High Fidelity

Rob met Laura while working as a DJ in a club in the 1980s. The six months in which the club was relatively popular were among the happiest in Rob’s life. Laura requested one of Rob’s favorite songs, and he played it for her, even though he worried that the patrons would disapprove. Laura ensured that everyone danced, but only for a short time. Eventually, Rob was forced to change the song, but he agreed to make a mixtape especially for her as a compromise. The tape was the beginning of their relationship.

Laura is a lawyer. She used to work for a legal aid group, but now she has a job at a more business-oriented firm. She was forced to take the higher paying job because no other charitable positions were available. Rob believes that the new job changed Laura, making her more career-focused and intense. Their relationship was comforting and easy, rather than passionate. Rob discovers that Lisa met with Laura the day before their date. Laura told Lisa about Rob’s mistakes. He does not know which mistake exactly but admits that he had sex with someone else while Laura was pregnant, and that this infidelity led to Laura terminating the pregnancy. Rob also borrowed a large sum of money from her and has not repaid it. Moreover, he recently told her that he was unhappy in the relationship. Rob does not try to defend himself. He understands while Lisa might hate him. 

Barry is late for work. When he finally arrives, he admits that he and Dick shared a drink with Marie and her duet partner T-Bone after the concert. Rob does not want to talk about the evening, but Dick and Barry both talk effusively about T-Bone being nice and interesting. Rob distracts himself with work, thinking about his customers. Dick helps guide customers toward satisfying purchases with the patience of a schoolteacher, while Barry bullies customers into appreciating new and fantastic songs. After work, Rob, Dick, and Barry prepare to go for a drink. However, Rob sees Laura waiting for him outside the shop. 

Rob explains why he borrowed a large sum of money from Laura. She lent him £5,000 because her new job was well-paid and his store was struggling. He cannot afford to pay her back right now. However, he defends his comment about being unhappy in the relationship. He feels Laura tricked him into admitting this, particularly as she was evidently involved with Ian at the time. Discussing the pregnancy, Rob says that he did not know that Laura was pregnant at the time. He only found out about the abortion later, at a point when their relationship was in a better place. They argued about the issue when he found out. In retrospect, Rob can agree with Laura’s reasoning, but at the time they fought for a long time.

Rob and Laura decline Dick and Barry’s invitation to a nearby bar. They share an uncomfortable taxi ride back to the apartment. Once inside, Rob recognizes Laura’s awkwardness. With difficulty, Laura admits that she has made some bad decisions but wants to be fairer to Rob. He thinks about all the questions he wants answered but will never ask. Laura says that their relationship was not really working and she is now old enough to want to sort herself out. Rob, she believes, seems incapable of sorting himself out. She has no idea whether her relationship with Ian will lead to anything in the future, but she feels that she had to leave Rob. However, she confesses that she and Rob might repair their relationship in the future. Rob seizes on their opportunity, but Laura dismisses it. Frustrated, Laura asks Rob to leave while she sorts through her possessions. He poses one final question, asking whether sex with Ian is better than sex with him. Laura says she has not had sex with Ian, and Rob takes this information as a little victory. He heads to the bar to find Dick and Barry but finds himself sleeping with Marie LaSalle instead. 

Marie is Rob’s 17th sexual partner, and he heralds her as his “major sexual triumph” (114). Rob claims that the secret to his success with women is that he asks questions. When he left Laura to search for Dick and Barry, he was unaware that they were drinking with T-Bone and Marie. Rob joins them but spends most of the time talking quietly with Marie about his breakup with Laura, asking her questions to avoid discussing his own life. Rob discovers that Marie is single and moved to London after a difficult breakup of her own. The more they talk, the more Rob and Marie realize that their interests and hobbies align. Rob feels that their romantic encounter is increasingly inevitable.

After the bar, Rob and Marie return to her apartment. They share a drink and talk about their lives, though Rob embellishes just enough about his past to make himself seem reflective and sympathetic. They kiss, and Rob becomes anxious about his ability to perform sexually. At one point, he announces that he should leave but Marie convinces him to stay the night. After a brief, unwanted conversation about the bathroom and the logistics of their evening, Rob and Marie go to her bedroom and sleep together. The next morning, Rob wakes up early. He sits and smokes a cigarette until Marie joins him. They talk frankly about their problems, and Marie reveals that her ex-boyfriend was a “fairly well-known American singer-songwriter” (131). Rob is familiar with the man—whom he refers to as Steve—and feels excited for a moment. Then, Marie plays her album, and they sit together and listen to her songs. As they sleep some more and get breakfast, Rob notices that neither of them is particularly interested in intimacy or repeating the previous night’s passions. 

Rob tries to figure out how to spend his Sunday. He becomes so bored and listless that he decides to visit his parents. When he arrives, he discovers that they are not at home. Just as he is about to leave, his mother spots him from a neighbor’s window and invites him into the house. The neighbors are hosting a busy wine tasting event. Rob groans, imagining how his know-it-all father would react to a wine tasting course. By the time Rob arrives, the guests seem to be beyond the educational part of the wine tasting course and now they are simply drinking wine. Other than his parents, he knows no one.

After making small talk with the neighbors, Rob and his mother return across the street to drink a cup of tea and talk. An hour later, his father returns drunk and insists that they join him for a trip to the movies with the neighbors. Rob cannot get out of the trip, and he receives pitying smiles from the other moviegoers.