Page 127 of Stay With Me

“Well, first he told me he had this habit of hooking up with women in his restaurant—”

“Hooking up with womeninhis restaurant? How on earth did he manage that?”

“He like … he’d flirt with them and they’d end up in his office where they’d … you know.”

“Oh ew.Really?”

“Yeah.”

“Well, that’s gross, but how does that make him Eddie part two?”

Samantha huffed. “Because. He hooked up with a women while we were seeing each other.”

Jenna gasped again. “Ewww.”

“I know.”

“Wait a minute,” Jenna interjected. “He’s been on bedrest for months, how did he manage to do that?”

“This was the night before we left for the camping trip,” Samantha explained.

“Oh.” Jenna paused for a moment. “Then it was right after you met him. That’s not anything close to what Eddie did.”

“It was still a sleazy thing to do!” Samantha insisted. “You’re supposed to be on my side, Jenna.”

Jenna laughed. “I am on your side. I’m just saying that’s hardly what Eddie did.”

“Okay, but,” Samantha went on. “But then he invited me on that trip for the sole purpose of trying to sleep with me, even after I gave him my ten date stipulation.”

“Oh jeez, Samantha.” Jenna laughed again. “He’s a guy.Most of the time, they think with their penis instead of their brain. Especially after they’ve known you only a few days and they’re really into you.”

“Are you seriously defending what he did?”

“No, I’m saying not to make that a bigger deal than it is,” Jenna clarified. “What type ofthetalk was he trying to have with you on Friday? Did he break things off?”

Samantha bit her lip. “No. He said he needed to tell me all of that stuff because he wanted to, like … start over.”

Suddenly—probably for the first time since it happened—Samantha wondered if she may have possibly overreacted to the whole thing.

“Samantha! Tell me you didn’t blow up on him and storm out.”

“Of course I blew up on him and stormed out,” Samantha hissed. “He was leading me on. He had months to tell me all of that stuff and he never mentioned it.”

“That’s not necessarily leading you on,” Jenna countered. “Maybe he couldn’t figure out how to tell you because he likes you so much and felt bad about everything. And then he came clean. And he probably apologized. Didn’t he?”

Samantha pursed her lips and tapped a fingernail on the lid of the laptop. “Well, yeah…”

“Samantha, you are far too emotional. And I think those books you read have distorted your perception of men.”

Samantha scoffed. “They have not.”

“Yes, they have!” Jenna harangued. “You think guys are supposed to be these perfect, flawless, mythical creatures who never make mistakes. In real life, people are flawed and do stupid things for dumb reasons or for no reason at all. In real life, a guy is not going to save himself for you just because you go on one date.Especially if it’s a casual thing and you guys don’t make some kind of explicit agreement to not see other people. And that doesn’t make him bad or good. What makes him bad or good is how he acts once you’ve had time to get to know each other and bond. And Nick came clean and apologized.”

Samantha huffed. “I can’t believe you are on his side.”

“Well, maybeyouought to be on his side.”

Samantha had to stop talking for a moment, as a massive lump rose in her throat.