The Follower E-Book

Jason Starr

• Herausgeber: No Exit Press
• Kategorie: Krimi
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2016

Seitenzahl: 595

Beschreibung

In New York City's work hard, play harder singles scene, a young woman looking for love can find herself the object of a deadly obsession. With each meaningless date and disappointing new boyfriend, Katie Porter is becoming more and more disillusioned. No matter how wide a net she casts she can't seem to find a guy who really understands her.But someone thinks she's special - very special. And he's following her... But it's not her boyfriend, Andy. The frat-boy who never grew up is too busy working out how far Katie will go and if her friends are hot, to stop and think whether Katie's 'the one'. But someone's already decided she is - and he's watching her. Peter sees Katie at the gym. He sees her at the coffee bar she stops at on the way to work. In fact, he sees her almost everywhere, as he quietly follows her. But most of all, he sees her in his plans for the future. He's got the proposal worked out, he's even got the ring and their happy home already bought. After all, he's had enough time to plan things to perfection - he grew up in the same small town. Surely, after all these years, he can't let anything stand in his way

Leseprobe

Praise for Jason Starr

‘Well crafted and very scary’ –Times

‘Cool, deadpan, a rollercoaster ride to hell’ –Guardian

‘Tough, composed and about as noir as you can go. Starr is a worthy successor to Charles Willeford’ –Literary Review

‘Bang up-to-date, but reminiscent of David Goodis and Jim Thompson,Fake IDis a powerful novel of the American Dream turning into the American Nightmare that marks Starr out as a writer to follow’ –Time Out

‘a gripping novel of paranoia and obsession that’s damn near impossible to put down’ –Time Out

‘Demonic, demented and truly ferocious and a flat out joy to read. In other words, a total feast. Like it? ... I plain worshipped it’ –Ken Bruen

‘Jason Starr's Savage Lane is a wickedly smart and twisted look at suburbia - a tense thriller and searing satire’ – Don Winslow, author of The Cartel

‘A hypnotic story of lust and obsession’–Daily Telegraph

‘Who but Jason Starr could render suburban vice pitch black, sneakily endearing, and wickedly funny all at once? Like James M. Cain meets Tom Perrotta, Savage Lane shows, in grand style, how twisted the hearts of All-American families can be, and how those picket white fences can be dangerously sharp’ – Megan Abbott

For Sandy and Chynna

It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife.

– Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice

Contents

PART ONE

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

PART TWO

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

Chapter 23

Chapter 24

PART THREE

Chapter 25

Chapter 26

Chapter 27

Chapter 28

Chapter 29

Chapter 30

Chapter 31

Chapter 32

Chapter 33

Chapter 34

Chapter 35

Chapter 36

Chapter 37

About the Author

Copyright

PART ONE

1

Peter Wells had never been turned down for a job. He didn’t have to work very often, thank God, but when he needed work – and he desperately needed the receptionist job at the Metro Sports Club – he always got hired.

The interviewer, a musclehead named Jimmy, seemed like an asshole from the get-go. He told Peter to wait in his office because he was ‘in the middle of something.’ Meanwhile, Peter watched through the Plexiglas as Jimmy hung out by the front desk with another musclehead, the two of them hitting on practically every girl who passed by.

Finally, maybe twenty minutes later, Jimmy came into the office and said, ‘Sorry about that, buddy, it’s been crazy here today,’ and sat at his desk.

‘No, problem, man,’ Peter said, talking the way Jimmy talked, knowing it was a way to instantly connect with an employer.

Jimmy squinted at the résumé for several seconds, and then started looking at Peter’s left ear. That was what Peter thought anyway; then he turned and saw what Jimmy was staring at – the skinny dark-haired girl in black bicycle shorts who was bending over doing a hamstring stretch.

‘Gotta love Nikki,’ Jimmy said. ‘Comes here two times a day – uses machines, does cardio, must spend an hour on the StairMaster. Phenomenal body but, honestly, she’s only average at this place. People say the best-looking girls are in the Village and the Meatpacking District, but I’ll take the Upper East Side chicks any day. Watch the advanced step classes sometime. I mean, yeah, you got some girls who need to lose some poundage, but most of them are total babes. They all starve themselves, that’s why. They eat salad and Tasti D-Lite for dinner every night, then come here to work off the calories. But, trust me, these chicks could be eighty-five pounds and you’d still wanna fuck ’em.’

Peter knew Jimmy would be an absolute nightmare to work for, but keeping the act going he said, ‘Yeah, she’s hot all right.’

Jimmy, looking at the résumé again, said, ‘So let’s see. You worked at Body Image in Santa Monica?’

‘That’s right,’ Peter said.

‘How’d that go?’

‘It went well. It went really well. But then they closed down so I had to leave.’

Actually, Peter had never worked at a health club in Santa Monica. He’d never even been there.

‘And you worked in Mexico?’ Jimmy asked.

‘Yeah,’ Peter said, ‘I was traveling a little bit, trying to figure out what to do, you know? I taught ESL.’

Another lie, although he’d lived in Mexico for a while.

‘At L’Escuela International de Guadalajara?’ Jimmy asked.

‘Hablas español?’ Peter said.

‘What?’ Jimmy waited, then laughed and said, ‘Just kidding, man. I took it in high school and my dad’s half Puerto Rican, but I can’t talk for shit. But that’s good – you’re bilingual. You should talk to Carlos, trainer works on weekends… so you got any more gym experience?’

‘Sure have,’ Peter lied. ‘In college, I worked in the weight room a couple semesters. Volunteered.’

Peter hadn’t gone to college, but he doubted Jimmy would start checking references.

‘Let’s see,’ Jimmy said. ‘BA in English at the University of Colorado at Boulder. Looks like you’ve been all over, huh? Where’d you grow up?’

‘Massachusetts.’

‘Boston?’

‘Lenox.’

‘Oh, that’s why I didn’t hear a Bahston accent.’ Jimmy laughed. ‘So you say you want to be a trainer, huh?’

‘That’s my goal,’ Peter said, although he didn’t care what he did at the gym. He was planning to work there for a couple of weeks, tops, but he knew he had to show ambition.

‘Well, this is a good place to work when you’re going for your license,’ Jimmy said. ‘We’re flexible if you wanna go to school, take classes, whatever. We don’t give benefits for part-time, but a lot of people who work here start part-time and work their way up to full. But all I’ve got for you right now is a part-time desk job. You make sure people scan their cards when they come in, hand out towels, answer the phones…’

‘That sounds good to me,’ Peter said.

