“This is more of a speakhard, do you not think?” Javier asked me. It was clear Javier came from a culture way more sophisticated than ours, because he never drank to excess. He’d told us the drinking age in Spain was sixteen, but Europeans are way more casual about drinking in general and rarely got shitfaced. So he usually absorbed all our naïve American antics with amusement and was our responsible designated driver. He picked a half-deflated Santa lawn decoration off the floor. “Where did this come from?”

I had no clue. The party was about three minutes from dissolving into total chaos. Most people hadn’t gotten the speakeasy memo, so only ten people were dressed up. I had on one of my mom’s dresses. Even though it was modern, it had fringe on the hem, but I felt ridiculously stupid and old lady, so I’d changed into jeans. Luisa was wearing the full flapper outfit, complete with headband and minidress, and looked like she could’ve come out of the twenties. Kane was wearing a suit, but he was the only one, because most guys had no clue how to dress. It was a flop, as far as themes went, but as far as parties went, it was shaping up to be the most talked-about event of the new year.

“You know what?” Nina said to me, unable to keep her eyes open as she lay on the living room couch. She was badly balancing one of Mrs. Weeks’s martini glasses in her hand, but there wasn’t a martini in there. The liquid was purplish, and it smelled noxious. Her sparkly fringed dress, the one I’d thought looked so chic when she’d come in at nine, just looked rumpled and sad, and her dark bob was falling in her face. Her eyeliner was smeared, and her face was shiny. “I love you. I really do.”

“I know, dear,” I said as she closed her eyes and her head lolled onto my shoulder. I patted her arm and took a swig of my beer as her head lolled back to her boyfriend’s shoulder.

She looked up at him, as if seeing him for the first time. “And I love you too! Really, really, I do. I want to make babies with you.”

I groaned and loosened her death grip from my shoulder, then slid out of the way. “I think I will leave you to it, then.” I winked at Javier. “Just maybe not right here, or right now.”