Lara expected Tess’s presence at these parties — the presence of a loud trans girl with green hair who liked to wear silver chains and sheer fabric — to be a bit of a wild card, but she was in honors comp lit and could expound as well as anyone. It was hard to faze these people.

It was hard to keep their attention too. Tess did fine — she had the right level of confidence and unfeigned enthusiasm. After watching Tess enthusiastically greet everyone, even the ones she saw every week, Lara went to the kitchen and found a bottle of port and a fresh red cup. A short time later, she felt drunk enough to engage in some light intellectual bluffing. Before she could rejoin them, though, Kenny came into the kitchen, blocking her egress.

He smiled at her. She smiled back and propped one arm against the countertop.

“Hey. I need a breather,” he said.

“I feel that,” Lara said.

“Your friend is very interesting.”

“Oh?”

“I don’t think she’s stopped talking since she got here.”

“That sounds like her.”

He poured himself some rosé.

“How was Baltimore?” she said.

He didn’t meet her eyes, even after he put back the bottle of rosé and straightened his neck. His eyes traveled over her shoulders, to her collarbone that poked out of her dress, the curve of her breasts above her rib cage.

“It was fine,” he said. “Boring as hell.” He kind of shuffled toward her, closing some distance between them.

“Well, we don’t have to talk about that.”

“Yeah, I’d rather not,” he said. “I like being back.”

Lara tried to assume the demeanor of a bored girl. She leaned back against the cabinets and sipped from her glass. He leaned awkwardly against the faux-granite countertop that was a little higher than his waist.

“So how’s cohabitation treatin’ ya?” she said.

He paused for a moment. Lara pursed her lips a little bit and stared at him down her long nose.

“It’s different,” he finally said.

“I imagine.”

“I went from living in a totally empty apartment, to, you know.”

Lara looked at the cabinets and the dishes on the countertop and the people in the other room. “Yeah, totally.”

“It’s a good thing Jenna knows what she’s doing, cause I’m hopeless.”

“Sure,” Lara said. She took a long drink before continuing. “I’ve always wondered what that dynamic would be like.”

He looked like he wanted to avoid the topic and shrugged. Lara gave him a little conciliatory smile.

“I’ve never lived with a partner before,” she added. “It seems so adult.”

“Not even for a few days?”

This was where they were, she thought, resorting to hypotheticals and generalizations with each other. She recalled a time, not too long ago, when she talked to this boy most days.