‘It only pays nine-fifty an hour.’

‘Money doesn’t matter.’

Jimmy looked up, surprised. Peter wished he could take that back.

‘I mean, it matters,’ Peter said. ‘Of course it matters. I just mean I want to work here to get some more health club experience under my belt so I can become a trainer someday. So it doesn’t really matter what I make right now.’

‘I got ya, I got ya,’ Jimmy said. ‘Well, it looks like you’ve got the credentials and you’re a good guy – if you want the job it’s yours, man.’

‘I definitely want it.’

‘Great. I can only give you part-time – morning shift, six to noon – and you gotta work weekends. I can get you extra hours here and there, but I can’t get you benefits and I’m gonna have to ten ninety-nine you.’

‘That’s fine.’

‘You can work out whenever you want and I’ll introduce you to the trainers – Scott, Mike, Carlos, Jenny. Man, wait till you see Jenny.’

Trying not to roll his eyes, Peter said, ‘A babe, huh?’

‘Fucking smoking,’ Jimmy said. ‘When can you start?’

‘How about tomorrow?’

‘Tomorrow works. Welcome aboard, my man.’

Jimmy and Peter shook hands.

As they left the office and headed along the corridor toward the front of the gym, Jimmy said, ‘So where do you live?’

‘Right around the corner,’ Peter said, ‘with my girlfriend.’

‘Yeah?’ Jimmy said.

‘Yeah, maybe you know her. Katie. Katie Porter?’

‘She’s tall, blond, nice shape?’

‘Actually she has light brown hair and she’s about five three. But, yeah, she has a nice shape.’

‘Nah, I’m confusing her,’ Jimmy said, ‘but if she works out here, I’m sure I’ve seen her around. But that’s cool – that’s real cool. You got a girlfriend belongs to the gym, you’re living close by. So how’d you guys meet?’

‘We grew up together.’

‘High school sweethearts, huh?’

‘Yeah, kind of.’

The musclehead Jimmy had been hanging out with before was walking by in the other direction.

‘Hey, Mike,’ Jimmy said to the guy. ‘This is Peter Wells. He’s gonna be working at the front desk and he wants to be a trainer.’

‘Great,’ Mike said and shook Peter’s hand with a very firm grip. ‘See you around, man.’

‘Yeah, you too.’

Peter and Jimmy stopped near the entrance to the gym.

‘I gotta hit the weights, man,’ Jimmy said. ‘When you come in tomorrow you can find me in the office and we’ll take care of the paperwork and all that bullshit then. Sound cool?’

‘Sounds cool.’

‘Hey, and you gotta introduce me to your girlfriend sometime.’

‘I definitely will.’

Jimmy went back toward the locker room.

Peter was proud of himself. He’d hung in there, said all the right things, and he’d gotten the job. It was only a first step, but so far everything was going according to plan.

As he zipped his windbreaker, he scanned the main level of the gym. Dozens of overworked-looking twenty somethings were listening to iPods or watching TV while they worked out on the StairMasters and treadmills. Peter hadn’t seen Katie when he arrived for the interview, and he didn’t see her now, either. He exited the health club and headed downtown along Third Avenue, walking fast with his hands in his pockets.

2

Andy Barnett was looking at the monitor on his PC, at the little digital clock in the lower-right-hand corner. He had plenty of work to do – a new monthly sales survey for one of the companies he followed was due tomorrow – but it was 4:22, and after four in the afternoon Andy could never deal with work. He wished he could go online – check out his fantasy football team or IM his friends – but the bank’s system people monitored everything employees did on the net, and this dude, Justin, who’d worked two cubicles down, had been fired two weeks ago for surfing on company time. So whenever Andy didn’t feel like working, he couldn’t do anything but zone out, staring at the monitor with an intense, focused expression, as if he were trying to solve some complicated problem, in case his boss or somebody else in management happened to pass by.

At 4:26, Andy’s phone rang. He recognized his friend Scott’s number on the caller ID. He picked up and said in a low voice, ‘Dude, what’s up?’

‘Chilling,’ Scott said. ‘Waiting to get the hell outta here.’

‘Me too, bro. Me too. What’s going on later?’

‘Some guys at work are gonna check out the happy hour at McAleer’s.’

‘McAleer’s blew last week, dude.’

‘Yeah, but it should be pretty cool tonight. My buddy Dave knows a girl there and she’s bringing friends.’

‘Cute?’

‘One’s a babe, two’re borderline, the others I don’t know. But, hey, if the talent’s lame, we can just hit Firehouse. Dave says there was a ton of tuna there last week.’

‘I don’t know, dude,’ Andy said. ‘Maybe we should stay east. I mean, I can only stay out till like seven, seven-thirty tonight anyway.’

‘Don’t tell me you’re seeing that chick again?’

‘Yeah, we’re gonna go out to dinner.’

‘Dude,’ Scott said. ‘What’s this, like the third time in two weeks?’

It was actually their fourth date.

‘She’s really cool,’ Andy said.

‘Bro, how many times I gotta tell ya? You can’t stick around, begging for it like a dog. If it doesn’t happen on the second date, you gotta bail.’

‘What makes you think I didn’t get any yet?’

‘You? If you got some I would’ve heard about it the next morning. Hell, you would’ve jumped out of bed and called me in the middle of the night – Dude, I just fucked this girl. Really, I did.’

Scott was laughing.

Andy said, ‘Look who’s talking. When was the last time you had a girlfriend, freakin’ sophomore year?’

‘Yeah, but I got laid last weekend. I’m tellin’ ya, dude – you keep it up with this chick, pretty soon she’s gonna wanna take you ring shopping.’

Drew Frasier, one of the senior analysts, passed Andy’s cubicle.

‘I better go,’ Andy said to Scott, nearly whispering, ‘before I get busted.’

‘So what’s the deal tonight? You coming out with us or not?’

‘I told you, I can meet up if we stay east.’

‘So let me get this straight,’ Scott said. ‘You want me to meet you for a drink at some lame East Side bar and blow off my friends and the hot, fuckable babes at McAleer’s so you can take off at seven o’clock for a date with your future fiancée?’

Andy, used to taking crap from Scott, was shaking his head, smiling.

‘Come on, man, blow her off,’ Scott went on. ‘You’ll probably hook up with one of the chicks at McAleer’s. Then, later, we’re gonna hit this party on Broadway in the sixties. Cornell dudes are throwing it. It’s supposed to be hot and you’re guaranteed to hook up or at least get some numbers.’

