you do Last night?
“Shit,” she said. What a jerk. Couldn’t he just get the message? She hoped she didn’t have to tell him to leave her alone, but she would if she had to.
LENOXGIRL: Not much
There was a pause, then he started typing.
ABARNETT007: was realty sick Last night throwing up and everything
He inserted a symbol of a green sick face.
ABARNETT007: but I’m a Lot better now
Katie didn’t know if he was lying, but if he wasn’t, she realized she could be making a mistake by blowing him off. If he didn’t lie to her and he didn’t date rape her, what exactly had he done wrong?
She typed “great” then, thinking that sounded too upbeat, deleted it and typed:
LENOXGIRL: I’m glad
Andy started typing right away.
ABARNETT007: i had a great time the other night
Then a smiley face appeared.
She didn’t know how to respond. She still felt weird about what had happened and didn’t want to tell him she had a great time, too. She didn’t see any point in creating drama about it, either.
But she didn’t have to write anything because Andy wrote:
ABARNETT007: hey, wanna see a movie tonight?
Her first thought was, Yes. But then she reminded herself that he was a loser and that she’d been planning to dump him.
She was trying to decide what to do and a lot of time must’ve gone by, maybe thirty seconds, because Andy typed:
ABARNETT007: you still there?
She lied:
LENOXGIRL: Yeah phone just rang one sec
She thought it over some more, finally deciding that she might as well go out with him. A movie was innocent. She could see how it went. If he acted like an asshole, she could just break up with him and that would be that. It seemed like a mature way to do it. More mature than lying to him, blocking his IMs and e-mails anyway.
LENOXGIRL: A movie sounds cool
ABARNETT007: cool!!!!!
LENOXGIRL: Okay but r you sure you’re feeling up to it?
ABARNETT007: yeah yeah, I’m fine
ABARNETT007: totally fine
LENOXGIRL: i mean if you’re sick it’s cool
ABARNETT007: i mean
ABARNETT007: iwas still feeling kinda sick this morning
ABARNETT007: but I’m better now
ABARNETT007: all better
ABARNETT007: i’m psyched!!!!
They spent a few minutes, going back and forth, trying to decide which movie to see. She thought that, like most guys, he’d suggest a horror or action movie, but instead he suggested seeing the new Lindsay Lohan comedy. She knew he was just doing this to score points, but there was something nice and considerate about it, too.
After she finished the e-mail to her friend Mark, she put on jeans and a sweatshirt and a full face of makeup—just in case she ran into somebody she knew—and then went out to do some chores. She dropped off her dry cleaning and then went to Key Food to do her grocery shopping for the week. Carrying three heavy bags back to her apartment, she had to stop every half block or so to take a break. She wished she could afford to use FreshDirect to buy her groceries over the Internet like a lot of other Upper East Siders did, but her credit cards were already nearly maxed out. Although she was getting financial support from her parents—they direct-deposited a thousand dollars into her bank account every month—it wasn’t nearly enough to help her live the way she wanted to. She didn’t think she was living excessively, either. She had half the clothes most girls she knew had and she only had three or four pairs of shoes to last the whole season. But New York was so expensive it was ridiculous, and she didn’t know how she’d ever be able to afford it. She had to get a better job, that was for sure. She was only making forty-four a year and that was nothing in the city. She had to make double or triple that to live the way she wanted to.
When she returned to her apartment, exhausted from carrying the shopping bags up the stairs, she checked hermailbox on the phone and listened to a message from Peter
“Shit,” she said. What a jerk. Couldn’t he just get the message? She hoped she didn’t have to tell him to leave her alone, but she would if she had to.
LENOXGIRL: Not much
There was a pause, then he started typing.
ABARNETT007: was realty sick Last night throwing up and everything
He inserted a symbol of a green sick face.
ABARNETT007: but I’m a Lot better now
Katie didn’t know if he was lying, but if he wasn’t, she realized she could be making a mistake by blowing him off. If he didn’t lie to her and he didn’t date rape her, what exactly had he done wrong?
She typed “great” then, thinking that sounded too upbeat, deleted it and typed:
LENOXGIRL: I’m glad
Andy started typing right away.
ABARNETT007: i had a great time the other night
Then a smiley face appeared.
She didn’t know how to respond. She still felt weird about what had happened and didn’t want to tell him she had a great time, too. She didn’t see any point in creating drama about it, either.
But she didn’t have to write anything because Andy wrote:
ABARNETT007: hey, wanna see a movie tonight?
Her first thought was, Yes. But then she reminded herself that he was a loser and that she’d been planning to dump him.
She was trying to decide what to do and a lot of time must’ve gone by, maybe thirty seconds, because Andy typed:
ABARNETT007: you still there?
She lied:
LENOXGIRL: Yeah phone just rang one sec
She thought it over some more, finally deciding that she might as well go out with him. A movie was innocent. She could see how it went. If he acted like an asshole, she could just break up with him and that would be that. It seemed like a mature way to do it. More mature than lying to him, blocking his IMs and e-mails anyway.
LENOXGIRL: A movie sounds cool
ABARNETT007: cool!!!!!
LENOXGIRL: Okay but r you sure you’re feeling up to it?
ABARNETT007: yeah yeah, I’m fine
ABARNETT007: totally fine
LENOXGIRL: i mean if you’re sick it’s cool
ABARNETT007: i mean
ABARNETT007: iwas still feeling kinda sick this morning
ABARNETT007: but I’m better now
ABARNETT007: all better
ABARNETT007: i’m psyched!!!!
They spent a few minutes, going back and forth, trying to decide which movie to see. She thought that, like most guys, he’d suggest a horror or action movie, but instead he suggested seeing the new Lindsay Lohan comedy. She knew he was just doing this to score points, but there was something nice and considerate about it, too.
After she finished the e-mail to her friend Mark, she put on jeans and a sweatshirt and a full face of makeup—just in case she ran into somebody she knew—and then went out to do some chores. She dropped off her dry cleaning and then went to Key Food to do her grocery shopping for the week. Carrying three heavy bags back to her apartment, she had to stop every half block or so to take a break. She wished she could afford to use FreshDirect to buy her groceries over the Internet like a lot of other Upper East Siders did, but her credit cards were already nearly maxed out. Although she was getting financial support from her parents—they direct-deposited a thousand dollars into her bank account every month—it wasn’t nearly enough to help her live the way she wanted to. She didn’t think she was living excessively, either. She had half the clothes most girls she knew had and she only had three or four pairs of shoes to last the whole season. But New York was so expensive it was ridiculous, and she didn’t know how she’d ever be able to afford it. She had to get a better job, that was for sure. She was only making forty-four a year and that was nothing in the city. She had to make double or triple that to live the way she wanted to.
When she returned to her apartment, exhausted from carrying the shopping bags up the stairs, she checked hermailbox on the phone and listened to a message from Peter
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