Ronny wavered, tried to say something, and Ben shook his head. “Do what I tell you or I’ll come over there and pick you up and put you in the car myself.” He was breathing like he’d run a mile, panting with anger, with other feelings. He was Ben, he meant what he said. Ronny found he wanted to obey. So he stepped forward. Opened the door.

Ben slid beside him, put the car in gear, wheeled out of the parking lot. The only sound was their breathing. Navigating through the streets. Whole minutes went by. He had sobered, too. But he was still grinding his jaw. Yelling at Ronny in his head, probably. Then it came out. “What the fuck did you think you were doing. Parading your fucking boyfriend in front of me. Did you want me to kill the motherfucker? What the fuck? So this is what you’ve been doing all semester? Hanging out with that fucking skinny little weed? Jesus fucking Christ.” He stopped to take a breath. They were at the edge of town by then, heading up the Pittsboro road.

Ronny said, “His name’s Judson. I met him a couple of days ago at a meeting. We had a beer.”

“Oh, bullshit.”

“Ben, what the fuck is going on? What do you care?”

“You can’t be bothered to go to the football game when I bring you a fucking ticket.” His breath was chuffing now, he was upset. “But you can go out with some little dude and try to suck his dick.”

“You need to pull over if we’re going to talk.”

“I’m fine.”

“No, you’re not. Look at you. You’re about to tear the steering wheel off.”

Ben wiped his eyes, jerked the car into the lot of a strip mall, took a deep breath. He calmed himself enough to park the car, and turned off the engine. Sat for a minute gripping the steering wheel, made a low sound of fury, pain. “What the fuck is wrong with you?”

“There’s nothing wrong with me.”

“What happened? Why didn’t you come?”

Ronny took a deep breath. “Nina called this morning. She told me she was coming to get me. That was fine. Then she said we were taking Kathy, too.”

“Kathy?”

Ronny shivered, started to blubber, wiped his eyes. “Yes.”

“Shit.” He pounded the wheel with his palms. “Shit, shit. You stupid fuck.”

“I should have expected it, I guess. Kathy’s a nice kid.”

“Oh, shut up, you fucking dope. Kathy’s engaged to Tate. You thought she was with me again?” He laughed, looking at Ronny for the first time. “Shit. I should have known. Tate just wanted Nina to give her a ride to the game. That’s it. That’s all.”

Out of all that confusion, all the jealousy boiling inside him, it was the idea of Tate getting married that fixed itself on him, and he sat there amazed for a second and said, “Jesus Christ, Tate is engaged?”

Ben was staring, mouth half open, and suddenly burst out laughing; he wiped his eyes on his sleeve and let the sound come out. He was sitting with his back to the driver’s window, facing Ronny across the seat. “Jesus, you should see your face right now.”