‘Sorry, bro, can’t make it tonight,’ Andy said. ‘But I’ll definitely meet up with you guys tomorrow to watch the game.’

‘Yeah, if you’re not engaged by then.’

‘Later, dude.’

Andy clicked off and resumed staring intently at the clock on the monitor. At four fifty-nine, he started putting on his suit jacket. At five, he was leaving his cubicle, heading toward the elevators.

Walking along Park Avenue toward the subway stop on Fifty-first and Lex, Andy checked out every good-looking girl he passed. He couldn’t help it. He was a twenty-three-year-old single guy in Manhattan, and as far as he was concerned there were only two types of people in the world – hot girls and everybody else.

As Andy approached the crowded entrance to the subway, he zeroed in on a really cute chick with straight brown hair in black pants and a black suit jacket. The clothes were loose, but it looked like she had a nice body – thin anyway, which was all that really mattered. There were about five people between them as they headed down the stairs, but he kept watching her as the crowd moved toward the turnstiles. She swiped her MetroCard and went down the steps toward the jam-packed platform. He followed her as she wove through the crowd toward the end of the platform where it was slightly less crowded. When she stopped, Andy stopped, right next to her.

Every time Andy rode the subway, he would automatically zero in on the cutest girl on the platform and stand as close to her as possible. Then he would try to get into a conversation, or at least make a lot of eye contact, and then when the train came he would make sure they got on the same car. If things went well, he’d keep the small talk going, hopefully say a couple of clever, witty things to make her laugh – getting a girl to laugh was key – and then ask for her number. He’d gotten a few numbers on the subway, and even went out with this one girl a few times and wound up getting laid. But most of the time, he struck out. The big problem was that a lot of girls were paranoid as hell on the subway and wouldn’t talk to guys, even though if they saw the same guys at a bar or a club they’d gladly talk to them then, because that was more socially acceptable.

Andy was looking at the brown-haired girl, but she wasn’t noticing him, or at least wasn’t acting like she did. A train pulled into the station and Andy boarded directly behind her. He followed her to the middle of the car and gripped the same pole she was holding, their hands inches apart. She was staring up ahead, as if she were reading the start an exciting career as a dental assistant ad over and over again. Man, she was even better-looking than Andy had thought. She had big green eyes, nice lips, and no zits. Andy always told his friends that the best place to meet girls was the subway because the fluorescent light was so unforgiving. If a girl looked good on the 6 train, she’d look good anywhere.

At the next stop, Fifty-ninth Street, the girl shifted her attention away from the ad toward Andy.

‘Hi,’ Andy said.

‘Hi’ was by far the best pickup line, much better than, ‘Have we met?’

The girl hesitated, then smiled and said, ‘Hi,’ and looked away again. Andy knew he had his opening; it was just a matter of delivering the perfect follow-up.

People exited and entered the train, and Andy and the girl were squeezed even closer together. The train started moving and Andy waited for the girl to look at him again, and then he said, ‘Now I know what sardines feel like.’

‘What?’ the girl asked.

The line wasn’t that funny and he wished he’d said something else. He knew it would sound even less funny when he repeated it, but he did anyway.

The girl smiled and laughed a little, but Andy wasn’t sure that she’d even heard him over the noise of the subway. Andy was trying to think of some other clever thing to say, but then the girl moved away toward the door and exited at the Sixty-eighth Street stop.

Andy looked around the train for more talent and saw a good-looking Chinese girl with funky glasses sitting at the far end of the car, reading a thick paperback. There was space in front of her, so, at the next stop, Andy casually moved over there. He tried to make eye contact with the girl but she was too engrossed in her book to notice.

At Ninety-sixth Street – Andy’s stop – Andy followed the girl out of the station. Andy was hoping that she lived in his building so he could get onto the elevator with her or follow her to the mailbox area and say, Hey, didn’t I just see you on the subway? a line that sometimes worked even when he hadn’t just seen the girl on the subway. But at the corner of Ninety-sixth and Lex, the girl headed uptown, and Andy went in the opposite direction, toward Ninety-fifth Street.

Andy lived in Normandie Court, a complex of three massive apartment buildings that took up an entire square block between Second and Third Avenues and Ninety-fifth and Ninety-sixth Streets. The majority of residents in the building were recent college grads, which was why many people referred to the buildings as Dormandie Court. Andy lived in a three-bedroom apartment with five other guys and shared a room with his buddy Greg, a frat brother from Delta Kappa Epsilon at Michigan. Last year, Andy had had his own room at the frat house and he felt like he was taking a step backward in life, having to share a bedroom again, but he had little choice. Manhattan rents were so out of control that unless he wanted to move into some dive walk-up, or to an outer borough or Jersey, sharing was the only way to go. The rent on the apartment was $3,600 a month so Andy’s share came to only $600, which left him with plenty of expendable income for beer and going out.

Andy went through the revolving doors into the lobby, which had the same anonymous, corporate feeling as the lobby in the building where he worked, and rode the elevator to his apartment on the twenty-seventh floor. As usual, the door was unlocked, and when he opened it he saw Chris sprawled on the couch in his boxers, watching porn. Chris worked nights, bartending at Bar East on First, which was very cool because he could sometimes give his roommates free drinks, but it was also very annoying because he worked until four or five in the morning, slept until two or three in the afternoon, and spent most of the rest of his time parked on the couch in his underwear.

‘Hey,’ Andy and Chris said at the same time, and then Andy went down the hallway into his room. He took off his suit, added it to his half of the closet with his nine other suits from Banana Republic, and then went into the kitchen. Every dish and piece of silverware the guys had was dirty and piled in the sink. The counter was covered with pizza boxes, Pringles cans, beer and soda bottles, and Chinese take-out containers, and the garbage can was overflowing. Andy opened the fridge, which contained nothing but beer, soda, and leftover pizza and Chinese – most of which had been there for weeks – and took out a bottle of Lowenbrau. He went into the living room and sat in the red IKEA chair, next to Chris on the couch. On TV, an Asian woman was making out with a blonde. When the camera panned down to the Asian woman’s backside, Chris said, ‘You like that?’

‘Nice,’ Andy said.

‘I don’t know, she’s too bony for me. I like some meat to grab on to, know what I mean?’

Drinking their beers, not talking at all, they watched the girls go at it for several minutes. Then the front door opened and Will entered with a knapsack slung over one shoulder.

‘Hey,’ Andy and Chris said, and Will said, ‘Hey.’ Then Will looked at the TV and said, ‘All right, carpet munching!’

