Actually, Earl and I are more like coworkers.
This is one of the most significant examples of Greg's low self-esteem and his nature to avoid confrontation about anything. He spends most of his time with Earl and yet he doesn't want to call him a friend. He calls him a co-worker since they shoot their own versions of Hollywood classics.
ENTIRE HALLWAY’s WORTH OF STUDENTS: Greg, we are all making a note of your playful bantering frienship with this loud obnoxious person.
This quote is a way how Greg often defines situations as a screenplay. He likes to think of himself as a film-maker, but has a very low self-esteem and is constantly thinking about the opinion of other people about him. Thus, he often fragments his worries and thoughts as a scene of a script.
We really are caught between a rock and a hard place here.
Greg says his to Earl after he discovers that Rachel knows of the film he and Earl are making for her. Both of them have tried a lot of techniques and we're not happy with any of them. They are already dismissive of their work and knowing that Rachel is expecting something is a lot of pressure when not providing her with a film isn't left as an option.
So if I wanted to hang out with Rachel, it was mostly for selfish reasons.
Greg is brutally honest with his intentions and thoughts in getting connected with Rachel. He is also very anxious about the opinions of others who would read this testimonial. He says that he was friends with Rachel not out of feelings for her or the fact that she was dying but simply because he was being forced by his mom.
It was possible to forget that she had to die.
Greg describes his feelings in utter honesty saying that he, unlike Earl and his mother, wasn't really sorry about Rachel dying. He hardly knew her or knew anything after she died. He agrees that he would never have stayed friends with her if she were to get healthy. He was hurt due to the emotional trauma he had to undergo due to her death and the fact that no one was sympathetic about his film but he also had nothing in common with Rachel to call her a friend, and so it was easy for him to forget that she had existed in the first place.
