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When Margot returns to campus, Robert is too busy with work to see her. Margot feels uneasy about his absence and, when he finally has time, agrees to a movie date at a large multiplex. Robert picks her up in a Civic that is dirty on the outside and trash-strewn on the inside. He is quiet and avoids eye contact, and when Margot realizes how little she knows him, she imagines that he is a danger to her. As if he senses her thoughts, he teases her not to worry—he won’t kill her. Margot wonders whether she is the type of woman who worries about rape or murder on every date and tries to joke about not minding if he murders her.
At the concession stand, Robert jokes about Red Vines, embarrassing the cashier and Margot. During the movie, he doesn’t hold Margot’s hand, and she decides that he no longer likes her—perhaps because she dressed comfortably, rather than to impress him. He seems to pick up on this concern and jokes about her attire before asking her to go for a drink. Compared to their clever text exchanges, their conversation is halting and stiff, and when Margot falls silent in confusion, Robert accuses her of “sulking.” Margot insists that she needs a drink after the movie Robert chose, a film about the Holocaust, and he seems apologetic for his choice. Margot feels tender toward Robert as she wonders whether her job at the artsy movie theater intimidates him.
At the bar Robert prefers, the bouncer checks Margot’s ID and refuses her entry. Robert claims that Margot told him she is twenty-one. In fact, she said that she is a sophomore who took a gap year. She feels tearful, and he hugs her and kisses the top of her head and then, more aggressively, on her lips. Margot’s surprise at how unpleasant the kiss is turns to a forgiving feeling: here is an older man who knows less about kissing than she does. He leads her to a bar frequented by college students where she won’t be carded. Over beer, Robert acts more like the clever man Margot has enjoyed texting. He teases her for her elitist taste in films, though he knows she has taken only one film class, and she sees him as a man easily hurt and shamed. As she plays down her own confidence and subtly praises his, she thinks that the conversation is like trying to calm a powerful but wary animal.
After three beers, Margot wonders what sex with Robert would be like. He would, she guesses, work hard to please her. When she suggests that they leave, he says that she is drunk and offers to take her back to the dorm, but in the car, they kiss and he becomes aroused. He pushes her away, embarrassed to be behaving like teens during a make-out session. Since they cannot go back to her dorm room, Robert invites Margot to his house.
