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Robert is something of an unknowable character in the story, certainly to Margot and also to readers. The details about work, college, and family that the story includes for Margot are missing for Robert. Readers don’t know what work he does, only that he can afford a car and a house—exactly what Margot, who later admits that she never learned much about his personal life, knows. The story doesn’t hint at previous relationships or sexual experiences, and the details it offers suggest someone who is somewhat socially inept. Robert misses the fact that Margot flirts with him when they first meet and apparently, in the moment, feels a bit insulted. Once she makes her interest known and they begin talking, Margot describes Robert as “a little dorky” with a “lumberjack aura” and “sad” posture. He seems, for most of their relationship, most comfortable when he can craft texts and control the conversation artificially. In the car, he is largely silent.
In some moments, Robert behaves thoughtfully, and his inventive texts delight Margot. He clearly finds her attractive, which makes her feel sexy and powerful. His reactions to possible slights and misunderstandings offer an appealing vulnerability that Margot enjoys placating because it makes her believe that she can control him. But after his “brusque efficiency” during sex that is unpleasant for her, Margot fears his response to her breaking things off and wants to “just wish him away.” When she thinks of him, she feels a “skin-crawling loathing,” yet she admits that she can’t definitively say that he’s not an okay guy. Readers are in the same uncertain state about Robert until the very end of the story, when by all appearances he stalks Margot and then unleashes a litany of angry, accusatory texts ending in the word “Whore.”
