You Never Get It Back

I delved into the short story at the local library. It was cozy reading night and I was there with two friends who had begun dating. My cuddle bear couldn’t make it so I brought my Winnie the Pooh stuffie and my blankie. I had brought a book (You Never Get it Back by Cara Blue Adams) that I was willing to explore. It won the John Simmons Short Fiction Award. I enjoyed the first piece but it wasn’t till I got to the second that I became immersed in the book. The story is about a young woman named Kate. She is dating some loser named Michael (seriously he is such a jerk but Kate clearly has some insecurities that allows her to date him). Since she hasn’t heard from him in four days she takes the train into Boston to be with her friend and former roommate, Esme on New Year’s Eve. At first I thought the short story would be about the relationship between Kate and Esme but it was about so much more. 

Esme is a rich, flighty friend. She thrives on male attention and makes it clear she doesn’t like it when quiet Kate steals her thunder. I think we all know an Esme. Hopefully I’m not an Esme. The two friends are staying at Esme’s ex boyfriend’s flat (Paul). He is perfectly polite, paying attention to both of them, even if it means flirting with Esme. When she doesn’t notice, he winks at Kate. Kate is still fixated on Michael who finally calls sometime during the evening. He comes up with some lame excuse, he went skiing, no service at the cabin, didn’t bother to tell her in advance or invite her because his friends wouldn’t like her. Ladies if your boyfriend won’t introduce you to his friends after several years there is something wrong here. 

When they arrive back at Paul’s apartment after the party Esme is very drunk and passes out right away. Kate and Paul, who both switched to water at some part, share the same bed. At some point that night Paul forces himself on Kate. She doesn’t kneecap him or punch him but neither did I. When you are half asleep and someone you trusted is violating you you are never sure what to do. Her body was responding with arousal but she gave a verbal no and a mental no, she didn’t want it. If you are brave enough to say no it doesn’t matter what your body’s doing they need to stop. This plot point took up two paragraphs in comparison with the rest of the short story. But it really packs an impact. For rape victims, they may not identify as that but some part of them always might.