Not So Cute, But Cute Enough
When Margot first sees Robert from behind the concession stand at work, she decides he's somewhat cute, but she isn't particularly attracted to him. She mostly flirts with him out of boredom, but decides that he's cute enough to warrant pursuing a little: he isn't cute enough that she would've "gone up to him at a party," but is cute enough that she might have "drummed up an imaginary crush on him if he'd sat across from her during a dull class." The invocation of these two banal, everyday scenarios as a metric for Margot's crush make her ambivalent feelings about Robert feel low-stakes, painting a vivid picture of just how undecided she is about him at first. Therein lies the brilliance of this imagery: Roupenian vividly conveys a feeling of dullness, making the reader feel just how bored Margot must be.
The Lumberjack Aura
When Robert takes Margot to 7-Eleven, he's wearing a rabbit-fur hat with ear flaps and an old-fashioned down jacket. Margot finds this getup a little dorky, but in an endearing way that kind of reminds her of a lumberjack. The "lumberjack aura" that Robert exudes perfectly explains Margot's attraction to him: he isn't super hot, but there's something comfortingly large and attractively protective about him, like a burly, bearded lumberjack. This also goes a long way to explain how Margot sees herself in relation to Robert: he is some big, awkward, lumbering force and she feels delicate and precious in comparison.
The Dive Bar
After Margot gets her fake ID rejected at the first bar, Robert takes her to a more relaxed dive bar where no one is checking IDs at the door. The place is described as having pool tables and pinball machines and a sawdust-covered floor, suggesting it's not very hip or glamorous. This imagery stands in contrast to the assumptions Robert has made about Margot, namely that she's sophisticated or even snobbish. Although he might perceive her as sophisticated because she works at an art-house cinema, Margot is proven to be flawed and vulnerable: she tries to lie about her age to get into the first bar but is rejected, meaning this dive bar is the best date spot she can hope to get into. The unglamorous imagery of this bar suggests how Robert's own fantasies about Margot must have, by this point in the story, begun to unravel.
President and Secret Service
When Margot and her friends are out at the student bar at the very end of the story, they spy Robert sulking in the corner. Margot is immediately put off, because he doesn't usually go to student bars like this, and she becomes convinced that he is there to see her. Her friends then close ranks around her and usher her out, physically barricading her from Robert's view as they exit the bar. This is described as though she were the President and her friends were the Secret Service. This description emphasizes Margot's self-importance, highlighting her ego-driven self-evaluation: her whole affair with Robert is underpinned by a belief that she's precious and desirable, and she doesn't feel attracted to him so much as excited by the fact that he desires her.
