“Well, I do.”

Ronny blew out breath, closed his eyes. He was feeling rumbly in the midsection and he wanted to sleep. “Okay,” he said.

“You know who I am, right? Say my name.”

“You’re Ben.”

“And it’s okay for me to help you up, right?” Ben asked. He was speaking low in Ronny’s ear.

“Sure, Ben. Just go slow, though. I had pizza before.”

“Feeling kind of queasy?”

“Probably. I’m not sure.”

“Well, up you go.” Only took a second and he was standing, his arm around Ben’s neck. That part was nice. They were walking through the crowd. There was Sheria leading the way, shaking her head, saying to someone, “Oh, he’s fine, he’s just going home before he gets alcohol poisoning.”

“Is your room open,” Ben asked. “Do you have your key?”

“I never even had a key,” Ronny said. “Oh, crap.”

“Here we go. It’s already open. No Kelly. Right on the bed.”

“You better pull that trash can over near him,” said Sheria. “I think he’s about to blow.”

Things got quieter then. He had his eyes closed. They were talking in the room but he could barely hear the words. Tate’s voice and Sara’s voice. Once when he opened his eyes Sheria was sitting on the bed. He felt as if he drifted, then it was Ben sitting there and the room was dark. Events had happened and he had a fuzzy memory of them. “You threw up,” Ben said. “You should feel better. Want some water?”

“I don’t remember it.”

“Well, you did. Bet you can taste it.”

“Shit. Yes.” He drank from a glass of water. “Where’s everybody?”

“Back at the party probably. Tate’s trying to get something going with that Sara girl. She’s cool.”

“Yeah. She is. That water is nice.”

“I bet. Listen. How much did you drink?”

“Just two glasses. Maybe just three.”

“You’re sure?”

“Yep.”

“Okay, runt. You sure picked a great night to practice drinking.”

“Oh, I got drunk once before. Right?”

“Yeah. I know. I was there, remember?”

“Oh, yeah.”

They sat quiet. A feeling—hazy, beyond the veil of the liquor—that he was cared for, that someone was there. Ben said, “Go to sleep if you want. I’m going to wait here till Kelly gets home.”

“I’m all right.”

“Yeah? Well, relax then. Just pass out. Let it happen.”

So he did, peaceful and drifting quietly into the night, floating through the window over the parking lot, and he thought he was happy, that everything was fine. Someone was touching his hair, pushing it out of his eyes, behind his ears, nice and easy.