Huck, who’d been drinking heavily, was about to succumb to peer pressure, and allow himself to be branded. Fiercely protective, Georgina managed to whisk him away. The next day he told her he would be eternally grateful. The branding caused a major uproar at the school, and one of Huck’s branded fraternity brothers developed a serious infection.

Three weeks later, the day they were leaving for Christmas break, Huck did the unthinkable. He dumped her. Even worse, he did it over the phone.

“I need some space,” he told her. “I don’t want to be in a relationship right now.”

Georgina’s roommate, who claimed she was switching rooms after the break so she could live with a girlfriend who had the same major and they could study together, had tried to comfort a weeping Georgina as they both were packing their bags.

“He’s not worth it,” she insisted. “You’ll meet somebody else. You’re so pretty and so much fun.”

In a daze, Georgina took a campus cab to the bus terminal downtown. When her bus came, she couldn’t bring herself to board with the other happy passengers who were carrying gifts and chatting about their plans for the holidays. She just sat there for two hours, staring into space. She didn’t want to go home and have to face her mother. Finally she picked up her suitcase and hailed a cab back to her dorm. She’d decided to stay one more night.

When she opened the door to her room, Huck was lying on the bed, cuddling with her roommate. The memory filled Georgina with rage. For weeks, they’d been seeing each other behind Georgina’s back. Georgina dropped out of school, never to attend another college.

“…I mean,” Chip continued, “we’re in a blackout!”

Georgina pulled herself back to the present.

“I’m going to have to think up some blackout jokes,” he said. “Honey, do these shoes match my outfit?…What? Who’s going to notice?”

Chip was making fun of her.

He tapped her nose with his index finger. “Rose, you are a character.”

“Is that what you think I am?”

“I do.” He looked around. “Since we’re not having much luck with the champagne, why don’t we walk over to Fifth Avenue and find that park bench? We’ve already had a couple margaritas. We don’t need another drink, now do we?”

Of course we do, Georgina thought. How else am I going to drug you, you idiot. She knew the knockout drops usually took effect within thirty minutes. Leaning her head against his chest, she purred, “I think it would be fun to have just one more margarita. Then we can take that walk. Okay?”

“I told you, it’s your night. I know a couple of bars on the Upper East Side that make great margaritas. We can see who’s still serving.” He took her hand and they started heading uptown. “One of them is on Eighty-sixth Street.”

He’s doing this on purpose, Georgina thought. He should know that area of town is going to make me sad.