Previously: Truth or dare gone bad.
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Samantha: So Tessa legit takes off running down the street when she realized Hardin came after her. Trust those instincts, girl. She reaches the end of the road and realizes she’s tired. And, I mean, I can’t judge this is also why I’d never survive a zombie apocalypse.
Samantha: She also realizes how stupid it was to leave her phone in her room. We told you! She full stops because she wants an explanation but instead Hardin begins demanding answers. “What did Zed say to you?” Huh? What? Tessa is also confused. Does he honestly somehow think that Zed is the one who upset her? Or is he afraid Zed said shitty things about him? Cause, like, he didn’t need to? Because you are the problem?
Tessa screams at him a bit and he says he’s sorry and tries to take her hand.
Of course, now he’s mad at her because he’s the worst. He wants to know what the hell her problem is since she was kissing Zed. She screams at him about how he humiliated her and used her and lied to her. “What was the point-what did you get out of it-oh, besides a blow job?” I feel like I’ve already overdone it on gifs so just: YES.
Hardy just cannot believe that she would think that he’s using her, despite completely acting like he was using her. It’s like actions have consequences or something!
Mari: I’m astounded by Anna Todd’s decision to play this like Hardin just! didn’t! know! What’s gained from making Hardin seem like child here?
Samantha: Only our eternal misery.
Tessa tells him that she’s done and she’ll change dorms if she has to, to get him out of her life. Everything she is saying is so legit that it’s hurting me more to know that it’s not gonna stick. He tells her she’s overreacting because he’s also a fuckboy on the internet.
She tells him that her reaction is totally justified, and he comes back with how she kissed Zed right in front of him, too! See, they’re totally the same and equal and that gets him out of taking responsibility! He tells her that he had no obligation to tell her about the party and that she wouldn’t have wanted to come because she has more fun watching paint dry. She wonders why he even bothers with her then, why he even followed her outside. She tells him that she won’t be his secret girlfriend and “You took my kindness for weakness and you were sadly mistaken.”
Then. THEN. THEN. Hardin, our love interest, LAUGHS AT HER FOR THINKING SHE WAS HIS GIRLFRIEND.
“Girlfriend? You thought you were my girlfriend?’ he howls.
The pain in my chest is magnified by a thousand and I can barely stand. ‘No…I,” I start to say. I don’t know what to say.
‘You did, didn’t you?’ he says, laughing.”
Mari: HE IS AWFUL. He is NOT behaving like someone who cares in the least for Tessa. And I’m sorry HARDIN, if you understand the mechanics of using Truth or Dare to make Tessa jealous, you also understand that laughing at her for thinking she was your girlfriend is RUDE.
He’s a dick and I hate this book.
Samantha: Tessa decides she has nothing to lose so she admits that she did because she believed everything he told her. She also quotes the “I’ll ruin you” stuff he said to her and sobs that he’s won. She’s also mad at herself for letting this all happen when she knew better.
The narrative then tells us that pain flashes in him eyes and fuck off. You cannot give me this psychotic hyena laughter at her pain and humiliation and then also sell me that he’s experiencing pain at her pain. (M: If it takes a full on melt down for Hardin to register that she’s in pain, that psycho can take a mf hike.) She turns and walks away from him, ignoring as he follows and calls to her. She heads back into the house and sees Molly waiting outside for Hardin. She tells him that they’re perfect for each other and he snaps that she knows it’s not like that.
Zed appears and tells Tessa that he tried to go after her but she was long gone? Pretty sure she was just down the street but okay, long gone. She borrows his phone and calls Landon to pick her up. Then Zed asks Tessa, a human capable of making decisions, if he would like him to wait with her. Then Hardin, an asshole who likes to make her decisions, commands that he’s the one who will wait with her. Tessa tells Zed she would appreciate it, and Hardin hovers over them. Then Steph, Molly, and Tristan come out. Steph hugs Tessa, who says that she shouldn’t have come. Molly decides this is a great time to passively aggressively mutter “You got that right.”
Tessa snaps and calls Molly a drunk slut, basically. Molly taunts Tessa about how she kisses Hardin all the time. I hate this girl fighting. Tristan pulls Molly and Steph back towards the house, and as they go Hardin says that he hadn’t kissed her recently, until tonight. Is this how Todd is going to make all this redeemable? ‘Cause that is some weak sauce.
But I spoke too soon cause Todd decides to pull out the hard stuff next. Landon arrives. Tessa tells Hardin to gtfo and so he decides to yell that he loves her. That’s right friends, “I love you!”
Samantha: Here’s a neat fact: You don’t treat people you actually love like garbage. You don’t laugh at them and disrespect them and yell at them (all examples from just this chapter alone.) This is not love. Love is not an excuse to treat people terribly.
Everyone is shocked. Steph looks like she’s seen a ghost for some reason. Tessa tells him that he’s sick and goes to get in the car but he grabs her (!!!) and tells her that it’s true. His eyes are brimming with tears. Tessa thinks he’s acting because all of his behavior to this point would indicate that. She gets in the car and Landon drives away.
Mari: This book is sick and it needs help.
Next time on After: Tessa deals with love fallout in Chapter 61.
I'm a 28 year old graduated English major and almost librarian. I can often be found singing too loudly (poorly) in the car or spending some time (hours) on Tumblr. I am a lover of Harry Potter, the Spice Girls, and too many other things.
I'm a 30-something south Floridan who loves the beach but cannot swim. Such is my life, full of small contradictions and little trivialities. My main life goals are never to take life too seriously, but to do everything I attempt seriously well. After that, my life goals devolve into things like not wearing pants and eating all of the Zebra Cakes in the world. THE WORLD.