Will was a med student at Mount Sinai and planned to become a pediatrician. He shared a bedroom with Steve, who was working as a paralegal while studying for his LSATs.

Will grabbed a beer, then sat on a chair and started watching the movie. A couple of minutes later, John, who shared a room with Chris, came home. Although Andy had only had a few sips of Lowenbrau, he put the bottle down on the coffee table and announced, ‘I’m showering,’ because he knew that John, who was a total metro sexual and took as long as a girl in the bathroom, always hogged the shower when he came home from work.

The bathroom hadn’t been cleaned since they’d moved into the apartment five months ago, and there was mildew all over the tiles and the shower curtain, and the drain was clogged – thanks to John and Steve, who were both going prematurely bald – and the tub always filled with about six inches of water during showers. Whoever had used the toilet hadn’t bothered to flush and a few turds were floating on top.

‘Jesus, you guys are fuckin’ disgusting!’ Andy shouted. ‘Thanks!’ Chris, who was always proud of his big dumps, yelled back, and then Andy flushed, drowning out whatever else Chris was saying.

Andy peed – not bothering to flush – and then took a quick shower. After he shaved, he returned to his bedroom with a towel around his waist and discovered that Greg had come home from work. Greg was sitting on his bed with Jessica, a-little-heavy-but-still-kinda-cute curly-haired Italian-looking girl who lived in one of the other buildings at Normandie.

‘Sorry,’ Andy said.

Jessica was looking away, embarrassed.

‘It’s cool,’ Greg said. ‘Want us to go in another room or something?’

Andy knew Greg would’ve killed him later if he said yes. Greg hadn’t hooked up since college, and Andy didn’t want to be a dick and take away a chance for his buddy to finally get some.

‘No, it’s cool,’ Andy said. ‘Lemme just grab some clothes. Sorry to interrupt.’

‘You’re not really interrupting anything,’ Jessica said, obviously trying to protect her dignity.

Greg glared at Andy, as if Andy had blown it for him.

‘It’s okay,’ Andy said. ‘I can get dressed anywhere.’ Andy took a pair of socks, boxer briefs, Banana Republic jeans, a navy Banana Republic button-down shirt, and his Banana Republic loafers, then said, ‘See you guys later,’ and left the room. Andy went into John and Chris’s room, got dressed, and then went into the steamy bathroom – John was showering – and gelled his hair, applied deodorant, and dabbed Lucky You cologne all over, including his pubic hair.

He had some time to kill before he had to leave for his date, so he rejoined Will and Chris in the living room. Chris still had control of the remote and was switching between sports and porn. Watching a red-haired woman having sex with two big black guys, Chris said to Will, ‘So what happened with you and that girl the other night?’

‘Which one?’ Will asked.

Chris looked at Andy. ‘Listen to this guy, “Which one?”’ He turned to Will again. ‘Short, poodle hair.’

‘Oh, Lara. She’s really cool. She’s a speech therapist.’

‘Did you fuck her?’

‘Nah, I like her friend.’

Chris said to Andy, ‘You shoulda seen this guy. He comes into the bar last night at one o’clock. He’s in his scrubs, of course, and he’s got two girls with him. Not one – two. Jen, the red-hot new bartender, goes to me, “Is your friend single?”’

‘The guy’s a magnet,’ Andy said.

‘It’s because he’s a fuckin’ doctor,’ Chris said.

‘I’m not a doctor yet,’ Will said.

‘You know what I’m talking about,’ Chris said. ‘You wear those scrubs everywhere – supermarket, Blockbuster, running in the park – and babes come up to you like you’re fucking fly tape.’

‘Jealous?’ Will asked.

‘Of the scrubs, not you,’ Chris said. ‘Even Andy could get laid wearing that doctor shit, right, And?’

Andy was staring at the TV. The redhead was in a contorted position on a staircase, between the two guys. Chris used the pause feature on the DVR and then slo-mo’d the scene.

‘I saw that chick in this other film the other day,’ Chris said.

‘Listen to this dude – film,’ Will said. ‘Like it’ll win a fuckin’ Academy Award.’

‘Shit, what the hell’s her name?’ Chris asked.

‘Ginger something,’ Will said.

‘No, I know who you’re thinking of,’ Andy said. ‘This one’s Heidi or Hillary or something with an H… Holly?… nah, wait a sec, it’ll come to me.’

Chris continued playing the scene at normal speed and then, just as the guys started to orgasm at the same time – Andy had always wondered how they did that; didn’t they, like, get grossed out by each other? – Greg and Jessica came down the hallway. Chris spotted them and flicked the channel back to ESPN, but Greg and Jessica had obviously heard the sex sounds, because Jessica was smiling and blushing, and Greg looked pissed off.

‘Hey, what’s up?’ Chris said, trying to act casual.

Andy and Will were trying not to crack up.

‘You guys going out tonight?’ Jessica asked.

‘I have to work,’ Chris said.

‘Studying,’ Will said.

‘I have a date,’ Andy said.

‘Cool,’ Jessica said. ‘If you guys aren’t doing anything tomorrow night, me and my room mates’re having a party.’

‘Thanks,’ Andy and Will said.

‘Yeah, thanks,’ Chris said.

Greg walked Jessica out to the elevator and returned a couple of minutes later. The guys were watching porn again.

‘You’re such fuckin’ assholes, you know that?’ Greg said.

‘What?’ Chris said innocently.

‘Why can’t you turn off that shit when I’ve got a girl in the house?’

‘Relax,’ Will said. ‘She seems to like you.’

‘Yeah, she seems chill,’ Chris said. ‘What the fuck’s she doing with you? Her roommates good-looking or what?’

‘I’m serious,’ Greg said. ‘First Andy walks in on us –’

‘I had to get dressed,’ Andy said.

‘– and then she comes into the living room and it’s porn central.’

‘Somebody sounds like he didn’t get any,’ Chris said.

‘Yeah, I guess the drought ain’t over yet, huh?’ Will said.

‘Drought?’ Chris said. ‘It’s like the fuckin’ Sahara in there.’

‘I’ll be lucky if she even wants to go out with me again,’ Greg said.

‘What’re you talking about?’ Chris said. ‘She loved us – she invited us to that party. So what’s the deal with the roommates?’

‘One’s hot as hell,’ Greg said. ‘The other one’s pretty cute, too.’

‘Jessica’s cute, so that sounds promising,’ Chris said. ‘So did you get anything off her yet?’

‘We got to second base.’

The guys laughed.

