She laughed.

I cringed.

“Sorry.”

“My own fault.” Fun fact: I have gotten out of more trouble with these three words than you can possibly imagine.

“Yes, it is.”

“How did you know?”

“I went in to grab your laundry while you were sleeping and it reeked of smoke and beer; that was my first clue. But mostly it was because I tried to poke you awake and you didn’t even move.” She looked amused. “There was a lot of snoring and drool, though.”

There wasn’t much I could say to that.

She put on her Mom face. The Jeff’s-in-trouble face. “How did you get home? Your car is here; I hope you weren’t driving drunk. There are serious consequences for that. And I don’t mean with the law.”

“A friend drove me home.”

“In your car?”

I laid my cheek down on the cool table again. “Uh-huh.”

“Was this friend drunk at the time?”

“No, she doesn’t drink.”

Mom leaned forward on her elbows. “She? A girl?”

I’m never going to hear the end of this. I nodded.

“A special girl?”

“Maybe.”

Mom nodded slowly. “Okay. You’re off the hook for drunk driving. So what did you think of getting drunk?”

“It sucked.”

“How much?”

“A lot. But not as bad as the hangover. I’m dying, Mom.”

“I’d say that’s a pretty good consequence right there, wouldn’t you?”

I nodded.

“You’re not off the hook,” Mom warned. “There are still consequences in your future after I talk to your father, but for now I think you’re punishing yourself pretty well.”

“Thanks,” I mumbled.

“Don’t thank me yet. Part of your punishment is definitely going to be telling me more about this girl who took pity on you.”

I sighed in defeat and threw my hands over my eyes.

“I hope you had a good time last night,” Kimberlee said from across the room as I was attempting to pull on my socks.

I fell off the bed in surprise.

I hate hangovers.

More than ties. More than name tags. Maybe even more than mean, kleptomanic ghosts.

“So?”

“So what?”

“How was it?”

“The party sucked ass and I don’t know what anyone sees in beer.”

Kimberlee scoffed. “Sera shut you down, didn’t she?”

I grinned. “Nope. She saved me from the beer.”

My cell phone rang and I desperately rummaged through my jeans for it. I wanted nothing more than for the ear-splitting noise to stop. I finally found it and jabbed the talk button.

“Hello?”

“Jeff?”

Sera! My hangover seemed to melt away. Well, half of it anyway. Maybe a quarter. “Hey, how’s it going?”

“Good,” Sera responded. “I just wanted to check that you were okay.”

“Better now.”

Kimberlee pointed her finger down her throat and walked into my closet. Through the door, of course.

“How’d you get my cell number?”

“Told you—I’m a front-office TA.”

I laughed. “You stole it?”

“I am a master thief.” I wished Sera could have guessed at even a fraction of the irony in those words.

It took me a few seconds to realize that since there was no school today, she must have gotten my number before the party. Nice.

I was sure there had to be a great, snappy comeback to that, but all I could come up with was, “Yeah.” Idiot.

“You’re really feeling okay?”

“Better than I was an hour ago.”

“Good enough to do something tonight?”

“Depends what you had in mind,” I teased, knowing full well that I was game for anything other than maybe poking our eyes out with red-hot needles.

And even then, if there was making out involved, I’d probably think about it.

“I didn’t really have anything planned, but there are a couple of good movies showing. And I’m one of those girls who actually eats, so when I say I’ll buy the popcorn if you buy the tickets, it’s an even split.”

Split? I was so not letting this girl pay for anything. “Yeah, that would be cool,” I said. My head started spinning so I sprawled onto my comforter with the sad realization that I wasn’t going anywhere in the immediate future. I glanced at the clock. 1:48. “How about at like seven?”

“So what exactly happened last night?” Kimberlee asked, reappearing the instant I hung up. “You said the party sucked and now you’re traipsing off on a date with the girl who is known for not attending the parties. Did you even go?” She asked in the kind of tone my mother would ask about skipping out on dinner with my grandparents. “Because if you got an invite from Neil and skipped you are never getting an invite again. I worked really hard to get you ready and you—as usual—were totally ungrateful and I should have known you’d blow the whole thing off for this stupid girl like the—”

“Stop!” I finally managed to say, ending her barrage of words. “I went to the party, okay?”

“Then what happened?”

I let myself fall back onto my bed, closing my eyes again. “I went, Langdon got me drunk, Sera rescued me.”