After Chapter 18 – Used to this

Previously: Tessa questioned Hardin about his books and got SUPER EXTRA DRUNK.
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Samantha: Tessa and Zed find the room but a dude is already sleeping in one of the beds. Zed is enthusiastic that at least one of the beds is empty. He then tells Tessa that he’s going to walk back to his place, and he has a couch she could sleep on, *wink wink*. Tessa considers this but realizes that Zed would probably expect them to kiss and she’s not really down for that. She also remarks on how easy it must be for Zed to get lots of girls to kiss him. She tells him she’s going to stay here and his face falls but he understands. He leaves and Tessa locks the door.

Marines: I get so torn reading this sometimes because on the one hand– YEAH. Skeevy college guys, been there. On the other hand, I’m not sure how  much better of a plan locking yourself in a room with a stranger is. I guess the worst thing is that Tessa doesn’t feel comfortable saying, “May I stay on your couch if absolutely nothing is going to happen between us?” And so, room, stranger, lock.

Samantha: She looks at the snoring guy and decides that he isn’t going to be waking up soon. I would still be so tense. She starts thinking about what Hardin said, that Noah hasn’t fucked her yet and defends this by calling Noah a gentleman. They don’t need sex because they go for walks and to the movies. Which, idk, does sound nice to me GOOD WAY.

She lays down and counts the tiles for awhile before falling asleep.

She is awakened some time later by a male voice slurring in her ear. My stomach clenches.

There’s a guy hovering over her, close enough that Tessa smacks into him and bites her tongue when she tries to jump up. He says that he hasn’t seen her around and asks for her name. Tessa tries to push him away but he just laughs at her. He says that he isn’t going to hurt her, they’re just going to have some fun.

I mean. This is hard to recap and you guys don’t need much commentary here, I suspect. This is horrifying and gross and nope. (M: Nope.)

Tessa knees him hard in the crotch, YES, and runs for the door. She manages to unlock the door and get out into the hallway. I am vaguely impressed that Hardin didn’t come busting in to save her. The guy comes stumbling out after her and Tessa notes that nobody seems fazed by all this. Which, sadly accurate. LETS FREAKING START BEING FAZED BY THIS SHIT EVERYONE.

She flees to Hardin’s room because it’s familiar and I was probably relieved too soon.  She bangs on the door until it flies open. She then also wonders why she chose to come to Hardin’s room and like, you already answered that two paragraphs ago. Because it’s the only place you know in this house. Hardin is half asleep and wearing only boxer briefs. Tessa takes time to think about how good he looks, because that’s where your head would definitely be while being chased by a rapist.

Mari: There are a lot of things I hate about this author already, but making Tessa notice Hardin’s sexuality or note her attraction to him during the worst possible moments or when he is being the worst to her? I hate that a looooot. Note it: Tessa always comments on Hardin’s abs or dimples or tattoos or lips when he’s being awful to her because the author truly finds abuse sexy and has coded that into her novel, I guess. I have no other explanations.

Samantha: Hardin accidentally calls her Tess because he’s sleepy and she asks to come in because of “this guy…”. Hardin looks out into the hallway and sees the rapey guy. The guy gets frightened just looking at Hardin and turns around and leaves.

Tessa asks if Hardin knows him and he answers affirmatively before pulling her into his bedroom. Tessa notices that Hardin doesn’t have any tattoos on his back. Cool. He asks her if she’s okay and if the creep touched her.

“No, he tried, though. I was stupid enough to lock myself in a room with a drunk stranger, so I suppose it’s my fault.” 

Let us see how Hardin handles this situation. He begins by telling her that it isn’t her fault. Cool, good, right. He then says, and I’m just going to quote:

“You aren’t used to this type of… situation.”

I… what? So if she was used to this situation it would be her fault? That’s what that means, right? Okay, no. That’s a wrong thing Hardin. It was nice while it lasted for a sentence.

Mari: Girls who get drunk often should be used to attempted rapes. — Anna Todd via Hardin Jerkypants. Cool.

Samantha: Hardin pats the bed and Tessa sits down next to him. She declares again that this is the last time she’s coming to one of these parties and has a moment about what a creep that guy was. Hardin tells her not to cry and wipes her cheek. She’s shocked that he’s being so nice and looks up into his GREEN eyes, which dilate at her gaze. He tells her that he didn’t realize how gray her eyes were and I involuntarily twitch. There faces are all close to each other and Tessa battles her hormones for half a second before kissing him.

Whuuuuuuuuuuut.

 

Next time on After: K-I-S-S-I-N-G in Chapter 19.