‘Second base!’ Chris said. ‘Listen to this guy. It’s like he’s back in junior high. So you got in her shirt, huh?’

‘I thought second’s a hand job,’ Andy said.

‘Bullshit,’ Chris said. ‘Second’s the shirt. The guy probably didn’t get under her bra, either. See, look at him, I can tell he didn’t.’ Chris laughed.

‘I have to admit, that’s pretty pathetic,’ Will said.

‘You’re still the only guy in the apartment who hasn’t gotten laid,’ Chris said to Greg.

‘So what?’ Greg said. ‘I don’t have to prove anything to you guys.’

‘You have to prove you know how to get laid,’ Chris said. John came into the living room and Chris added, ‘Even John got some last week.’

‘What’s going on?’ John asked.

‘Greg’s still oh-for-Manhattan,’ Will said.

‘Thanks to these assholes and their fuckin’ porn,’ Greg said.

‘Whoa, so now you’re anti-porn?’ Chris said. ‘How come the Penthouses have your name and address on them?’

‘And the Screws, too,’ Will said.

‘Look who’s talking,’ John said to Chris. ‘Whenever I come home at night, the TV suddenly goes off and I see you lying on the couch, covering up.’

‘I gotta agree with that one,’ Andy said.

‘I admit I like to shoot my rod every once in a while,’ Chris said, ‘but I think Greg’s the official jerk-off king of this apartment.’ He looked at Greg. ‘Maybe that’s why you’re not getting laid – because you’re jerking off too much. It’s fucking up your sex drive.’

‘No, I’m not getting laid because I’m living with you guys,’ Greg said.

‘So it’s our fault,’ Chris said as a statement. ‘Like if you were living in a studio, the chicks would be lining up for you.’

‘Maybe,’ Greg said.

‘Living here doesn’t stop me from getting laid,’ Chris said. ‘It doesn’t stop John or Doc, and it doesn’t stop your own roommate.’ Chris turned toward Andy. ‘You’ve been fucking that chick, right?’

‘Yeah,’ Andy lied.

‘See?’ Chris said to John.

‘Hey, how come we haven’t met this girl yet?’ John asked Andy.

‘Yeah,’ Will said. ‘When’s the reveal?’

‘Maybe she’s a pig,’ Chris said.

‘I’m just preparing her,’ Andy said.

‘For what?’ Chris asked.

‘Yeah, we’re nice guys,’ Will said.

‘Yeah,’ Chris said. ‘I mean, it’s not like we’re disgusting porn-watching scumbags or anything like that.’

Will and Chris laughed, and then Will took a big gulp of beer.

‘Maybe he’s talking about the apartment,’ John said.

‘What’s wrong with the apartment?’ Chris asked.

‘It’s a fuckin’ pigsty,’ John said. ‘It’s a miracle we don’t have mice.’

‘I think I saw a roach the size of a mouse last week,’ Will said.

‘I’m talking about the apartment and you guys,’ Andy said.

‘What?’ Chris said. ‘You’re embarrassed?’

‘You guys don’t exactly make a great first impression,’ Andy said.

‘Whoa, whoa,’ Chris said. ‘What do you mean? We got a med student, a law student, a handsome-as-hell bartender…’

‘He’s got a point,’ Will said. ‘Ever notice how girls don’t wanna go out with us again after they come here?’

‘That’s what I’m talking about,’ Greg said.

‘No, the problem is you,’ Chris said. ‘You fuck around, trying to get to second base, when you should be getting laid like your roommate.’

Andy got up, then said, ‘I gotta get going.’

‘I wanna see a picture of this mystery girl,’ John said to Andy.

‘Or how ’bout you set up a webcam tonight?’ Chris added. ‘See some filmage.’

Andy took his brown leather bomber jacket out of the hallway closet and then said, ‘Later on, dudes,’ and left the apartment.

It was a relief to be alone. Andy had nothing against his roommates – they were cool and everything – but this sharing-a-place-with-five-other-guys shit was getting old. He was glad he was taking the GMATs next month and would be in business school next year. He hoped to go to Wharton or Harvard, and when he had his MBA and some kick-ass job, he’d move back to New York the right way. He’d be working at Lehman Brothers or Morgan Stanley or someplace A-list, and he’d have his own three-bedroom. He’d also have a Ferrari, a house in the Hamptons, and everything else he’d always dreamed of.

Heading along Second Avenue, Andy passed a Korean grocery with flowers for sale in front, and he decided to buy a bouquet of pink roses for Katie. He really liked her. She was the first girl he’d met since graduation whom he could see taking home to Pennsylvania to meet his parents. She also was the type of girl he could see being with long-term, even after he got his MBA. He could imagine taking her out to dinner at fancy, trendy restaurants and to work-related parties and feeling proud. The last girl he’d gone out with, Steffi, was cool and everything, but she didn’t have class. She was the kind of girl you want to go to bars with but not who you want to marry. Katie was totally different. Andy knew that Katie liked him as much as he liked her, which was why it was starting to frustrate him that he hadn’t gotten any yet.

Katie said she wanted to take it slow – which was cool with Andy at first because he didn’t want to date a total slut – but he didn’t want to wait forever, either. The next time he told his roommates that he and Katie had had sex he wanted it to be the truth, and since they both really liked each other and were perfect for each other and all that, he didn’t see why they had to wait any longer.

As he crossed Second Avenue, and continued along East Ninety-third, he knew the roses would help big-time. Last year, in Ann Arbor, he’d gone out with this girl Alison. The first couple of times they were alone together, he didn’t get any, and then he went over to her place with a couple of roses and he wound up getting laid.

He went up the stoop of the walk-up apartment where Katie lived, confident that tonight would be his lucky night.

3

Katie Porter was in the bathroom, putting on mascara while holding her cell up to her ear, saying to her friend Amanda, ‘And then he called me the other day at work, not for any reason – just to say, Hi, what’s going on?’

‘That’s a good sign,’ Amanda said.

‘Isn’t it?’ Katie said. ‘And he’s a really sweet guy. He always holds the door open for me when I’m getting into cabs, and he helps me put my coat on –’

‘That’s great.’

‘And he’s not one of those guys you can’t hold a conversation with. Like that guy Dave I went out with last month, you know the one who kept going on and on about the Mets. I wanted to strangle myself.’

Amanda laughed, then said, ‘So have you guys…?’

‘No, not yet,’ Katie said. ‘I mean, I think he wants to, but, I don’t know, I just want to wait. But he’s really cool about it, you know? He’s not pressuring me or anything.’

