Previously: Another fight and still no idea why Hardin spent a night out punching.
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Samantha: Hardin and Tessa arrive home, and Tessa notes that it is freezing because Hardin turned the heat off. As a freeze baby, I hate walking into homes/hotel rooms/whatever and it’s immediately way too cold. Hardin claims the thermostat is too high tech for him. Okay, sweetie. (M: Nothing is ever his fault.) Tessa spends some time grabbing blankets and warm clothes, and Hardin gives her a hoodie. They both get all lovey dovey and lustful about Tessa in his hoodie and her warm socks. Tessa wonders to herself if her mom will want her to come home for Christmas.
When they get back to the living room it’s getting warm so I’m not entirely sure why I was made to sit through that bundling up section of “story.” Tessa nervously brings up Christmas, and Hardin invites her to England with him for the holiday. Tessa mentions that they would be leaving the day after her birthday and Hardin is all “why didn’t you tell me that was your birthday???” And I am struck all over again about how absurd this “we live together!” plot is. (M: “Because we’ve known each other for a handful of weeks, Hardin, and birthdays hadn’t come up yet.”) Tessa says that she just wants to go out to dinner for her birthday, and I’m sure Hardin will totally respect that. They watch Pretty Little Liars and fall asleep. I bet Tessa thinks Pedzra is swoony. (M: Wow, too real.)
Tessa wakes up in the middle of the night and sees that Hardin’s phone is blinking with texts. She looks at one, a thing people definitely do in healthy relationships, and sees that it’s from Jace. I pause to go back in our recaps and remind myself who TF that is. Ah yes, the uber creepy guy egging everything on at the party. Hardin wakes up and Tessa lies about what she was doing and drops the phone so it cracks a little.
Tessa says that she wants to check with her mom about Christmas and then just blurts out that she saw the text from Jace. Hardin gets all intense, and Tessa can’t understand why because she’s dumb and because the text was only asking Hardin to call him. He’s all “cool, I’m gonna run some errands.” When Tessa asks where he’s going, he gets mega pissed, which is ridiculous. Tessa points this out. He’s an ass about how she doesn’t let things go and if he had known she was going to be like this, he would have sneaked out before she woke up.
Marines: I’m baffled by the fact that Hardin thinks the correct answer here is to say he wishes he could’ve just left without her knowing.
Samantha: Tessa is now also mad and points out that he was so great yesterday at the wedding, but now he’s back to being a jerk. Was he though? I remember Tessa being tense the whole time and Hardin being possessive and demanding they didn’t talk about anything. So.
Hardin tells Tessa that she’s the problem and how dare she go through his phone. Tessa says that if there’s something on there that she shouldn’t see that’s a bigger problem. She asks about Zed, but Hardin shuts it down. They are so exhausting. We’re treated to Hardin running his hands through his hair so it stands up all over the place, so here’s a Harry Styles gif for you.
Mari: I care nothing about Harry Styles, but I appreciate the momentary break from this rage-inducing fight– one that we’ve had in one variation or other over and over and over again. Jesus be the end of this book.
Samantha: Hardin storms out, and Tessa calls Zed to get some answers.
Zed is hesitant to talk to her, understandably, and straight up hangs up the phone when Tessa asks about the fight. Our darling girl does find this suspicious because Zed seemed afraid. (M: Wow, I wonder who in this book is capable of causing such fear? Maybe someone a little secretive, a little murder-y, hmm…) She goes on a longwinded rant to herself about how all of this is making her understand Miss Havisham from Great Expectations better. She then makes a daring plan to go talk to Steph and fully acknowledges that its only daring because Hardin will lose his damn mind over it.
Mari: Yes, correct. It is bravery because Hardin is danger. Keep up, girl friend.
Samantha: It’s snowing, and she forgets her phone, like a fake millennial. When she gets to the dorms Steph isn’t there, and she tries to reformulate her plan by driving around. I just realized that this is supposed to have “final act tension” vibe but it super doesn’t because there is no plot. Anyway, she drives past the biker bar and recognizes Nate’s car in the parking lot. She finds Steph inside and the chapter dramatically ends with “if only I had known what was to come.” Dun dun duhahahahahahaha.
Mari: See how she has to fudge her own “final act tension?” WITH A “IF ONLY I HAD KNOWN WHAT WAS TO COME.”
Honest to goodness, I saw a tweet on my timeline yesterday from someone saying they enjoyed this book because they suspended disbelief. Disbelief of what, garbage writing? Abusive relationship? I’m confused.
Samantha: Disbelief of… their own humanity?
Next time on After: If only I had known what was to come in Chapter 96.
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.
