Chapter Summaries 7: Paul Smith, Birthday Brothers, Lunch with Bethany, Thursdsay, Dinner with Secretary

These chapter summaries begin with Luis coming onto Patrick again, but this time, before escaping Carruthers in a cab, he flashes a knife at him while hissing. This takes Luis of guard, and he backs off, leaving Patrick somewhat victorious. In the next chapter, birthday Brothers, Patrick has dinner with his brother, Sean, at Dorsia, a place Sean effortlessly made reservations at while Bateman has been attempting for months. I didn't think we'd be introduced to a character that was more influential and known as Patrick, but sure enough, we met Sean. They only seemed to just compete with each other the entire time, subtly trying to one-up the other's remarks, Patrick with lies, Sean probably not.  In the following chapter, Patrick has lunch with an old girlfriend of his at Harvard, where he is for some reason extremely nervous. He acts strangely, writes her a terrible poem, and says some very off-kilter stuff. But even after all that, Bethany agrees to come up to his apartment where he proceeds to torture and rape her. She finally dies the next morning. The grotesque detail at which this is described is analyzed more closely in my post titled "Random Thought 4." In Thursday, he talks about many different types of water at length in a cab ride with McDermott and Courtney, and later goes home and beats Bethany's dead body with her own severed arm. And finally, in Dinner with Secretary, Patrick cancels a reservation with friends when he discovers Luis will be joining them, and instead asks his secretary, Jean, to join him. He lies about having reservations at Dorsia, they get kicked out, and have dinner somewhere else instead. When the evening ends, she invites Bateman up to her room but he refuses, but she hugs and kisses him anyways, which leaves him feeling a real sense of warmth towards her. He later thinks about him and her holding hands and laughing and buying balloons. This leads me to believe that he might have some type of intimate feelings for her, and I feel that if he does end up with her, she could do him some real good.