Katie put the mascara in the medicine chest and looked at herself, making sure she looked perfect.

‘It’s so great you found each other,’ Amanda said.

Katie was outside the bathroom, looking in the full-length mirror on the back of the door. ‘Oh, shit.’

‘What’s wrong?’

‘I’m wearing jeans and I had sushi with tons of soy sauce for lunch.’

‘I’m sure you look amazing.’

Still thinking her thighs looked bloated, Katie squatted, trying to stretch the jeans out, then said, ‘But I really want you to meet him. Maybe we can go out next week or something.’

‘Does he have any single friends?’

‘He doesn’t talk about his friends that much.’

‘Oh.’ Amanda sounded like she thought that was weird. ‘It’s only been two weeks,’ Katie said. ‘I haven’t even been to his apartment yet.’

‘You haven’t?’

‘No, but I know he has roommates.’

‘Normandie guys?’ Amanda asked warily.

‘Andy’s a Normandie guy,’ Katie said.

‘I know, but most of those guys are so immature. My friend Jen at work went out with a Normandie guy last year and he was the biggest asshole. They’re all, like, frat boys.’

‘He said one’s in med school and one’s in law school,’ Katie said, as if Amanda could be missing out on a major opportunity.

‘Have you seen pictures?’

‘No, but they could be really good-looking. Andy’s adorable.’

‘I hate being set up,’ Amanda said. ‘I mean, maybe if there’s, like, a party or something –’

The buzzer rang.

‘That’s him,’ Katie said.

‘Call me tomorrow and tell me everything.’

‘I will.’

Katie clicked off. She buzzed Andy up, then went into the bathroom and put on some more Tommy Girl perfume. She was slightly pissed off at Amanda for acting so high and mighty and she wondered if Amanda was just jealous. Although Amanda was really sweet – well, sweet most of the time, anyway – she’d been having a hard time meeting guys lately. It wasn’t because Amanda wasn’t pretty. She was a little on the heavy side, but she had a cute face and great blue eyes and a beautiful smile. Her attitude needed work, though. She was a year older than Katie and had been living in New York since graduating from Wesleyan a year and a half ago.

Lots of guys had screwed her over, especially since she’d been living in the city, and she let it show, acting all standoffish and bitchy when guys tried to talk to her at bars.

The doorbell rang. Katie looked in the full-length mirror again, still thinking her legs looked fat, wishing she’d changed into something else. Well, too late now. She opened the door and Andy was there, looking really cute in a Banana Republic shirt and with his hair gelled. They said hi and kissed and then Andy handed her a bouquet of pink roses.

‘Oh my God, thank you.’ She recognized the bouquet and the wrapping from the flowers that were sold at the Korean deli on Second Avenue. She knew these bouquets cost ten dollars and she was disappointed that Andy hadn’t sprung for a little more. Then she reminded herself that he was poor – well, maybe not poor, but he was at his first job out of college and was probably paying off student loans – and it was the thought that counted.

‘They’re so beautiful,’ she said. ‘I better go put them in water.’

Andy took off his jacket, then followed Katie into the kitchen. As Katie filled a vase with water, Andy held her from behind and said, ‘Hey, where’s Susan?’

‘Oh, she’s sleeping over at Tom’s tonight.’

‘Really? You mean we have the whole place all to ourselves?’

Katie wasn’t sure she liked the tone in Andy’s voice. ‘Yeah,’ Katie said. ‘I guess we do.’

Andy came over and started kissing Katie’s neck.

‘You’re gonna make me drop the vase,’ she said.

Katie finished putting the flowers in the water and went toward the small dining area. Andy followed her and kept kissing her.

‘Down, boy,’ Katie said.

‘I can’t help it,’ Andy said. ‘You’re so beautiful.’

Katie put the vase on the table and said, ‘How do they look?’

‘Awesome,’ Andy said, turning Katie toward him. They started making out, then Andy pulled back and said, ‘It’s so great to see you.’

‘You too,’ Katie said.

Andy kissed her again and steered her backward onto the couch. He was on top of her, pressing down a little too hard, but she didn’t say anything. Then his hand slid down her right leg and he started squeezing the side of her thigh and she wondered if he was feeling her fat.

After he undid her bra and started rubbing her breasts, Katie pushed him back gently and said, ‘We should go to dinner now.’

‘Why?’ Andy said and started kissing her again. ‘Because,’ Katie said, her voice muffled. ‘I’m starving.’ Andy pushed himself up, halfway off her, and said, ‘How about we just order in?’

‘No, I really wanted to go out to that Spanish place.’

‘Come on, how often do we get the place to ourselves?’

‘We can come back later.’

Andy started kissing Katie again, feeling her breasts and thighs. As his hands crept closer to between her legs, she squeezed them together and said, ‘Seriously,’ and turned away. ‘I want to go out.’

‘Whatever,’ Andy said, sitting up, as if offended.

‘It’s just that it’s Friday night,’ Katie said. ‘I hate sitting home Friday nights. It makes me feel like such a loser. I like to get out and –’

‘It’s no big deal,’ Andy said coldly. ‘I just thought it’d be cool to order in and watch a pay-per-view or something. But if you want to go out, let’s go out.’

Katie got her J. Crew leather jacket from the closet. Although Andy was standing right there, he didn’t help her put it on, the way he usually did.

Outside, walking along Second Avenue, they held hands and things seemed normal, but when they got to the restaurant Andy started acting weird again. He kept getting distracted, looking away, and he didn’t seem to be having a good time. He said his paella was ‘too gummy’ and wouldn’t eat it, and he refused to even try her ceviche. At first, Katie thought he was being all moody because he’d wanted to stay in, but then she started wondering if maybe there was more to it. Maybe something had happened at work or something, or maybe something was going on with his family. He didn’t talk much about his family, but on their first date he mentioned that his parents had almost gotten divorced last year.

Whatever was going on with Andy, it was annoying Katie, but she didn’t feel comfortable enough around him yet to ask him what was wrong, so she tried to ignore it. She kept making small talk – he was barely answering – and by the time the check came, she was so fed up she just wanted to go home and watch TV by herself.

‘So what do you want to do now?’ Katie asked.

‘What do you want to do?’ Andy asked.

‘I don’t know. It’s getting kind of late, I guess.’

‘So you don’t wanna go out for a drink or something?’

‘I’ll go if you want to go,’ she said, hoping he’d get the hint that she was pissed off.

‘No, it’s cool,’ Andy said, not getting the hint at all. ‘Let’s just go hang back at your place.’

