Tessa tries to take a step back from Hardin, but "his grip is too strong." We're going to totally ignore her lack of bodily autonomy in this very moment because she's so! shocked! and! over! whelmed! that Hardin just said he wants to be good. If it is THIS SHOCKING that someone has set the pretty mid-level bar of being good, perhaps don't date that person. #SnarkLadyAdvice (S: #MaybeLiterallySavesLivesInThisCase.)
I'mma just preface this with I hate this mother fucking douche so much.
Hardin and Tessa go sit on the patio. Tessa says that his touch is literally burning her skin so someone get this girl some ice.
Marines: That's an allergic reaction, not romance, baby girl.
Samantha: Tessa tries to muster her harsh tone so, we'll see how long that lasts.
Hardin and Tessa go sit on the patio. Tessa says that his touch is literally burning her skin so someone get this girl some ice.
Marines: That's an allergic reaction, not romance, baby girl.
Samantha: Tessa tries to muster her harsh tone so, we'll see how long that lasts.
Previously: Something is wrong with Hardin so Tessa leaves Noah in the dust. — Marines: Landon texts Tessa an address, which she copy and pastes into her “maps program.” Why are...
The chapter opens with Noah remarking that Hardin was pretty pleasant and not so bad, because Noah has never interacted with people, ever. Tessa starts thinking about the time she cheated on her boyfriend and crawls into said boyfriend's lap to find the fire again. He tries to push her off and asks what she's doing. Tessa gets embarrassed and says she wants to make out and Noah responds "Okay?" question mark included, so I'm feeling unsure about consent here. I continue to feel uncomfortable when Tessa starts to rock her hips against his and Noah stops her and she moves his hands and keeps doing it.
Tessa is showered and composed by the time Steph gets back from the movies. She kind of wants to tell Steph about what happened (meaning the rubbing and kissing), but she also kind of doesn't want anyone to know. She makes a joke about how Hardin was his usual charming self and Steph looks at her real concerned. (S: Keep being concerned, girl.) The (brilliant as always) comments from last week got into how awful it would be to have a boyfriend who was an asshole to everyone but you. That is so damn true. I mean, why would you even want to be with someone who treated literfeally everyone like trash?
Oh boy. Here we go.
Tessa tells us that Hardin's hand is on her thigh and she hopes he never moves it. Sounds like an awkward way to live but okay. She studies his tattoos, making special note of an infinity symbol on his wrist. Apparently she's a tattoo whisperer (M: lol) because she knows that this one is extra special to him. He asks her what kind of food she likes, and Tessa takes a moment to let us know how refreshing it is that he asked her a normal question.
Tessa tells us that Hardin's hand is on her thigh and she hopes he never moves it. Sounds like an awkward way to live but okay. She studies his tattoos, making special note of an infinity symbol on his wrist. Apparently she's a tattoo whisperer (M: lol) because she knows that this one is extra special to him. He asks her what kind of food she likes, and Tessa takes a moment to let us know how refreshing it is that he asked her a normal question.
Okay, Hardin has Tessa in his car 90% against her will and we don't know where he is taking her. Everyone, we are on HIGH ALERT.
Samantha:
Captain Kirk is worried.
Mari: As he should be!
First up: Hardin takes Tessa down a gravel road and turns off the music so that she can hear all the little stones crunching beneath the tires. Tessa realizes that they are very, very alone, away from people and building and cars and also police. I added the last thing. HIGH ALERT remains; this seems awful murder-y.
Samantha:
Captain Kirk is worried.
Mari: As he should be!
First up: Hardin takes Tessa down a gravel road and turns off the music so that she can hear all the little stones crunching beneath the tires. Tessa realizes that they are very, very alone, away from people and building and cars and also police. I added the last thing. HIGH ALERT remains; this seems awful murder-y.
So Tessa can't focus on studying and decides to try a shower. Showers are a sort of magic so it helps relax her, and she realizes that she's nervous and confused when it comes to Hardin. I mean, can you believe it? She's nervous and confused when it comes to Hardin! Wow.
Marines: She "realizes" this even though we've suffered through 24 what-are-chapters of her being nervous and confused when it comes to Hardin. This girl is 139 characters short of a full Tweet.
Marines: She "realizes" this even though we've suffered through 24 what-are-chapters of her being nervous and confused when it comes to Hardin. This girl is 139 characters short of a full Tweet.
Tessa meets with Landon to study. She tells us that it took her an hour to organize all her notes after Hardin threw them around LIKE A DICK. I'm convinced that you can add LIKE A DICK to any action Hardin takes and it's 100% accurate. (S: This shall be fun.) Tessa wants to tell Landon about it but "I don't want him to think badly of me." Ummmmm, why would he think badly of you after some jerk threw around your stuff? (S: Yup, this reeks of victim blaming mentality.)
Hokay so, Tessa is getting ready to go to her first class of the day. I read the last chapter and I still have no idea time wise how we got here but it's a new day so I am not poking it. Landon is waiting for her and they start heading to class, you know, the one that Hardin is also in. Landon asks after Tessa's weekend and she says it was terrible. She asks him how his GF, Dakota, is and he becomes really happy and starts talking about her.
Tessa tells us that breakfast with her mom and Noah is going agonizingly slow. Like, no kidding baby girl, you got super drunk after 20 minutes last night and spent all night walking in circles (probably, because there is no other explanation).
Samantha: Eat some eggs and start an caffeine drip, Tessa. There is no other way, apparently.
Samantha: Eat some eggs and start an caffeine drip, Tessa. There is no other way, apparently.
You guys I just want this night to end. Was there ever another plot to this story? I feel like one party night bled into another party night and now we're trapped in a college party hellscape.
Tessa is walking away from the frat house at 4 am. I kind of refuse to believe that a taxi service isn't 24 hours in a college town but okay. She walks for an HOUR AND A HALF and omg I'm so exhausted thinking about it. How the heck far away was this frat house? (M: Ah, yes, the across town frat house. Classic.) She finally reaches campus and stop into 7-Eleven for "a cup." IDK maybe it's because I'm not a coffee drinker but I was hella confused over what the heck she meant.
Tessa is walking away from the frat house at 4 am. I kind of refuse to believe that a taxi service isn't 24 hours in a college town but okay. She walks for an HOUR AND A HALF and omg I'm so exhausted thinking about it. How the heck far away was this frat house? (M: Ah, yes, the across town frat house. Classic.) She finally reaches campus and stop into 7-Eleven for "a cup." IDK maybe it's because I'm not a coffee drinker but I was hella confused over what the heck she meant.
Tessa and Hardin are kissing, and she describes his warm tongue and cold lip ring. She also makes sure to let us know that she doesn't really know what's she's doing here, lest we think her a hussy, with all the kissing and all. (S: Wow this is just a painful block of a paragraph.) She goes on in detail about Hardin pulling her back on his bed and how this is just such a wonderful moment until she remembers Noah.
We ended the last chapter with Tessa asking Hardin why he doesn't like her. He wants to know why she would even ask that. Tessa says it's because she's been nothing but nice to him (questionable) (S: Probably... not... though...) and she thought they could even be friends (in between judging his tattoos?). Hardin laughs at her because it's obvious why they can never be friends: she's too uptight and he thinks she probably grew up in the perfect home where she never had to work for anything. Well, we know she dresses like a Sunday School teacher Hardin, but that is presumptuous.
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.