She didn’t comment to the supervisor, discretion seemed like the better part of valor, as her father often said, and she went back to doing her job, grateful that Jeff was gone and he hadn’t raped her.
Chapter 8
By the time her internship ended, the summer hadn’t been a total success. The job was menial, though it got a little better after Jeff left, and as they trusted her more, they gave her a few more meaningful tasks. But the job had been billed as a gofer, which was all she was. She didn’t learn anything, except not to trust men she didn’t know well and never to take them to her apartment. As a career move, the internship had been a waste of time, and she didn’t earn a penny.
Jake had earned very decent money as a busboy, but it had done nothing to enhance his acting career. He’d had a good time with his family at Lake Tahoe, and he had never made it down to L.A. to see her.
She had found no trace of her mother, which had been one of her main goals. So it was a disappointing summer, and a relief to go back to New York. Jake was flying in the night before school started, and she arrived a few days before. Their rooms weren’t available yet, and they were both ecstatic to discover that they would be in the same dorm again, a different building from their old one, but the sophomore dorm was nicer. Some colleges still separated men and women in different dorms. NYU no longer did, and they had some truly wonderful buildings in the area.
Since she arrived before their rooms were ready, Antonia had to stay at her father’s apartment again. Her room was an even bigger mess than before. Her father had brought more files from his office, which were piled up in boxes on the floor. Their empty suitcases from their trip to Greece were scattered all over the place, and a full set of kitchen crockery they’d bought in Italy had just arrived and was still in crates, crowding the room even more.
She and Lara had spoken a few times, but Antonia hadn’t talked to her father since she left New York. She looked tired, pale, and had visibly lost weight. Lara suspected it hadn’t gone well, and asked her about it when they were alone.
“It was kind of a bust. I was just a delivery/messenger girl. It was hotter than hell, and I didn’t learn a thing about movies or writing screenplays.” She told her about Jeff then, and Lara was horrified, but proud of how she had defended herself. It would have been a disaster if he’d prevailed.
“Good for you!” she praised her. “What a smart move!”
“He said he was going to call the police and charge me with assault, and he could have. I really hurt him. But he never did.”
“What a little bastard,” Lara said angrily, and put an arm around Antonia’s shoulders.
“I shouldn’t have let him in.”
“No, you shouldn’t have. You’ll know better next time, and thank God he didn’t rape you.” It would have been a tragic summer for her if he had. Similar experiences had happened to Lara’s friends when they were in college, and more than once to her. Some guys just thought they had the right to do anything, and got away with it. “I’ll try and get your room back in better shape,” she said when they moved on to other subjects. Antonia didn’t tell her father about the near rape, or she suspected he’d never let her take another summer job away again.
Her room at her father’s apartment seemed almost beyond salvation by then, and the message in it was clear to her. It had become a dumping ground as well as her father’s home office. There was no room for her anymore, or her belongings. She couldn’t even get to what was there. It was an ordeal extricating what she had left there in June and needed in school. She took it back to school herself this time. Jake had said he’d set up her TV and stereo. By sophomore year, parents didn’t usually go, and Brandon said he was relieved. Lara was willing, but Antonia said she could do it herself. Her father rented a van for her to use, she drove it all down to the Village, and met Jake on the street. He looked tan and relaxed after his three weeks in Tahoe. Antonia looked as though she had been through the wars. The heat in L.A. had been record-breaking all summer, and she was pale and thin and worn out.
He helped her unload the van, and carried everything upstairs for her. She had told him she’d do the hanging and decorating, make his bed for him, and put his clothes in the drawers if he would do all the heavy lifting and technical stuff for her, and there was a lot of it. It sounded like a good trade to both of them. They were finished by early afternoon, went for a pizza, and took a walk in Washington Square Park. It was a beautiful late summer day. She had told him all about her job over lunch, and he was sorry for her. And she told him about Jeff’s attempted rape. Jake was incensed.