Katie didn’t want to invite Andy back to her apartment, and she tried to think of a way out of it. She figured she’d say she wasn’t feeling well, or she was exhausted, or something like that. But then, all of a sudden, Andy was acting like his old self – making jokes and paying a lot of attention to her. She didn’t know what was going on with him – if anything was going on; she could’ve been making it all up – and she decided to let him come back to her place and see how things went. He was really nice and sweet and they wound up on the couch, making out, listening to KT Tunstall. She was going to forget about the way he’d acted at the restaurant, not bring it up anyway, but it was still on her mind, and she blurted out, ‘So what’s up with you tonight anyway?’

‘What do you mean?’ Andy said, lost, or pretending to be lost.

‘In the restaurant,’ Katie said. ‘You were so, like, I don’t know…’

‘I’m sorry… I guess I just had a long week at work, you know?’

‘Oh,’ she said, thinking, That’s no excuse.

‘Sorry if I was a jerk,’ Andy said, and kissed her, running his hands gently through her hair. Then, touching noses, he said, ‘Your eyes are so beautiful.’

‘Thanks,’ she said.

They continued kissing. He was on top of her now, in the same position they were in before they went to dinner. He undid her bra and started feeling her breasts and it felt really nice. Then he started grinding up against her and feeling her over her jeans. They were both breathing heavier and she could tell he wanted to do it and she wanted to do it, too.

‘Wanna move to the bedroom?’ he asked.

‘Yeah,’ she said.

They went into the bedroom and then she said she’d be right back and went into the bathroom. She was going to get a condom, but then decided she wouldn’t make love to Andy tonight. Although she liked him a lot and he seemed like a really nice guy, she wanted to wait awhile, at least two more dates. She felt like she’d had sex too quickly with her last couple of boyfriends and she felt bad about it and she wanted to take things slower this time. Maybe she’d do a little more with Andy tonight, but they definitely wouldn’t have sex.

Katie returned to the bedroom and Andy was sitting on the edge of the bed. He had taken off his button-down shirt but was still wearing a white V-neck T-shirt. The lamp on the dresser was shining on him, and his skin looked very smooth and tan.

She sat next to him and they started kissing and then he pulled her shirt off over her head and she pulled off his. Then he took off her bra and kissed her breasts in a nice way and then she said, ‘Wait,’ and leaned over toward the night table. She flicked on the iPod, which was connected to a docking station. A few seconds later, Norah Jones was into ‘Come Away With Me.’

Sitting up, they continued kissing each other and then they lay down, side by side, and suddenly his hand was under her panties. She was kind of surprised because he hadn’t even unsnapped her jeans and because he hadn’t asked her if it was okay to do this. They hadn’t gone this far before, and the last time he tried, she told him she wanted to wait. But she didn’t say anything, because it felt good, and she was ready to go further tonight anyway.

After a while, she opened his jeans and started touching him. She’d wondered if, because his hands were kind of small, he’d be small everywhere, and she was glad to feel that it was normal sized, maybe even on the big side. She wanted to make love, but she knew it would be better to wait. They’d fool around tonight and then maybe next time they’d do more. It would be hard for her to finish this way – it was already getting a little uncomfortable – but he’d finish and that would be far enough for tonight.

Then he started pushing her head down with one of his hands. Well, he wasn’t really pushing it – he was guiding it, with steady pressure. This felt weird because, although she didn’t really mind going down on him, and was actually about to do it anyway, she felt it was something she should’ve initiated. She started kissing his chest and his stomach and stopped there. If he kept guiding her head down, she was going to say something, but he stopped doing it so she went down farther on her own.

His balls smelled musky, like bad musky, and she couldn’t get used to it so she took shallow breaths through her nose and took breaks to take deeper breaths through her mouth. She did it harder and faster and used her hands more than she usually did. It seemed like she was down there for a long time and she was thinking about having sex with him tonight after all. At least she wouldn’t have to smell his musky balls anymore or let him come in her mouth.

Then he backed away suddenly. She wondered if she’d done something wrong, maybe bitten his dick or squeezed his balls too hard. She was going to ask him, but she thought he was about to say something, so she waited. Then she realized he was putting on a condom. She didn’t know where the condom had come from and she figured that he must have gotten one from his wallet, while she was going down on him. She didn’t know what to say – it was all happening so fast. He kissed her with a lot of tongue and then suddenly he was on top of her and they were doing it. She was dry and it hurt, but she was too confused to say anything.

He must’ve at least sensed something was wrong because he stopped thrusting into her and asked, ‘What’s wrong?’

‘Nothing.’

‘You sure?’

‘Yeah… it feels great.’

‘Cool.’

He was holding her arms down too tight and it still hurt a lot. But she just lay there, ignoring the pain, even saying ‘Oh my God’ a few times, hoping that would make him finish. Finally his noises got louder and he pushed her arms down harder and pounded into her faster, so she knew he was getting close, but it took a long time, maybe another minute, before his face scrunched up and turned sunburn red, and then he said, ‘Oh, fuck,’ grunted, got totally still for a good five seconds, and rolled off her.

He was breathing heavily, like he’d just climbed a few flights of stairs carrying heavy packages, but he wasn’t touching her at all. Her arms hurt like hell, she was very sore, and she felt like she wanted to cry.

He didn’t say anything for a long time, then he said, ‘Wow.’ His breathing returned to normal but his eyes were closed and she wondered if he was falling asleep. Then he turned toward her and gazed sensitively into her eyes. She expected him to ask her what was wrong. She’d tell him how upset she was and they’d talk and maybe things would be okay.

‘So,’ he asked, ‘did you?’

‘Did I what?’ She couldn’t believe this.

‘You know,’ he said, brushing the hair away from her eyes with his fingers. ‘Did you come?’

4

Katie didn’t know what to say – she definitely didn’t want to cry – so she said the only thing she could think of that she knew would end the conversation immediately.

‘Yeah. It was great.’

‘I thought so,’ Andy said and snuggled up next to her, with one arm over her breasts, and after a couple of minutes he started snoring lightly. She didn’t want him to touch her; she didn’t even want to be near him.

She managed to free herself without waking him. She sat on the edge of the bed and starting bawling, but tried her hardest not to make any noise.

A few minutes later, she was about to tap him on the shoulder to wake him up and tell him to get the hell out of her apartment, but she stopped herself, realizing she could be making a huge mistake. First-time sex always sucked and maybe that was all it was – bad sex. She figured she’d go to sleep and decide how she felt about the whole thing in the morning.

