This strip was just beautiful and I've been laughing about it since I first saw it.
The first point of this strip is the revelation is that May
does care enough about other people's opinions of her so that she can do the Walk of Shame. Enough to lie about something that, at most, would inspire Dale to ask if she had a good time and drop the matter (because he obviously respects her autonomy). It suggests to me that this has been a stronger emotional experience than she was expecting.
The second point is something that we've known for a long time and that is that May really likes Dale but feels unable to admit it because she's so committed to this 'misanthropic curmudgeon' persona that she's always using. It's tragic in a way that she has such a hard time admitting that Dale might be her friend. Historically,
other people have had to tell
her that they're her friends (like Momo) and she's been happy to have them. It's just a reminder of how profoundly hurt she's been by her past misadventures.
May is remarkably not-nonchalant about this ...
Yeah, I have to agree with all the people who say that, if anyone is going to be 'weird about this', it's going to be May. It seems to be Sven's curse that he has casual hook-ups and is just so good at it that it turns casual interest into full-blown attraction. We'll see where this goes because, as first boyfriends go, he's just about the most challenging option.