Summary
When Margot gets back to school, she's eager to see Robert again, especially after their enthusiastic text exchange. But she finds him surprisingly hard to reach, and he repeatedly evades her invitations to hang out, claiming to be busy at work. Margot feels like she's lost the upper hand, and when Robert finally invites her to a movie, she agrees immediately and enthusiastically. He drives her to a big multiplex theater in his car, which Margot notices is dirty and littered with candy wrappers. She's visibly uncomfortable, worrying that she hardly knows Robert, and it might be unsafe to be in his car. Just as she thinks, worriedly, that he could "take her someplace and rape and murder her" (7), Robert jokes, "Don't worry, I'm not going to murder you." At least they're on the same page about their potentially dangerous level of discomfort. Margot tries to lighten the mood with another joke, but things remain awkward, and they finish the drive in silence. At the theater, Robert makes a joke to the concession stand guy about Red Vines, but it falls flat.
Robert doesn't make a move during the movie, which leads Margot to believe he's changed his mind about her. She worries that she might have dressed too casually, whereas he seems slightly dressed-up in khakis and a button-down. After the movie, she suggests, halfheartedly, that they go for a drink. Robert agrees, though also seemingly unenthusiastically. They are both a little depressed by the film, which is characterized as a mega-serious Holocaust movie.
They have a hard time finding a bar, as Robert doesn't want to go to any of Margot's usual student hangouts, but Margot is under 21 and fears she can't get into a bar that will ask her for ID. She tags along to a spot of Robert's choosing, but the bouncer rejects her fake ID, leaving her "marooned on the sidewalk" (9). In that moment, Robert realizes exactly how much younger she is. Initially, she's quite embarrassed, and Robert tries to rationalize things, claiming he thought she was older. They argue about it for a moment, and Margot starts to look hurt. As soon as he senses that her feelings are hurt, Robert softens, and kisses Margot on the lips for the first real time. Margot is amused by how badly the kiss goes, but feels a kind of tenderness towards Robert nonetheless.
They go to a different bar, where Margot isn't carded. Robert offers to buy her a vodka soda, but she isn't experienced at drinking hard liquor, so asks for a beer instead. After a couple of drinks, Robert seems more like the person Margot knew over text: witty, relaxed, and fun to banter with. They tease each other and joke about the movie. Margot feels like she's starting to understand Robert—he's more sensitive than she had suspected, and she feels close to him because of this. At the same time, she feels a sense of power: she knows how to hurt him, and she knows how to soothe him. They talk about her job, and Margot jokes self-deprecatingly about her limited knowledge of film. She shares her worries and insecurities with Robert, which seems to put him even more at ease. Three drinks in, Margot starts wondering what it would feel like to have sex with Robert. She thinks he would be clumsy, but she still feels some desire for him. After that round of drinks, she suggests: "Should we get out of here, then?"
Robert accepts her invitation, jokingly recognizing that she's drunk but proceeding towards his car nonetheless. Margot feels sexy, like an "irresistible temptation" as Robert shepherds her to the car. They make out in the front seat, which Robert mocks her for, claiming, jokingly, that it's juvenile. He suggests that they go back to her place; she points out that she lives in a dorm so they won't have any privacy. Instead, they agree to go back to Robert's.
Analysis
Margot's crush on Robert has built significantly in the time since she's seen him: something about his mystery and unreachability has made him seem more alluring, and has allowed her to forget her initial ambivalence about him. Their smooth and flirty text exchange makes Margot eager to see Robert, though she forgets that their interactions in person might not be as seamless without the safety and distance of a screen between them. This fear is proven to be realistic on the car ride to the theater, as Margot realizes that being alone with Robert could actually jeopardize her physical safety. She doesn't seem to feel genuinely concerned, but this moment emphasizes that she doesn't know Robert well, and that despite having exchanged lots of messages, they are still essentially strangers.
Their lack of real knowledge about one another is confirmed when Robert invites Margot to see a serious, moody film. She jokes that he could've chosen something lighter, but he is apparently hurt by the intimation that he didn't pick a good film. This shows how many assumptions they have about one another: Robert believes Margot is a film snob because all he knows about her is that she works at an artsy theater. She asks to see the film at the multiplex, even though it's playing at the theater where she works, because she doesn't want to go on a date at her workplace. However, Robert misinterprets this as a signal that she doesn't want to run into anyone she knows while on a date with him, and, again, seems kind of put off. Overall, this date is rife with miscommunication, exemplifying how face-to-face interactions are often more awkward than simply texting.
The discomfort amplifies when they try to go for drinks. Margot initially doesn't want to tell Robert her real age, and halfheartedly assumes he knows she's too young to drink, but refuses to tell him outright. She's embarrassed when she can't get into the bar that she chooses. Initially, piling on to her public humiliation, Robert is a little irritated about her age—he claims that, though he knew she was a college sophomore, it didn't occur to him that she was only 20. At this point in the story, Robert's age still hasn't been revealed to the reader or to Margot. She thinks he might be in his late twenties, but isn't quite sure. Clearly, neither of them has really done the work to understand the other's background or life circumstances: their conversations have usually been limited to flirty banter, and they continue to know very little about each other's real lives.
Margot is suddenly, inexplicably defeated when her ID gets turned down at the bar. Robert recognizes this change in tenor and takes to her kindly, comforting her and begging her not to feel bad. As he hugs her, Margot recognizes the feeling she'd had outside the 7-Eleven bubbling up inside her again: "that she was a delicate, precious thing he was afraid he might break" (9). Margot is excited by the prospect that Robert sees her as young and vulnerable and, through this vision of herself, feels attracted to him. When he looks into her eyes after kissing her again, Margot feels beautiful because she thinks Robert sees her as beautiful. She is enamored by the power she believes she has over him: even though he's a bad kisser, Margot is delighted to kiss him because she loves the feeling that, despite his being older, "she knew something he didn't." Being with Robert allows Margot to feel a sense of sophistication, mostly built on her imagined sense that he sees her a certain way.
When they're finally settled into a bar that will let Margot in, the tone lightens a little. Margot realizes that Robert's aura, which she had interpreted as dissatisfaction, was actually one of nervousness. He teases her about her highbrow taste in movies, which belies his own insecurity. Margot, too, makes self-effacing jokes, and realizes that she might've hurt Robert's feelings earlier by complaining about the movie. She feels a sense of tenderness towards him, "as if she were petting a large, skittish animal, like a horse or a bear, skillfully coaxing it to eat from her hand" (11). Again, Margot feels a sense of power over Robert, derived from her graceful, desirable vision of herself.
After several drinks, Margot has warmed up to the possibility of having sex with Robert. She invites him to leave the bar, which he initially interprets as an effort to cut the date short, but when he realizes she's trying to sleep with him, he obligingly pulls her out of the bar. Some awkwardness ensues when they discuss the prospect of going back to her place, as it's explained, again, that Margot is a college sophomore who lives in a shared dorm. Nevertheless, rather than feeling juvenile or embarrassed, Margot feels irresistible: her youth and novelty to Robert seem to be a source of temptation, and she feels good about herself when she believes that he sees her this way. They make out in the front seat, and Margot is a little melodramatic, in an admittedly self-aware way: she knows she's performing, acting like the version of herself that she believes he sees her as. Here, the disconnect from early in the story is once again visible: is Margot attracted to Robert himself, or does she want to be the version of herself that being with him makes her feel she embodies?
