He looked away from the road again, this time for the last minibottle of raspberry vodka he’d hidden in the seat under a wad of napkins in case anyone walked by or rolled up on him. He poured it into the warm half-can of Red Bull waiting in the cup holder, and he shoved the empty bottle back under the tent of paper. He swished the can in a tight circle to mix the brew. It tasted like courage and melted SweeTarts.

Two minis were already burning in him, and a can and a half of the energy drink. He’d save the rest. It would top him off while he was talking to John. If he rationed it out just right, it would keep his bravery afloat. And he could always take a swallow of it when he needed to buy five seconds to think of something not stupid to say.

A wink of red over the rim of the can zapped him like a cattle prod. He took another big sip.

The tires of John’s car squealed lightly in his fast turn into the parking lot where, at the back, behind the grassy median, Roy waited for him. Sunlight streaked over the clean finish on the wheel flares in blinding, sinuous arcs. John’s car jerked to an angled stop next to Roy’s. The door flew open and John dodged around it as it slammed home.

“You piece of shit.” John reached through the truck’s open window and hooked Roy’s neck and dragged his head down. John’s hand was fever hot. “You piece of shit. Do you think you can get in on this now? After what you did? Do you think you have any claim, any right to anything?”

“What? John? What? Wait!”

John wrenched open the truck’s door and Roy spilled out onto the blacktop. He scrambled to his feet. The Red Bull can rolled away and chugged the rest of its magic onto the blacktop.

There had been a few shoves from John before that could have been written off as just kidding if Roy wanted to, which he did. It could have been worse.

This was worse. John had never come at him for real. Roy put out his arms to stop John’s charge. “Wait! Wait!”

John slapped Roy’s arms down. “Wait? Are you kidding me? Asshole, you set a quarter out on the curb. Today? In the middle of all this shit? You summon me up here, knowing fuck all about what is going on. But you think you do, don’t you? All of a sudden, you think you’re smart. Don’t you dare put your hands up now and squeal wait like a little bitch. Do you think this changes anything for you? Do you think you have something on me? Did you think I’d just roll over?”