I’m at the crosswalk and reaching for the push-to-walk button when I hear Asher shout. He’s half out of breath and wheezing when he gets to me, but I ignore him and jam on the button again. I’m pretty sure these things don’t even work.

I’m not going to speak to him or look at him or acknowledge him in any sense. I’m going to stand here and wait patiently because I can’t afford to be reckless and get hit by a taxi or a rabid cyclist. I occupy myself by making a list of all my recent purchases and how I now have to return them.

“Olivia, please—”

When his hand grazes my arm, I snap.

“Don’t touch me.” I jerk away from him, my eyes narrowed into a glare. “I’m sick of people who touch me without asking. There’s no reason for you to put your hands on me. I knew you were there. I chose to ignore you.”

“I’m sorry, I shouldn’t—”

“You’re right—you shouldn’t have,” I say, glancing back at the light that still hasn’t changed. “Now that we’ve established that, you can go back to your date.”

There’s a brief pause.

A cab driver rolls down his window and flips off an Uber that cut him off.

“I’m not on a date,” he says. “Vivian is my lawyer. And she’s married to my sister.”

My heart doesn’t jump. There’s no rush of hope or relief. I don’t feel anything except the bitter cold against my bare legs.

“Olivia, are you okay?”

I laugh. Hysterically. Manically. I’m a freak show on the corner of E 77th Street and Madison Ave. People are staring at me. Maybe I’m not stable. Maybe I’m very, very unstable.

I’m losing it.

And I start crying.

“Am I okay?” I ask and the light finally changes and I walk across the street like I’m some new off-Broadway production called The Girl’s Gone Mad. “I was just sexually harassed and got fired. No, I’m not fucking okay, Asher.”

He starts to follow me when there’s two seconds left on the timer. How brave. Wouldn’t want that pedicab to hit him.

“He can’t fire you for this.”

“Of course he can.”

“Legally—”

“Legally, he can,” I snap, carefully avoiding a slick spot of black ice as I maneuver onto the sidewalk. “I’ve been on warning for being late multiple times, which you’re very familiar with. I’m always late, right?”

“Olivia—”