It took Roland a couple minutes to work his way to them. Anyone who showed up to the club in costume was rewarded with a free shot, so Andrew gestured over his shoulder toward their table. Roland peered through the crowd until he spotted them. His eyebrows went up when he saw three unfamiliar faces with Kevin and Aaron.

"All grown up and making friends?" he asked. "Never thought I'd see the day."

"I'll tip you double if you never say such stupid things again."

Roland grinned, did another headcount, and began setting up a tray for them. He didn't ask what they wanted; he knew the cousins' tastes by now and could easily throw in a couple of the bar's more popular concoctions for the upperclassmen. Roland knew Nicky was missing, but he didn't know to include something for Allison. Neil didn't say anything, figuring Allison could have his shot, except Roland didn't stop at eight drinks. He mixed close to twenty.

"How many DDs?" Roland asked.

"Just two," Andrew said.

Roland added two cans of soda to the tray and slid it across the counter to Andrew. Neil led the way back through the crowd and made room for Andrew as he went. Andrew got the drinks to the table without spilling a drop. He passed one soda to Renee and left the other for Neil, but no one drank until Allison and Nicky caught up with them. Allison looked vaguely impressed by the amount of drinks Andrew had procured for them.

It took the Foxes almost no time at all to empty the tray. Andrew cleared the mess away, and this time Renee followed him to help. Dan watched them go, then spoke up to be heard over the music. "You sure this is safe?"

"Huh?" Nicky asked.

"Letting Andrew be sober for a full night," Dan clarified. "Good idea, bad idea, won't live to regret it idea?"

Nicky looked confused by her ignorance. "He's not sober; he never is. You've seen him go through withdrawal at games, yeah, and we," he jerked a thumb between the remaining four of Andrew's group, "sometimes get to put up with him like he is tonight, but Andrew hasn't been sober in years. He's always got something in his system to mess him up. Trust me, you'd know if he was clean. It's, uh…"

Nicky looked at Aaron as he searched for the right word, but Aaron stared back and refused to help. Nicky was undeterred by his silence and settled for saying, "It's unmistakable. You'll see next summer whether you want to or not. He's off his program in May and should finish rehab by the time we start June practices."

"Finally," Kevin said, sounding annoyed.

"Of course you're looking forward to this," Nicky said. "Curiosity killed the cat. Fox. Whatever. I'm just hoping the past couple years of drugs and intense counseling have mellowed him out some."