Previously: Tessa’s mother was ridiculous.
—
Marines: Hardin ends up spending the night because Steph and Tristan go back to his apartment. Tessa dreams of getting to live with Hardin, waking up to him every day. Then she thinks that it’s not realistic. Not because he’s a monster or anything, but because she’s too young and that’s moving too fast.
Samantha: Whatever. I guess I’ll take whatever bullshit excuse keeps that from happening.
Mari: Too true.
On Monday, her alarm goes off 10 minutes late.
…how does an alarm go off late? I mean, sometimes I don’t set my alarm or I don’t hear it, but I don’t think I’ve ever had it just decide to go off after the time I’ve set it? But okay.
Tessa’s whole morning is thrown off. She showers and does her make-up before waking Hardin up. He wonders wth time it even is. Tessa says it’s 6:30 and she still has to get coffee and ride the 45 minutes to the office. Hardin points out that that still leaves her 45 extra minutes when she gets there. I’m one for leaving some traffic padding and all that, but 45 minutes seems excessive, especially since Tessa was freaking out that she overslept by 10 minutes. Hardin tries to tempt her into staying and fooling around for a while. Tessa freaks out some more about all the things that could possible go wrong. Hardin says she can’t show up nervous to her first day! They would eat her alive. (S: Being nervous on your first day is pretty standard, Hard-on.) He offers to relax her. “Five minutes?” Tessa asks. “That’s all I need,” Hardin answers because of course.
So, Tessa tries to turn and face Hardin, but he wants her to keep looking at the mirror. Hardin pulls up her skirt and fingers her while she looks at herself and thinks about how different! and sexy! she looks. Tessa closes her eyes, but Hardin demands that she open then. When she does, they lock eyes and that’s all she needs to end his “beautiful slow assault” and “send her over the edge.” Tessa checks the clock. Only five minutes! Speedy!
Hardin tells her she’s ready to take on corporate America now and she jokes that he’s a terrible American. It reminded me that this is One Direction fanfiction, lol. Hardin again offers to drive her, but she turns down the offer. She drives herself and gets there super early, so she calls Hardin and they talk about the sex they didn’t have until she has to go inside.
Christian Vance comes out to greet Tessa himself. He also asks Tessa to call him Christian and offers to show this INTERN to her office. lol. Christian leads her there and she even has a name plate by her door. The “small” office is as big as her dorm room and has a desk, two filing cabinets, two chairs, a bookshelf, a computer and a window. This is a VERY fancy internship for a first year college student who earned this internship all on her own. I can’t decide if there is something shady happening here or if Anna Todd knows as much about working in an office as she does about college life.
Samantha: What is even happening right now? They made her a name plate? SHE BARELY GOES HERE.
Mari: Christian tells Tessa that she will be tasked with reading two manuscripts a week and passing on the ones that she thinks would be a good fit. Tessa’s mouth falls open because she can’t believe this is a paid internship with college credits with an office with a window. She’ll be getting paid two hundred dollars a week and will be eligible for a raise after 90 days. Tessa thanks him for the unbelievable opportunity and can’t wait to call Hardin and tell him about it. Christian says he has it on good authority that she’s a hard worker. He hopes she might even tell Hardin how great it is so he’ll come back and work there again.
Tessa is, of course, completely caught off guard. Turns out that Hardin used to work at Vance but then he was snatched up by Bolthouse because they pay him more money and let him work from home. Tessa laughs nervously and says she’ll remind him how great it is here. She’s not annoyed that she knows absolutely nothing about her violent boyfriend who asked her to move in with him this morning. In all the conversations they’ve had about this damn internship, he never thought to say, “oh yeah, I used to work there….”
Anyway, Tessa fills in some paperwork and is left to familiarize herself with the office. Instead she squeals and spins herself around in her new chair.
Samantha: Oh yeah, she totally earned this cushy bullshit all on her own. Definitely. Why are you even questioning it?
Mari: I mean, good for her, I guess. Enjoy it and maybe spend more time in the office and less with Hardin.
Next time on After: Underwear shopping in Chapter 76.
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.
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.
