She was talking about what she thought about while running. She ran for hours at a time. I must have asked her about it, because she said, No, it’s not lonely. It’s peaceful.
I felt the moment as it was happening. I leaned forward and kissed her. It was just the right thing. I pulled back a little, testing her. She leaned forward, kept our lips together. The feeling of her lips on mine was strange. To be totally honest about it I hadn’t really kissed anyone before. I’d said I’d done it with girls so many times I guess I believed it, so it was super weird, actually kissing her. Wet and soft and different. Then I was on my back and she had both hands on my chest. She was kissing me. I opened my eyes and saw that her eyes were closed. I looked up, higher, at the sky, and the lights of a plane blinking by. I felt myself floating. I tried to stay focused. I worried she would get bored. I worried I wasn’t a good kisser. I wondered if this was when she’d give me that blow job, or if I’d have to make her my girlfriend first, how long that would take.
She pulled away, then rolled over and lay on her back beside me. The night sky wagged back and forth over us. I was crushed by the many meanings of what might or might not have just happened.
So, she said. She looked at me for a second. Then she said, We should get back? I didn’t know if it was a statement or a question. Her thin body was curling up off the ground. She rested her head on one hand. I didn’t say anything. She stood up. I was angry. I had bored her after all.
She stood over me and reached out a hand to help me up.
“I’m too high,” I said.
“Should’ve stuck to just one drag,” she said.
She kind of kicked my thigh. I didn’t know what that meant, either.
“Whatever, Nick,” she said, and walked away. I lay on my back and looked up at the sky.
After a while I got up and went back to the house. I found Dave’s mom’s office and lay down on the couch. On the opposite wall I saw one of her diplomas was from the University of Maryland, and I thought about how many girls were there, how jealous Haley would be when I was dating them all.
After a while Haley came in and woke me up. “People are going to Denny’s,” she said.
“Okay,” I said. I waited but she didn’t say anything.
“Guess I’ll see you later,” I said.
She said something like okay. Then she left.
* * *
• • •
WHEN I WAS STRAIGHT enough to drive I got in my car and went to Denny’s. It was a little after midnight. Ham and Alan were there, and some juniors, and Haley. I saw them through the window, all laughing. I pretended I had forgotten my wallet. I mimed checking my pockets in case anyone was watching. I walked back to my car and vomited all over the front wheel. Then I felt a little better. I went straight to the bathroom when I went inside. I washed my hands and splashed water on my face and then sat down with everyone. Dave had showed up in the meantime so there was only one seat left, across from Haley. She glanced at me and then down, and then back up and kind of smiled. Like she was back to leading me on, or maybe she really was shy.
Everyone saw it. Everyone felt bad for me. We all knew I had it bad for Haley. We all thought she was cool, and it was true, it was fun having her at Denny’s, she was like one of the guys. But she acted like she didn’t know how I felt. She must have known. Everyone knew. I wondered if maybe she was using me. Maybe she actually had it bad for one of the other guys.
Couple of pussy dicks rolling up late, Dave said. Max and Richard were walking in. They were laughing. They had left the party with Max’s private school girl, the one who was too drunk to dance. She wasn’t with them anymore.
She was really out of it, Haley said, shaking her head.
That’s for sure, Max said.
You show her your pointer? I asked.
Nick, you’re obsessed with my pointer, Max said.
We all laughed. Watch where you stick your pointer, we all said in unison. I laughed and glanced at Haley. She wasn’t really paying attention. She was curling the wrapper of her straw around and around itself into a tight little tube.
Dudes, you will not believe. Richard was pulling up a chair, Max was politely asking the waiter if he could take a chair from another table. Her mom freaked out and yelled at us.
No!
Yeah. And she chased us down the street. Max was sitting in his chair backward. Behind his back, the waiter was watching him and frowning. Max didn’t notice. The girl had been too drunk to walk, he said. He and Richard had carried her to the front door, one under each arm. They had argued about whether to leave her on the stoop or ring the bell. Max had been on the side of leaving her.
Haley looked up at that. Assholes, she said.
It was a comfortable stoop, Max said. There was a bench.
And I gave her my jacket, Richard said.
Max and Richard told the story together. They passed it back and forth. The girl’s mom opened the door. The look on her face. I thought she was going to pull out a shotgun. The mom screamed her daughter’s name. She grabbed at her. But she wasn’t strong enough to hold her up, and the girl slumped on the floor. They didn’t know what to do. What were they supposed to do? They said they were sorry, ma’am. They said they were lacrosse players.
“What did you do?” she kept screaming. “What did you do?” She was crazy!
What could they do? They backed away slowly. Then they turned and ran.
The waiter interrupted. All anybody wanted was a coffee refill. The waiter was pissed, but what could he do? Coffee refills were unlimited. He refilled our coffees and left.
So there we were: running across the lawn. And the woman screams, “I know your last name!”
How did she know your last name?
Richard left his team jacket on the stoop!
It’s cold out. I put my jacket over her, to cover her up. The woman was crazy anyway.
I know. She ran after us, screaming, “I know your name!”
She couldn’t keep up, obviously.
Obviously.
We raced to the car, we got away.
But she was still behind us the whole time.
In the street!
In her robe! Carrying Richard’s fucking jacket!
It was hilarious. We laughed hysterically. And as we were laughing, we realized together: Had the Party WAGLER been legendary?
Haley sighed and leaned back in her chair. She let go of the straw wrapper and it unspooled into a loose coil on the wet table. You’re such assholes, she said.
But we were all looking at each other. We were realizing that we hadn’t yet told each other everything that had happened that night. It was the same as the legendary party. No single one of us had experienced the entire thing. It was too legendary for one guy alone to see. We had to tell each other about it. Maybe the Party WAGLER was about to become legend. We just had to tell the whole story.