Such a Fun Age

Mrs. Chamberlain has started acting differently, and Emira knows it’s because of the Market Depot incident. Mrs. Chamberlain’s new “forced casualness” makes Emira feel uncomfortable. All of a sudden, Mrs. Chamberlain is returning home early and making a show of taking an active interest in Emira’s life. Two weeks after the Market Depot incident, Mrs. Chamberlain hands Emira her bimonthly payment envelope. This time, it contains $1200—twice Emira’s normal payment—and a handwritten thank you note written on card stock. Emira immediately uses a couple hundred dollars to buy herself her first leather jacket.

Emira is on the subway to meet her friends for dinner that night when she runs into Kelley. With his lanky frame, prominent chin, and dark hair, he’s cuter than she remembered. Kelley recognizes Emira right away and admits to writing—but not sending—six emails to her. He asks if she quit her nanny job and is surprised when Emira admits that she hasn’t. Emira tells him that her employers “took care of [her],” though. Feeling a boost of confidence from her hefty paycheck, Emira tells Kelley he can buy her a drink at Luca’s, the club where she’s meeting her friends that night, if he wants. 

Emira meets up with her friends at Luca’s. Shaunie reserves a balcony with bottle service—Shaunie’s parents are rich, and Shaunie is very generous with her money. Josefa, Shaunie’s roommate, is unreliable—she either wants to stay in and scroll through her phone or be out drinking until morning. She’s a research assistant at Drexel and pursuing her second master’s degree; her parents have agreed to support her as long as she’s going to school.

Emira checks her phone obsessively to see if Kelley has emailed her. He finally arrives awhile later—accompanied by four Black friends. They make introductions. After Kelley and his friends leave to get drinks, Zara critiques Emira for pursuing a white guy when she criticized Zara for the same thing the other night. Zara settles down, and Emira’s friends all agree that Kelley is attractive—though Josefa questions why all of his friends are Black. Emira insinuates that Josefa (who is Latina) should ask herself why all her friends are Black. Josefa retorts that her DNA test results show that she’s actually 11% West African. Anyway, she’s mostly worried that Kelley might fetishize Black people. Zara agrees to support Emira, though, and claims one of Kelley’s friends to dance with.

Sometime later, Kelley, calling Emira “miss,” reminds Emira that he owes her a drink, and they make their way down to the bar. He asks her about the Market Depot incident some more. She tells him about her other work—she’s a transcriptionist and does clerical work for the Green Party Philadelphia office. Kelley won’t stop asking questions, and Emira feels like she’s in a job interview. But Emira is feeling tipsy and outspoken, and she doesn’t hold back. She asks Kelley if he works in HR or something and reminds him about how he told her she could write an op-ed the other night. Kelley seems embarrassed and asks if he’s an asshole. Emira says he probably is, but it’s okay. They take a cab back to Kelley’s place. 

Kelley’s apartment smells clean and is full of nice furniture. He and Emira are both drunk, and they start to kiss. Kelley asks how old Emira is—she’s 25 and he’s 32—and when she tells him, the age difference makes him a little uncomfortable, but Emira tells him it’s fine. Kelley gives Emira oral sex. She insinuates that she doesn’t want to return the favor when he’s done, but Kelley is fine with it.

Afterward, Emira asks for “an Uber and a snack.” Kelley agrees to arrange for an Uber, but he tells her she has to give him her number if she wants a snack. Emira laughs and agrees. As she waits for the Uber, she looks through Kelley’s record collection, which includes the Waiting to Exhale soundtrack and some Otis Redding albums. She comments on this, and Kelley jokes that he “ha[s] the music tastes of a middle-aged black woman.” Emira rolls her eyes at the comment, but Kelley doesn’t notice. Emira looks at a blueprint map of Allentown, Pennsylvania hanging on Kelley’s wall and wonders if she knows someone from Allentown—the name sounds familiar. Emira doesn’t know it, but the blueprint displays the place where, in 2000, Kelley “completely ruined Alex Murphy’s senior year”—before she became Alix Chamberlain, that is.