She put on her bra and panties and a long T-shirt and lay on her side, turned away from him. She stirred for a while, unable to stop replaying what had happened. At one point Andy rolled over and his foot touched hers and she jerked away quickly, as if he repulsed her, which he actually did.

When Katie woke up, Andy was trying to have sex with her again. Well, he wasn’t really trying, but he was hugging her from behind, breathing into her left ear, and she felt his dick pressing up against her butt.

‘No,’ she said.

‘Oh,’ Andy said. His voice was crackly from sleep and his breath stank. ‘Sorry.’

Katie’s heart was throbbing. If Andy tried to touch her again, she was going to turn around and slap him.

‘Something wrong?’ Andy asked.

She wanted to snap, You mean, except for you trying to stick your dick in me while I was fast asleep? But she didn’t want to overreact, sound nuts, so she said as politely as possible, ‘I’m just not really a morning-type person.’

Andy didn’t push it. ‘That’s cool. You just looked so good I couldn’t resist.’

She got out of bed quickly before he could touch her again. ‘You sure something isn’t wrong?’ he asked.

‘Positive.’ She didn’t want to talk about it. She just wanted him to go home so she could be alone and try to figure out how she felt.

‘That’s cool,’ he said.

She wished he would stop saying that. He was so annoying. ‘Hey, I have an idea,’ he said. ‘You wanna go to a diner or something?’

‘Can’t.’ She thought up an excuse. ‘I have a lot of work stuff to do.’

‘On Saturday?’

‘Yeah, my boss is making me work on this proposal thing – I have to get it done by Monday morning.’

‘Can’t you work on it later?’

‘No… I mean, I’m going out shopping later, and tomorrow I’m busy, so I really have to get this out of the way this morning. Sorry.’

She got her robe out of the closet and put it on.

‘That’s cool,’ Andy said. ‘I should probably get home, too. I wanna hit the gym and then I’m gonna go watch the Michigan game… you sure everything’s cool?’

‘Yes.’

‘You sure? Because you sound like –’

‘Everything’s fine. I have to use the bathroom.’

Katie stayed in the bathroom for at least five minutes, hoping Andy would get the hint and be dressed and ready to leave when she came out. The strategy seemed to work because Andy had his jeans and shirt on when she came out. While he went to the bathroom, she turned on her PC and opened an Excel spreadsheet.

Andy came out of the bathroom, saw her, said, ‘I guess I should get going. So what’s up for tonight?’

‘I’m not sure,’ Katie said.

‘Well, I’ll call you later from my cell. A couple of my roommates are heading out and maybe we can hook up with them. It would be cool for you to meet some of my friends.’

‘Yeah,’ Katie said, typing a few random numbers into the spreadsheet. ‘Okay.’

Katie remained at her PC while Andy put on his shoes, then Andy came up behind her and put a hand on her shoulder and her whole body tensed.

‘Wanna let me out?’ he asked.

She led him to the door and kissed him goodbye quickly, although she didn’t really want to. When he was gone, she went right into the bathroom and got into the shower. She scrubbed herself hard for a long time but still felt like she couldn’t get clean. Finally, she got out, her fingers pruny, and went into the bedroom and took off the bedsheet and pillowcases and stuffed them into the laundry. She figured she’d wash her blanket later, too, because she didn’t want to sleep with anything Andy had slept with. He was such a son of a bitch; she didn’t know why she hadn’t kicked him out of bed last night. She couldn’t understand how she’d let this happen to her.

‘Hey.’

The voice startled Katie and she turned so fast she strained her neck slightly. It was just Susan, her roommate, standing at the door.

‘Sorry,’ Susan said. ‘I didn’t mean to scare you.’

‘It’s okay.’

‘Doing laundry?’

‘No, just straightening up.’ She wanted to change the subject. ‘So what’d you do last night?’

‘We went to this great Japanese place in the West Village, I can’t remember the name. The eel rolls were really good and I usually hate eel – it’s so gooey. You and Andy should go there sometime.’

‘I doubt that,’ Katie said.

‘Why?’ Susan asked.

Katie paused, considering telling her what had happened. It would be good to get another opinion on the whole thing because she knew she was being very emotional right now and she still wasn’t sure whether she was making too big a deal about it – if it was Andy’s fault, her fault, or no one’s fault. But Katie knew that Susan was the absolute wrong person to get advice from. She’d been with her boyfriend, Tom, since high school and she knew zero about dating and complicated relationships. She was also from Greenwich, went to prep schools, and everything had always been perfect in her life. She sometimes got uptight when Katie talked about anything personal, especially sex, and Katie decided there was no use even bringing it up.

‘Andy’s just not very into sushi,’ Katie said.

A few minutes later, Katie went online and did a search for date rape. She didn’t find out anything she didn’t already know. All the articles and posts talked about guys who keep going even after girls say no, and guys who act much more aggressively than Andy had acted. Katie was starting to feel guilty, wondering if she’d been too harsh with Andy this morning. He’d probably never want to see her again, and last night might’ve been more her fault than his. If she’d said, ‘I’m not ready yet,’ or ‘I have a headache,’ or just, ‘No,’ he definitely would’ve stopped and she wouldn’t be feeling the way she did right now.

Although it was still very early – not even nine o’clock – Katie decided to call Amanda. Amanda had a lot of dating experience and she’d be able to give solid advice.

But before pressing the last digit to Amanda’s number, Katie had second thoughts and clicked off. She remembered how Amanda had acted on the phone yesterday, putting down Andy and his roommates for being frat boys, and Katie knew Amanda would tell her that she had been raped and to never talk to Andy again, and maybe even to call the police and try to press charges. Besides, Katie didn’t think Amanda would give her an honest opinion because she had been date-raped in college and she was always ‘anti-guy’ in these types of situations.

Now, even more confused, Katie decided to try to forget about it for a while. She had a quick breakfast of coffee and a slice of raisin bread toast with fat-free cream cheese, and then put on her gym clothes. She needed to de-stress on the treadmill for a while, maybe go to a yoga class.

She left her apartment and crossed Second Avenue, then went up the hill on Ninety-third Street, toward Third Avenue. Her legs felt heavy already and she didn’t think she’d have a good workout today. Then she started panicking, remembering how Andy had mentioned that he was going to go to the gym this morning, too. He’d never mentioned which gym he belonged to, and she was pretty sure that there was a gym in Normandie Court, where he lived, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t have joined an outside gym. The last thing she wanted was to run into Andy at the gym and have to work out next to him.