Previously: Tessa and Hardin had weird make up sex.
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Samantha: This is one of those chapters that tries to show us how cute and playful Hardin and Tessa are actually. “See?” Anna Todd says, “When he’s not throwing chairs around Hardin is totally adorbs and sweet!” Nah, girl. Nah.
Tessa wakes up and starts getting ready to take a shower at the Party House. Hardin tells her that he’s going to walk her to the bathroom but she “teases” that she doesn’t need him to and he “teases” that she’s already not listening to his orders.
“Fine, Daddy, walk with me to the bathroom,” I whine playfully. I have no intention of listening to him, but I decide to humor him for the moment.
Hardin raises his eyebrows and smirks. “Don’t call me that again, or I’ll have to take you back to bed.”
Marines: I’m ignoring the daddy comment to wonder how many times Tessa is going to tell us she’s totes not gonna obey Hardin while exactly obeying Hardin.
Samantha: They go to the bathroom and Hardin chills in there while she showers. He tells her that she’s going to have to take his car today and that he’ll go pick up hers later. Tessa is shocked because Hardin doing anything basically decent or helpful is a huge fucking deal. He tells her not to wreck it, or if she does, not to come back. Despite all the playful indications earlier, the book makes sure we know that he’s being kinda serious here. Swell.
They talk about the Absurd Apartment they’re apparently buying that afternoon, completely ignoring me yelling “NO DON’T DO IT STOP,” which is hella rude. Tessa worries about how he hasn’t told any of his friends that they’re moving in together but he promises that he’s just waiting ’til it’s real. Tessa calls dibs on being the one to gloat all over Molly about it.
She leaves and they shmaltzy text for a bit before Tessa drives away. Her phone rings and, even though she’s a young person and this is the age of smart phones , she answers it without looking at who it is??? I guess she’s driving but I genuinely cannot imagine answering the phone, first of all, let alone WITHOUT CHECKING THE CALL ID???
Mari: I suppose, though, when you know 2.5 people and only care about the worst one, you don’t bother checking the caller ID.
Samantha: #TessaLogic
She answers thinking it’s Hardin and is like “you can’t get enough of my boring ass, huh?” but it’s Noah!
It’s awkward and Noah mentions that he saw Tessa’s mom. They talk about it and Noah expresses disgust at Hardin, which honestly fair me too, and says that her mom’s just hurt. Sure. Hurt that she can’t control her daughter’s every move anymore. Tessa remembers that she does care a lot about Noah since they grew up together like siblings and feels remorse for the first time in like 20 chapters for how she’s treated him. He promises to try to talk her mother down.
After a paragraph of her internship it’s the end of the day and she’s arriving at the apartment building. She doesn’t see her car or Hardin so she panics that he’s going to disappear on her again but then he arrives. PHEW!
Mari: He is literally running one minute late and she doesn’t think “huh, I wonder if there is traffic” or “maybe I should call him!” She thinks “HE WILL ABANDON ME, I KNOW IT.” Because their relationship is the worst, in case we haven’t mentioned recently.
Samantha: He got Tessa’s car a sparkly new paint job, and she is mad about it but he orders her to say thank you so she does, to avoid a fight right now.
They meet the landlord and Tessa notices that he seems afraid of Hardin. And she’s entertained by it. JFC they are so sucky. This man is just trying to his job and live his life and he’s got a teenage psychopath to deal with and his weird groupie girlfriend.
So then they get to the apartment and honest to god it’s described so STRANGELY that I had no idea if it was supposed to be good or not for a bit.
The main room’s floors are old, stained concrete, except for one large square of hardwood in the space I assume would be the living room. The walls are brick and beautiful. Damaged but perfect.
Stained concrete floors???? Am I the only one that this conjures up like the grimiest gas station bathroom flooring? With one strange square of hardwood? IDK but if this were house hunters I’d be like “fools, it’s not worth the money to fix it up!” And I love how the walls are damaged but also somehow perfect? Oh no, this stupid apartment is a damn metaphor for Hardin’s psyche isn’t it? THEY’RE GONNA LIVE IN HIS FUCKED UP PSYCHE.
Mari: It’s not funny, but also I’m DYING. A+.
Samantha: Tessa loves it because it feels like it’s from a different time and isn’t too huge and stuffy. It has a floor to ceiling bookshelf with a ladder and Tessa is delighted cause she always wanted one and OH HELL NO. She doesn’t deserve the Belle bookcase! COME ON.
Hardin panics that she hates it and demands the poor landlord show them a different one. But Tessa tells him she loves it and, ignoring the voice in her head telling her to not do this, they head off to sign the paperwork.
Next time on After:Hardin and Tessa move in together and have a fight in Chapter 87.
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 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.