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Notes -
Having reread the story as she told it, I think there’s some evidence that she was changing the story to fit things he provided.
The number of people in the room changes. There were four, then five (one female). She couldn’t name them.
The location of the house moves once it’s made clear that the party he went to was miles away from the location she describes.
The geometry of the house changes (the stairs go from short to narrow, the living room and family room were initially separated allowing her to escape; until it became one bigger room).
The timing changes. She was older in the original story, which changed once she realized he would be at Yale at the time.
I think there was a real rape, and she was raped by someone. But it always seemed odd that she’s constantly trying to fit her memory to the details he provided. And to my knowledge she never really stuck to her guns and said he’s wrong, this is what happened. So my best guess is that she’s describing a different party at a different time, one that she knows Kavanagh had nothing to do with, but she’s trying to put him and herself in the same room in the same house even though none of the details actually fit.
To go one step further: she wasn't raped by anyone in any circumstance. She was grabbed and groped. Which is scary and bad, but not rape.
She was never raped and the man who didn't rape her was probably not Kavanagh.
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