Previously: Wuthering Heights, we are so sorry.
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Samantha: Tessa heads over to the professor to explain her one absence. He tells her that on the one day she missed, he rearranged the syllabus. (M: There’s a moral here, kids!) She stays and talks with him until Hardin leaves. Back in her room, she tries to study but is too nervous that one of the many people always barging in will do so. Legit complaint. She packs up to head somewhere off campus, even though the library exists for this very reason.
She instead finds a public library, which okay fine, and then decides it’s the perfect place to study. You didn’t discover libraries, Tessa, that’s literally what they’re for. (M: This might be worse than every heroine who Columbuses blow jobs…) She studies until it’s dark and gets a sweet text from Zed. She goes home and falls asleep reading Wuthering Heights. I’ve never read it either, for the “these people are terrible” reason Mari cited last chapter. However I did read most of its Wikipedia entry once, specifically so I could understand all the books that use it as a bad reference.
Mari: Everyone in the comments also did an A+ job cliff noting all the ways the references are TERRIBLE. You guys are the best, we love you.
Samantha: Tessa awakens and has a text from Landon saying that he won’t be on campus today. She gets dressed and heads to the coffee shop. She bumps into Logan, who I think is the guy who once tried to assault her, and finds out that there’s a party tonight so Hardin’s group shouldn’t be at the bonfire. She heads to Lit and manages to not look at Hardin once. This is painfully reminding me of a poetry class I had with my version of Hardin. She tries to hurry out of class once it’s over but he calls her name. She rushes away and he touches her arm and it tingles, without her even being sure it’s him???
When I reach the sidewalk, I feel a light touch on my arm. I know it’s him from the way my skin tingles.
It seems pretty weird that her skin recognizes Hardin without her brain being involved? Is her skin sentient?
Mari: In that spite-fic version we might one day write, her skin tingles, she turns around, and it’s some random old lady like hey miss, you dropped this.
Samantha: He just wanted to give her a notebook that she dropped and they stare at each other for bit before Hardin “shakes his hair out and pushes it back” and leaves.
Mari: Listen, I don’t care who he says I love you to. The fact that he did it in the middle of an argument after laughing at Tessa for thinking they were involved means I DON’T CARE IF TESSA IS THE VERY FIRST HUMAN HE’S EVER SAID IT TO. HE DID IT WRONG.
Samantha: YEP.
Landon and Dakota arrive and Dakota is gorgeous. She also hugs Tessa right away and is generally pleasant. They sit down to dinner and Tessa is sad that Hardin isn’t sitting next to her. She thinks that maybe she should have brought Zed, because he is a piece of furniture to her and not a person. Ken arrives and congratulates Tessa on doing well at her internship interview.
Then, of course, Hardin arrives. He literally smiles “menacingly” at Tessa and I just don’t know why Todd is willfully making her love interest predatory. He calls Dakota “Delilah” and is generally rude. (M: But he doesn’t say I love you to his mommy boo hoo hoo.) Tessa literally thinks of an exit strategy. I literally wonder if I’m stuck in a book time loop.
Tessa tells everyone about her car and asks about Dakota’s ballet school plans. Landon announces that it’s time to go to the bonfire (omg, are we actually going???) and Hardin asks if Tessa is going to ride with him. She’s all “you’re not going???” and he says that he is and she can’t stop him and also tries to put his hand on her thigh.
He wants to talk outside but Tessa says no so Hardin grabs her hand and literally drags her outside. I know I’m using literally a lot but it’s because I want to convey how I’m not exaggerating this shit at all. She tells him to stop touching her and he’s all “you weren’t going to do what I wanted so I had to force you”. He apologizes again and she tells him to knock it off because he just wants to mess with her and she wants him to leave her alone. Then.
“Heck, I’ll even help you find someone, some poor innocent girl for you to torture as long as it isn’t me.”
Samantha: Hardin tells her that he needs her and he just wants one more chance. She tells him that if he actually needed her he wouldn’t treat her so badly. So. Yet another example of how Todd knows this is terrible but still chose to portray it as a love story. He admits that he just says stuff to hurt her and she’s like “???????” and he asks again for one more chance and he’ll tell her everything. She tells him that she’s meeting Zed. He demands to know if they’re dating. Tessa clarifies it as spending time together because he’s nice to her and stuff. Hardin starts to tell Tessa that she doesn’t know Zed but Landon comes out and they head to the bonfire, leaving Hardin behind.
Mari: Too much to hope it’s forever.
Next time on After: Do we actually go to the bonfire??? in Chapter 65.
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.
