“He didn’t, actually. Carter was really mad about it. Eliza wanted to go out with me, and there wasn’t anything he could do that would change her mind, and he got used to the idea. He and I weren’t really that tight when I was dating her. I think that’s one of the reasons she and I eventually broke up. Well that and the fact that we both started liking other people, and I realized I’m not a relationship kind of guy. But the thing is, Nick, you’re going to have to choose between Carter and Eliza. When I dated her, he didn’t look at me the same. Not until we broke up, and now we’re besties again—before, it was like I wasn’t really there. It’s not inevitable, though there’s definitely a chance that if you date Eliza, you’ll lose Carter for a long time. Especially since you went behind his back.”

“Carter still acts weird about your history with her, though. He won’t even acknowledge that you guys dated.”

Austin fidgeted with his fingers over the table. “There’s a reason Carter wishes he could forget it. You don’t want to hear this, bro.”

The root beer cooled my lips and I pressed the can against my chin, like it could be a buffer between us. Like it could shield me from this conversation.

“Now you have to tell me.”

“Yeah.”

A calmness filled the room, the way sometimes people know something bad is going to happen right before it does. I still wanted to know.

“I,” Austin started, “ugh, this is hard.”

“Can’t be as bad as when Jenny Martin dumped trash all over my car after we stuffed crickets in her locker, and you had to break the news to me.”

“Worse,” he said, “I went too far with Eliza. In, like, the bad way.”

“Too far, like . . .” blood rushed to my ears, drowning out the humming from the fridge. I had to focus to hear him.

“No. Not all the way.”

“In her pants, though?”

“Yeah.”

Words clumped in my throat, unable to escape. This was starting to sound familiar.

“Remember that party they had two years ago? The one that the cops came to and Ms. O’Connor had to call all her favors in so Carter wouldn’t get in trouble?”

I nodded.

“It was during that. Jamal brought tequila. Eliza only took one shot, so I thought she was okay, but all of a sudden she wasn’t. She must’ve drunk something before that too.”

The ceiling fan seemed to pulse, as lightheadedness came over me.

I nodded.

“Right,” said Austin. “Jamal told that dumb story about that one time at band camp, you know about the . . .” he made a crude gesture. “Then I joked about being a little dry down there myself, we’d never done anything like that before, and someone suggested she do something about my situation, and we went up to her room.”

“That was two years ago? She was a freshman.”