Cat Person
By Kristen Roupenian, first published in The New Yorker
A college sophomore meets a thirty-something-year-old guy while working. Despite being exciting initially, the relationship heads towards uncomfortable territory.
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Plot Summary
Margot is a college sophomore working at a movie theater. One day, she sees an older guy, Robert, purchase Red Vines and she makes a joke about it. He doesn’t respond too well the first time, but the next time that he sees her, he asks for her number. They start texting, and Margot finds this exciting. Finally, they decide to go on a date. The date is disastrous. Robert brings her to her place of work to watch a Holocaust movie. They can’t get into a bar because she’s underage. At Robert’s house, they have unpleasant sex and watch a boring subtitled movie on his laptop before Margot decides to go. She avoids texting him that she doesn’t want to see him again, so her roommate, Tamara, does so for her. Robert says he understands. A while after, Margot sees Robert at a bar. They don’t talk, but he texts her afterward, paranoid that she’s with someone else and demanding answers for why she left him. After Margot doesn’t reply, he calls her a whore.
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