he cheated more than sandy admitted, but certainly didn't admit that moment to Sandy. Dumb kid, bad decisions, but someone who cannot be outside of a relationship it seems, even for 5 minutes it seems.

But with this, we will see what will happen, I'm betting certain others are still upset with him. You can only deal with being shouted at, slammed, snapped and yelled at so much before you just stay guarded and distant, and really many of Mike's friends are well beyond that point. I mean Sue is well beyond there it seems, he just had that blowup with Paulo.... But given reactions and abilities to have a poker face, I'm sure someone will still pick up something is up.

Choices. He’s made them.

They can't just be happy for 12 hours?

I feel sick

i agree this is nauseating

Honestly just …. Poor Lucy.

Oh come ON. You can do so much better than him, Lucy

There are no words.

I was willing to forgive him but after this it’s gonna take a lot for me to ever like him again :(

MIKE WHY

Bro......why?!

Been there, done that. Time to move on, Lucy!

Mike you piece of garbage.

yooooooooo.....

Mike: Oh Mike! You've done it again!

I enjoyed what was going on in the previous pages, why does Mike have to be such a playboy and use Lucy as a rebound only to fall back on Sandy like that?

Oh mike, after all that you screw it up the next morning!

😭😭 luuucyyyyyyy. ¡¡¡Lo siento!!!

Will Paulo notice Mike's reaction? Will he turn around and notice Lucy's reaction?

Mike, you coward. Happiness was staring you in the face and you chose the ghost in the phone. Codependence is a helluva drug. Ridiculous choice notwithstanding, I do wonder what Sandy said; methinks Mike might be manipulated himself.

He's a simp. Plain and simple.

The die is cast I suppose

“Mike is finally going to see how toxic his relationship with Sandy is and finally move on from her! On a totally unrelated note, would you just *look* at how many chickens I’m going to have when they eventually hatch!”

OH MY GOD

disappointed but not surprised