Hello all, this is my first post on these forums but I really wanted to weigh in on today's comic(1/16), especially after reading some of the posts in this thread.
Honestly, I am glad at the talk Faye had with Marten, because the truth is that Marten was wrong in how he handled that last call with Padma. Marten spent a good bit of time being down that she hadn't returned his calls, but didn't want to go over to the bakery to avoid being awkward, which in part is fair. He assumed that something was up and decided to just wait and find out what was going on later. However, when he does hear from her, he sort of goes into a clipped speech mode, ya know, when you respond with the shortest possible sentence to get your message across, mostly with one or two words. That way of talking that says that you don't want to talk. Why he did this is obvious, he was hurt/angry/upset because he felt like she wronged him, thats all true, but he didn't try to tell her any of this or ask why. He went with the petty "you avoided me and it hurt, so I'm going to do the same back to you." He did this knowing that this would probably be his last chance to see her before she left, and to top it off, instead of even giving her the chance to try to explain over the phone or anything, he cuts her off with "Have a safe trip.", like she's already gone in his mind. He immediately thought he was an asshole when he did it, he thought he was an asshole when he told Faye, and Faye spelled it out for him today.
Faye on the other hand was in the right. Heck, she was in the right at least three times over to the point of being sinister (sorry, my favorite pun <.<) . I've seen posts that Faye was too harsh on Marten, or her comments about him being a "pissy little bitch", or she was secretly hoping their relationship would fail so he didn't leave, or that she knew what was up but didn't tell him because she is in someway a bad influence on him or something. To sum up my response to all of those:
-_-.
Marten isn't a frail child and telling him when he screwed up sometimes means that there isn't any room for sugar-coating it, especially when Marten wants to be in self-denial of any wrongdoing. About Marten trying to follow Padma to LA, Marten hasn't considered leaving and Padma never suggested him come along with her to the point of wanting to stay longer herself instead, that wasn't something Faye would be worrying about, especially after actually telling Marten that it freaked her out. If anything, Marten going after Padma is more likely to happen now because Faye told him to get his head out of his ass, rather than if she didn't. As to her know what was up, Faye and Raven both told him that he should go and talk to her and stop being so passive, they tried to help before this and he didn't take their advice. Saying that Faye knew what was up but didn't tell him is kinda like trying to blame her for this situation because she didn't specifically tell Marten "She may like you and not want to leave."
Also, about Faye telling him that he was wasting his life in that way that kinda floored him. Instead of taking it literally, I feel like she was using something he said earlier to smack him upside the head for being stupid. Marten got all "Well trying is stupid, look where that got me" but in #2025, he was all "I met my friends because of trying soooo..." Her reason for being pissed is pretty legit, since he basically said in one sentence that everything he went through and everyone he met wasn't worth it, and I'm pretty sure if any of you heard a friend say that because they were upset, you'd try to own them into silence too.
As to him wasting his life? There is a girl he liked alot, missed, and wanted to see before she went away, but when the time came, he lied about being busy, without giving so much as a reason. That sounds like an opportunity wasted, and what is life besides a series of opportunities for us to take or let go. Marten is a very good guy, and he knows better than this and that's why he was so wrong here. I've made a similar mistake like this before, and I'm glad that Marten had a friend to set him straight on it like that. Hopefully he'll call Padma and try to patch things up, or maybe she hasn't actually left yet, who knows. We'll see in the next few days.