Now I recognize the two girls. One is tall, the other short. They used to drop Justin off from school every now and then back when they were seniors. Regardless, I don’t know their names. They’re hot, though. Not nearly as hot as Sarah, but hot enough.

“So, what’s going on?” I ask. Tank stands behind me. I look down, notice a twelve-pack of Bud on the ground between Justin and Victor.

The girls keep reading and sending texts, faces glued in idiocy to their chrome phones.

“Not much,” Justin answers, sensing the awkwardness. “Just coming from a graduation party, getting ready to go to another. Figured we’d stop here for old times’ sake.”

“No offense or anything,” I say, “but you’re twenty years old. Why go back and revisit the high school graduation circuit?”

“Why not?” Justin says, slurring his words a bit. “Everything’s free and we know a lot of people.”

I shrug and look away.

Justin eyes Tank and extends his hand toward my best friend. “What’s up, Tank?”

“Not much,” Tank says, shaking Justin’s hand.

“What’s up, Foster?” Victor Hodge adds and offers his hand, which Tank also shakes. “Heard you’re bumping up to 189 this year.”

“That’s the plan,” Tank says.

Victor nods and studies Tank’s body like it’s a side of beef. “Man, it looks like you’re already there.”

“Gettin’ close,” Tank says.

The short girl puffs her cigarette, looks at me and says, “Oh my God. Your brother turned into a total hottie, Justin.” She’s so drunk she’s swaying.

“So is his friend,” the tall girl says. She seems even drunker and is having trouble with her balance too.

“They’re seniors in September,” Justin says.

“Oh my God, you guys are gonna love next year,” Tall Girl says.

“Yeah,” Short Girl says, “it’s the best. It goes by so fast, though.”

Victor Hodge nods. “She’s right. Getting old kind of sucks.” He shuffles his feet and looks down.

“Tell me about it,” Justin says. “I’m actually thinking about taking one more year off.” He says this more to his friends than me. Regardless, my stomach seems to drop to my knees. “I mean, why not kick back and catch my breath until I’m twenty-one, you know?” His friends nod their approval.

“I thought you were going to Wayne County in the fall,” I say. “That’s your plan, right?”

He shrugs. “Well … yeah, probably. I’m just keeping my options open. Besides, it won’t matter if I take another year off. I’ll just enroll the next fall.”

“You’ve already taken two years off. Why wait any longer?” I shoot him a look. “It just prolongs the end.”

“The end of what?”

“Of this,” I say, holding my arms out wide and looking around.