In Nineteen Minutes did Josie really love Matt?

Answer 1

Yes, it is believed that Josie truly did love Matt. This is shown throughout various moments in the book, such as her visiting his grave to be near him and her numerable mentionings of him during the aftermath of the shooting -- how he smelt, how he hugged her, etc. However, and this is a very strong however, it was under my own impression that while Josie did love Matt, she loved him for both the right and (primarily) wrong reasons; reasons that Josie herself knew about, which was why she had early intentions to kill herself. While she cared deeply for Matt, she knew that Matt loved the Josie that she only portrayed herself to be -- a person that Josie did not understand or love. Additionally, Matt was her link to the popular crowd, the popular crowd that treated her as one of them. As Matt continuously took obsessive, possesive, and at times abusive actions towards Josie, she begun to subconciously understand that as long as she was with Matt, she would never love herself. Being with Matt allowed Josie no personal growth, as their relationship forced her to stay the same. To Josie, though, this was a sacrifice worth making, for being a part of the popular crowd was something she felt she had to keep. Because Josie didn't love herself, she feared she would not survive being on the outside of the popular crowd or not being loved by Matt. All this comes together in the end, when Josie herself shoots Matt -- at that moment, she understood that that was her chance to be free of him, that perhaps that would be her only chance. So she took the shot. So yes, Josie did love Matt Royston -- simply for the wrong reasons. You can't pick you who fall in love with!

Answer 2

Josie did have feelings for Matt in Nineteen Minutes, but her love for him was complicated by their past history and the traumatic events they both experienced. Their relationship was fraught with challenges and misunderstandings, making their love for each other difficult to understand and accept by others.