After

On Friday, Tessa sees the pink-haired girl from the frat party, Molly, at the campus coffee shop. Molly invites Tessa to a party that weekend, telling her that Zed wants to see her, but Tessa declines. In British Literature, the professor announces that they will begin discussing Pride and Prejudice next week. Leaving class, Hardin ridicules Tessa for her love for Mr. Darcy, a character he calls “rude and intolerable” (47). As Hardin walks away, Noah calls, and Tessa feels slightly annoyed when he mentions that her mother was disappointed that she went to a party last weekend. Noah has a close relationship with Tessa’s mother, and sometimes he shares too much with her “like an annoying little brother who tattles” (48). Back at the dorm room, Steph begs Tessa to come to the party, and knowing she doesn’t have anything else to do that night, Tessa agrees to come. 

As Tessa and Steph wait for Molly to pick them up, Steph shares that Molly has a different guy every week and is probably intimidated by Tessa because of how different she is from the group. Tessa is surprised to hear that Molly isn’t dating Hardin, but Steph assures Tessa that Hardin, “fucks with a lot of girls, but doesn’t date anyone. Ever” (51). A few hours into the party, Steph’s friend group plays Truth or Dare. When it’s Tessa’s turn, she chooses Truth, and Zed asks if she’s a virgin. Totally humiliated to be asked such a personal question, Tessa simply nods her head. She and Noah have dated for two years, but they’ve never had sex.

Molly dares Hardin to keep his shirt off for the whole game, and Tessa finds herself staring at his many tattoos. When it’s Tessa’s turn again, she chooses Dare and is dared to take a shot of vodka. At first, she refuses, saying she doesn’t drink, but when she sees Hardin and Molly laughing at her, she relents. As the game continues, Tessa is dared each turn to take another shot, and after the fifth one, Hardin takes the bottle and tells her she’s had enough. Hardin is dared to kiss Tessa, but she refuses, saying she has a boyfriend and leaving the circle. Noah calls, and he can tell Tessa is drunk, but she denies it and hangs up on him. Tessa finds herself regretting coming to the party and enters Hardin’s room upstairs, where she resumes reading Wuthering Heights. Hardin finds her in his room and yells at her to get out, but instead of yelling back, Tessa asks Hardin why he doesn’t like her. 

Hardin tells Tessa she’s too uptight, assuming she grew up with a perfect house and family. Angry with him for judging her, Tessa yells back that he doesn’t know her, and that her dad was an alcoholic who left when she was 10. When she says she’s going to find the bus station, Hardin won’t let her leave. Recognizing her drunken state, Hardin gives Tessa water from his red cup, and Tessa is surprised to find out that he doesn’t drink. Their conversation bounces back and forth between Hardin asking normal, friendly questions and making fun of Noah. Tessa angrily leaves Hardin’s room, and back at the party downstairs, she continues drinking and meets Zed’s friend, Logan. Tessa makes a point to stick with Zed when she sees that it bothers Hardin.

Zed helps Tessa find the room upstairs where she slept the previous weekend, but this time there’s a guy sleeping on the other bed. During the night, he wakes up and drunkenly tries to touch her. Tessa escapes from the room and goes directly to Hardin’s room. When Hardin sees the guy following her, he pulls Tessa inside. Surprisingly, his tone is kind, and when Tessa starts crying, he wipes her tears. Before she can stop herself, Tessa kisses him. 

Hardin kisses her back, and the feeling is electric. Tessa has never felt this way kissing Noah, and she finds her hormones taking over as Hardin pulls her onto the bed. She finally remembers Noah and breaks the kiss. When she apologizes, Hardin tells her, “It was just a kiss; people kiss all the time” (71). The soft side of Hardin that Tessa glimpsed momentarily is gone; he says she can sleep in his room, but Tessa leaves. Once outside, she checks her phone and sees that Noah told her mother she was drunk at a party. 

After walking for over an hour, Tessa finally makes it back to her dorm at six in the morning, only to find Hardin sitting on her bed. He had been out looking for her. At that moment, Tessa’s mother pounds on the door, accompanied by Noah. Hardin comes to Tessa’s defense, explaining that he just got to the room, and then he goes to wait outside. Tessa’s mother makes her promise she won’t spend time with Steph’s friend group anymore.

While at breakfast with her mom and Noah, Tessa can’t stop thinking about kissing Hardin. Walking through the mall with Noah, she initiates a kiss with him, but it doesn’t “ignite” her like Hardin’s kiss (80). She asks Noah to refrain from sharing too much information about her life with her mother, and he apologizes and agrees.