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.“Are you going alone?”“Of course,” Eric answered.Eric was so taken aback when Mitchell got up and extended his hand, it took him a few seconds to get up from the windowsill and shake it.“Now seems like the time to thank you for all you’ve done for us,” Mitchell said.“It was nothing.”Mitchell smiled and withdrew his hand.“There’s no need to be humble,” he said.Mitchell turned and left the room, leaving Eric to ponder what response he could have used to shirk off his ownership of the House of Adam one last time.Apple martini night at Madeline’s was the restaurant’s attempt to bring out a modest crowd on Monday evening.Randall rested his chin on his fist, gazing above the bar at the television that had first told him about Lisa Eberman’s death two weeks earlier.A sitcom father tried to run across a stage-set living room with his children clinging to different parts of his body.Invisible people exploded into laughter.It was like nothing Randall could pretend existed.He swallowed his drink, shocked to see the glass empty when he returned it to the bar.Randall’s regular bartender since the start of the year was leaning toward him.Teddy had been hired for two reasons, his dimples and his ass; he was also one of those hopelessly straight guys who basked in the attention of gay men.“Eight o’clock on a Monday night, Randall.This is a new record for you.”“Have I ever told you that you remind me of my roommate?”“Is that a good thing?”“In theory, maybe,” Randall said, speech sluggish but not slurred.“Don't be that flattered.I’m seeing him everywhere right now.” Especially since he’s not anywhere around, Randall thought, which is exactly where I’d like to be.Before he could curse the decision he had made over Thanksgiving break, Randall summoned a grin and lifted his empty glass, and Teddy removed it from his hand and set it on top of the ice drawer.“Well, in a few seconds you’re not going to want to be complimenting me anyway.” Teddy leaned farther over the bar and lowered his voice to a whisper.“I need to see some ID.”“Are you fucking kidding?” Randall whispered back.Teddy grimaced and shook his head no.“Look, you know I don’t give a shit.”“I know you love big tippers,” Randall said in his singsong voice as he tugged his wallet from his jeans.He slapped it onto the bar and started going through the billfold when he noticed a slip of paper between the cash.He thought it was a receipt.“Randall, look,” Teddy continued.“My manager just asked who the twelve-year-old in the Versace was.She’s been breathing down my neck tonight.”Randall was paying no attention.It wasn’t a receipt.It was the slip of paper on which Jesse had left his cell phone number.And the paper had been left on Randall’s desk as a bittersweet parting gift.He stuffed it back in with the bills.“Randall,” Teddy hissed through clenched teeth.“She’s right over there.”Randall’s eyes sluggishly followed Teddy’s thumb to where a pinched-faced woman in a black satin pants suit had locked her sights on them.“Okay, then.maybe a quick blow job will clear this up.”“Come on, Randall.”“Not you, Teddy.Your manager.”“You don’t even have a fake ID?” Teddy asked incredulously.Randall exploded with laughter.“I wouldn’t know which name to use!”Teddy grimaced and Randall followed his eyes to see Satin Pants rounding the corner of the bar in their direction.Teddy recoiled.Randall felt a hand tap his shoulder.“Move on, honey,” Randall said.“The last time I was with a woman I was thirteen years old.”She reached around and pulled his wallet off the bar, and he swiveled to yank it out of her grip.“I don’t think I gave you permission to go through my wallet,” Randall slurred.“ID.Now!” she barked.“Say please.”Faster than he could process; she grabbed his wallet again, flipped it open and removed his Atherton ID.“Uhm, what did I just say?”“Teddy, this guy doesn’t have a license and you’re serving him?” she shouted, pulling Randall off his stool by one shoulder.“You’re out of here.” She pressed his wallet to his chest.Randall’s feet crumpled against the floor before he could regain his balance, but the manager still held a grip on his shoulder.“Get your hands off of me,” he warned, but she refused, pulling him by one shoulder toward the door.He slammed his arm up against hers.One of her ankles twisted and she toppled into a table of diners.“Wha’d I jus’fucking saay, bitch?” ,She managed to right herself, her eyes sharp with both anger and confusion.He stumbled out of the door and onto the sidewalk, bringing one hand to his mouth.He didn’t regret his choice of words, but he was frightened by their unmistakably Texan drawl.Kathryn had been back at school for twenty-four hours, and a good twelve of them had been spent at the computer.Nausea commanded her stomach, but she didn’t know if the eight cups of coffee were to blame, or if the malady was caused by recognizing she was a bad writer.You want to believe that truly evil people are born with some sort of telltale birthmark or defining characteristic which makes it clear from the get-go that they’re designed only to do harm.When in her entire life had she used words like get-go and telltale? After all the shit she’d gone through with him, this was the best way she could describe Jono?Her eyes were smarting from the flicker of the monitor.Microsoft Word informed her that she had six pages, but she informed herself that they were mostly crap.So far, her essay was rambling and barely comprehensible.Instead of putting down the raw events of her relationship with Jono on paper, she had written around therri at every turn.“Still working on your novel?” April asked as she tossed her book bag onto her bed.Kathryn grunted.“Did Tran talk to you?”“No.Why?” she asked absently as she paged down.“The room was locked when you got back from the airport last night, right?”“I think so.”“Well, nothing’s missing.”Confused out of her daze, Kathryn swiveled toward April.“Huh?”“The power went out over the break,” April explained.“And there were still people here, so maintenance had to prop all the doors open for a few hours ’cause the ID readers went on the fritz.Now some girl on the second floor says stuff was stolen out of her room and.” April stopped when she saw Kathryn’s bloodshot eyes.“Have you eaten?”“I’m vegan now.”“Vegans eat.Come on.Let’s go.” April extended a hand.“I’m not hungry,” Kathryn said.When April approached, Kathryn felt a seizure of fear and rapidly closed the file before rising from her chair.“I’ll be right back,” she said, as she fished her coat out of the closet.“Come back with any more coffee and I’ll kick your ass.That shit’s poison! It’s worse than heroin!”Because coffee was exactly what she needed, she waved April off as she left the room.She hurried downstairs and out of the dorm.Crossing onto Brookline, she almost got herself run over.She hurried onto the sidewalk.The approach of finals had extended campus hours and large knots of students were moving down the sidewalks through narrow passages of shoveled snow.“Kathryn!"Another second, and she would have fun right into him.Randall’s eyes lit up with drunken-and sarcastic surprise as he held himself to a lamppost with one arm, extending the other like an airplane wing.One foot was sliding out from under him through the snow.“Apple martini night?” she asked.“Uh-huh.”Passersby weaved to avoid them.Several of them burst out laughing once they were a safe distance away from the Versace-clad drunken cliché.So what if she hadn’t spoken to him for a week? If she didn’t do something, he would get arrested for public drunkenness [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]