I was trying to take notes next to him but his scribbling was getting on my last nerve. How dare he let Jen feel up my date? Was he in on it? Was it a little joke the two of them had going on between them? Or were they testing him?

At the end of class, after the lights went back on, I didn’t move from my seat. Kent tried to step over me after saying excuse me but I pushed him back and stood up. “How could you let her do that?”

He looked at me, clearly confused, as he scratched at the back of his head. “Um…”

“Jen! You just sat there and watched as she groped Nate?”

Kent exhaled slowly and looked around at the stares turned our way. “Elly, this isn’t the right place to talk about this.”

“Fine! Fuck you too.” I grabbed my things and made it down two steps before I felt his arm tugging me backwards.

“Elly, Jesus. Come on.” He looked down at me with sympathy in his eyes. His hand slowly dropped back to his side. “She was drunk. I talked to her about it after she did it.”

“After you left?”

“No, right after she groped him. I told her it was inappropriate and slutty and mean.”

“Apparently she did it twice.”

“I only saw the one time, Elly. That’s the truth.” He looked around, his cheeks blushing from the embarrassment of having to talk about this in front of prying eyes and ears. “Look, Jen’s mom is divorcing her dad, and it’s been tough on her. Her trust fund is in jeopardy and she’s been acting out.”

“Am I supposed to feel sorry for her?” I raised my eyebrows in amazement at his audacity.

He shook his head and held up his hands defensively, “No, of course not. I just… I’m sorry. Ok? I’m sorry for her behavior. I completely understand if you don’t want to be around her or bring Nate around her. But she isn’t doing it to be mean to you.”

I scoffed, “Yeah… okay. Keep telling yourself that.”

“What am I supposed to do, Elly? Break up with her?”

I stared at him, wondering if he was really as stupid as he was acting. “Yes!”

He shook his head and looked away, his jaw clenching a couple of times before he looked back at me. “I can’t do that. She’d had too much to drink, she wasn’t herself.”

I shook my head and rolled my eyes, “Oh, great. So anytime she wants to grope someone who isn’t you she can just have some drinks and it’ll be okay? That’s the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard.”

His ears burned red, “Just stay out of it, Elly. It’s my relationship, not yours. I’ve been with Jen for years, not a few weeks.”