Wrecked(36)

He has just told the woman who lives with Jenny that he knows Jordan hooked up with her. He said the one thing Jordan asked him not to say to possibly the worst person he could have said it to.

This is bad.

“Oh, is that what he told you?” Haley says. “That it was a hookup? That’s rich. Trust me: if you knew my roommate, you’d know that isn’t even remotely possible. She does homework and hangs out in the lab. Before the other night, I doubt she’d ever even held a guy’s hand, much less had sex.”

“So what was she doing at a Conundrum party?” Richard responds. “Everyone knows you go there to throw down.”

“Wow.” She stares at him. “Are you hearing yourself?”

“What?”

“That’s like . . . she was looking for it. Or she should’ve known better? Throw down or get raped, ladies, take your pick.” The stare has morphed into a glare.

It occurs to him that he has an uncanny talent for pissing off women he likes. And for being misunderstood.

“No! That’s not it. I’m just saying maybe your roommate isn’t as naive as you think. And even if she was? Take two steps into one of those parties and it’s pretty apparent what everyone came for. And it’s not mocktails and swing dancing, okay?”

“Were you at that party?” Haley says. A crack in her voice. Like she doesn’t really want to ask.

“That’s not my scene. I was somewhere else that night.” He can tell by her expression that she knows precisely where he was and who he was with.

Which is when it hits him. Ton of bricks. Hello, dumbass.

“That’s how your roommate knows Carrie,” he says. “How you know her.”

Haley doesn’t register surprise. “Carrie was the first person Jenny spoke to about it,” she admits. “She was actually the one who told me what happened. Jenny could barely say it.”

“So Carrie said it for her,” he says. “Why am I not surprised? Haley, the woman is a militant feminist. She sees a stalker behind every tree. Men are amusements at best, enemies at worst. Don’t believe everything she tells you.”

“So? You think Carrie is making up Jenny’s rape?”

“I’m not saying she’s making it up. But she’s characterizing it for her, isn’t she? Let me ask you something: did your roommate run right out and report this? Or did Carrie convince her to?”

Haley hesitates. “She didn’t tell anyone for a few days,” she says. “Then, after she started talking to Carrie on the hotline, it took a few more days before she reported it. But Richard, you don’t know Jenny. Something bad happened to her. She was okay and now she’s . . . wrecked. People don’t act like this unless something awful happened to them.”

Richard puts his hands up in surrender, conceding the point. “I’m not saying it did, and I’m not saying it didn’t. I wasn’t in the room with them. What do I know? But I do know Jordan, and while he’s definitely a douche, I don’t think he’d attack some girl. It’s probably more likely that things went further than Jenny expected, she felt yucky about it the next day, and now Carrie has her convinced it was rape.”

Reasonable. That’s what he is. Completely balanced and reasonable. Not taking any particular side or demonizing anyone (except maybe Carrie, but that’s okay) and putting the whole thing in perspective.

So why does Haley look like he’s just killed somebody?

“You know what?” she says. “This was a bad idea. I’m not even supposed to be talking about this. I don’t know what I was thinking.” She stands.

Richard scrambles to his feet. “What? What did I say?”

But Haley has grabbed one of the bags and strides toward the barn.

He picks up the other and follows. “Haley!”

“It’s not really what you said, but what you think. That’s the problem, Richard,” she says over her shoulder.

“What I think? Oh, so you’re a mind reader?”

She stops. Whirls on him. “Yucky? Did you actually say yucky?” She practically yells this. A few trees down the row, he sees a father--type turn his head in their direction. “Sex without consent is not yucky, Richard. It’s a crime.”

“I’m not a caveman, Haley. I’m fully aware that no means no. But I’m also one of those guys who thinks when yes the night before turns into no the morning after, it’s a little unfair to call it rape!”

“Who said she ever said yes?!” She’s actually yelling at this point.

“He did!” Richard is yelling, too. Saying stuff he absolutely should not be saying, but at this point, what the hell? “He won’t back down. He absolutely insists she was good with it that night.”

“Excuse me? Are we talking about the same guy who, a few minutes ago, you said, ‘Don’t pay attention to anything that comes out of his mouth’?”

She’s got him there. He said that. And he meant it. He usually only half believes Jordan’s bullshit. The rest he attributes to swagger.

So Richard is arguing for him . . . why?

He likes this girl. So much. They need to get past this. He can’t blow this because of freakin’ Jordan Bockus.

“Haley.” He feels deflated. Like she just stuck a pin in him. He presses his fingers against his temples. His head pounds. “Yes. I said that. Guess I should follow my own advice. The fact is, I don’t have the first clue what happened at Conundrum that night, or what went on between Jordan and Jenny. Only they do. Those two people. So why are we mad at each other?”