Pucking Sweet

Being listed as one another’s emergency contact becomes one of the ways that Poppy, Colton, and Lukas express their affection for one another at different points of their relationship, and the issue is a motif that illustrates their changing relationships throughout the novel. In the first half of the novel, Colton and Lukas have an uneasy friendship, one where their level of care remains unspoken, even in a platonic sense. When Lukas admits that he listed Colton as his emergency contact, however, Colton realizes both that Lukas cares about their friendship more than his playful demeanor reveals and that Lukas does not have anyone more important in his life. Friendship proves to be the first step for Colton and Lukas’s relationship, both with each other and with Poppy. Lukas is particularly unable to express how close he feels to Colton and uses the revelation about his emergency contact listing to communicate how deeply he values their relationship.

Later, after the three are in a confirmed romantic relationship, being listed on official forms—including emergency contact forms—emerges as a way for the trio to show their commitment while legal marriage is unavailable to them. When Colton reveals that he has put Poppy first on his list, and Lukas second (though he jokes that Poppy can never reveal this order to Lukas), he does so to signify their importance to him while also illustrating that he knows his partners well.