“Well,” said Carrie. “I have some cool news.”

It would be rude to interrupt Jessica’s good time.

“You know that magazine, Dale Carnegie? They’re doing a 30 under 30 thing next issue.”

And it would really look like she was a wild animal or something if she tried to climb over the table. And plus her ass still hurt, so it wouldn’t be graceful. She’d have to limp her way out of the corner.

“Do we know any of the 30 under 30?” Bill asked.

“I’ll say,” said Carrie. She was being cheeky.

A girl named Annie walked up to their small group and said, “Hey! Sorry, I was eavesdropping. Is it you? Are you one of the 30 under 30?”

Carrie nodded.

Megan reached into her purse and took out another beer, her third. The sound of the tab cracking was, she thought, a nice contribution. Cheers! She drank very quickly.

Annie took out a cigarette and said, “That’s awesome.” Annie and Megan had met before. Megan cleared her throat.

“Hey, Annie, can I have one of those?” she asked.

“Oh, sure,” said Annie.

“Randy has mine. I can pay you back later.”

“Oh, don’t worry about it. Really.”

Annie passed her a Camel and then held out her pink lighter, already lit. Megan had to dip her head into the middle of the conversation—which had stopped, maybe pointedly—to light her smoke out of Annie’s hand. Megan straightened, leaving behind a plume of smoke.

“Thanks,” she said.

“It’s cool. I feel like I haven’t seen you in a while, Megan. What have you been up to?” asked Annie.

Everyone was still being quiet and staring, which didn’t really feel polite.

“Well, I cut my ass on a knife in the kitchen sink.”

It was uncomfortable to have four people looking at her and listening to what she was saying. She took a drink of beer while Annie laughed a little and said, “What?”

“I fell in the sink on a knife and cut my ass.”

“Oh my god, are you all right?”

“Sure,” said Megan.

“Did you have to go to the doctor?”

“Nah,” said Megan. “Now that it’s over, it’s kind of funny.”

“Hmm,” said Annie. Her face communicated that she didn’t really think it was that funny.

“Hey,” said Megan, looking at Jessica. “Could I get by you? I have to pee.”

“Ok, sure.”

“Thanks for the cigarette,” Megan said to Annie. Annie forced a smile and waved.

On her way to the bathroom, Megan stopped by Randy. She whispered, “Carrie can roll it up and stick it in her prim little asshole.”

“Jesus Christ,” said Randy. Prim little asshole.

There was a line for the bathroom.

The tall guy in front of her said, “So you’re in the line, too, huh?”

“Yeah,” said Megan. She covered her mouth to burp and opened another beer.

“Sucks. This always happens at these things,” said the guy.

“Yeah, well. It’s an apartment. They don’t usually have more than one bathroom.”