I was like,\u00a0 “Awww, thanks for constantly thinking of me, Jamie!” because our only direct altercation online ever was about her celebrating the fact that one of my publishers wasn’t paying authors and was suing blogger-turned-catfisher Jen Frederick for reporting it on her blog. That entire mess was a thousand years ago (and we mutually blocked each other on all social media that night) and since McGuire is an anti-vax hardcore conservative who’s firmly pro-Kavanaugh, I haven’t really felt the need to keep tabs on her. But somehow, she needed to name-check me in a conflict with another author that arose when McGuire chose to\u00a0fat shame a child.<\/em><\/p>\n No, seriously. This whole thing stemmed from an incident where she questioned whether or not a fat teenaged dancer was really practicing as much as she claimed in an inspirational video because McGuire was certain that no once who danced as much as the girl in the video could possibly be fat. I was not involved in any of it, in any way. I hadn’t even heard of the associated drama. If I’m Quebec, she’s Rio de Janeiro, that’s how far apart we are where social media is concerned.\u00a0 But wow, she sure jumped to my name. Maybe “fat” is just a concept she associates with me in her mind.<\/p>\n My only thought here was that McGuire hoped she could bait me into joining her fat-shaming drama, but the author who went full Wolverine on her ass did a fine enough job. So, all McGuire achieved was yet another self-delivered blow to her public image.<\/p>\n But in her defense, I’ve heard that clown college is actually quite stressful.<\/p>\n On to the recap!<\/p>\n <\/p>\n When we left off, the big party that Travis wasn’t going to take Abby to because he doesn’t date and he doesn’t think of her as a girlfriend but also he gets pissed off if she so much as breathes in another guy’s direction was coming up. At the beginning of chapter five, he walks in after Abby has gotten dressed:<\/p>\n A bustier that elongated into a short skirt, it was admittedly more daring than what I had worn in the past. The material was thin, black, and see-through over a nude shell. Parker would be at that party, and I had every intention of being noticed.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n I’ve really missed Abby’s hypocrisy. It’s so refreshing to finally read a heroine in a New Adult romance participate in exactly the same behavior that she finds slutty and reprehensible in every other woman on the page. Because remember, when women want Travis’s attention, they absolutely suck in the most whorish way possible.<\/p>\n Travis tells Abby she looks amazing and she describes what he’s wearing, a white dress shirt and jeans, in case you were dying to know. They get in Shepley’s car and Abby notes that it’s awkward to sit next to Travis.<\/p>\n They arrive at the party:<\/p>\n Travis brought me a red plastic cup full of beer and then leaned in to whisper in my ear. “Don’t take these from anyone but me or Shep. I don’t want anyone slipping anything into your drink.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Travis, do you actually think you need to tell a woman in college that she could get roofied at a frat party? Like she didn’t know before?<\/p>\n I rolled my eyes. “No one is going to put anything in my drink, Travis.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Okay, apparently he did need to tell her.<\/p>\n “Just don’t drink anything that doesn’t come from me, okay? You’re not in Kansas anymore, Pigeon.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n If anyone at this party seemed like an unsafe person to accept a drink from, it would be Travis. But we know that beneath his sex-crazed exterior, he’s got a heart of gold. That’s why\u00a0he<\/em> must control what Abby consumes, not Abby.<\/p>\n An hour into the party, Travis asks Abby if she wants to dance and she says no, she’s too tired. I would have assumed she was too drunk, based on how heavily she drank in those last few chapters.<\/p>\n He put his hand on mine and began to speak, but when I looked beyond him I saw Parker.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Uh-oh! Abby is going for the wrong guy, readers! Panic! She might not wind up with the violence-prone, psychologically abusive, pathological boundary crosser! She even goes onto a balcony with Parker and asks him some uninteresting stuff about the frat before asking him if he’s a business major.<\/p>\n “Biology, with a minor in anatomy. I’ve got one more year left, take the MCAT, and then hopefully I’m off to Harvard Med.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Harvard is a sure thing for Parker, as he’s a legacy admission and that legacy involves a lot of donations.<\/p>\n Ugh, Abby, this rich guy who’s going to be a doctor is so not the one for you! Don’t you see, you belong with the guy who beats people to death for money and uses the communal couch in his apartment as a pussy juice sponge!<\/p>\n She tells Parker that she hasn’t decided on a major yet, and jokes about being unexceptional.<\/p>\n “Oh, you don’t have to worry about that. I noticed you the first day of class. What are you doing in Calculus Three as a freshman?”<\/p>\n I smiled and twisted my hair around my finger. “Math is sort of easy for me. I packed on the classes in high school and took two summer courses at Witchita State.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Women playing with their hair for male attention is something Abby has complained about more than once.<\/p>\n After mentioning that they talk for an hour, Parker brings up the gossip about Travis and Abby:<\/p>\n “It’s just unusual for Travis. He doesn’t befriend women. He tends to make enemies of them more often than not.”<\/p>\n “Oh, I don’t know. I’ve seen more than a few who either have short term memory loss or are all too forgiving when it comes to him.”<\/p>\n Parker laughed. His white teeth gleamed against his golden tan. “People just don’t understand your relationship. You have to admit, it’s a bit ambiguous.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n And of course, Abby just cannot fathom what’s so ambiguous about the fact that she hangs out with Travis all the time and like, lives with him and sleeps in his bed. Okay, those things don’t really come up but let’s be honest: by now, Abby should have at least some inkling as to why people think they’re more than friends. Even when Parker offers to take her home, she tells him she lost a bet and is staying with Travis but doesn’t elaborate further.<\/p>\n Yet, people have the gall to assume she’s dating Travis. The utter cheek.<\/p>\n You’re probably thinking, “Wow, we’ve gone to this party with Abby and we’ve yet to hear anything about how much Travis hates every woman other than Abby. Fear not, gentle reader:<\/p>\n I trotted down the stairs to find America and passed a sullen Travis, who seemed annoyed with the drunken girl speaking to him.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Phew. For a second, it seemed like Abby wasn’t The Best Girl.<\/p>\n When she says Parker is going to take her home, drama inevitably ensues.<\/p>\n He glared at America, and then pulled me around the corner, his jaw flitting under his skin.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n To flit is to move quickly. Or flee your debtors. Either he’s on coke or his jaw owes him money.<\/p>\n “You don’t even know the guy.”<\/p>\n I pulled my arm from his grip. “This is none of your business, Travis.”<\/p>\n “The hell if it’s not. I’m not letting you ride home with a complete stranger. What if he tries something on you?”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n From the guy who is a habitual stranger trying things on women. Plus, she does know him, from school. Her friends know him. And he doesn’t have a reputation as a violent womanizer.<\/p>\n I crossed my arms. “Stop it, Trav. You’re being a jerk.”<\/p>\n He leaned in, seeming flustered. “I’ll kill him if he touches you.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/jennytrout.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/jamie-missed-the-point.jpg\")
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