“Shit” Shane took a deep breath. She let it out. “Alright, but just a little.”

Shane was vaguely aware of two things as she and Jenny walked back to
their table. One was that in no way could the amount of coke that she
just snorted be considered “just a little,” and the second was that
Bette was talking to someone, and it wasnt her or Jenny. “Hey guys,
look who decided to show up?” Bette said to them.
Shane swallowed hard. If she had just held off on the coke for five minutes. “Al, hey.”
“Hi Alice,” Jenny said with an enormous smile on her face.

Alice looked at them both. “Hey Jenny, Shane.”

“I’m gonna go dance,” Jenny said, already bouncing along to the music. “Anyone want to come?” She looked at Shane imploringly.
“Dont look at me,” Shane replied. “You know I don’t dance.”

Jenny rolled her eyes. “Bette?”

Bette didnt seem too enthused by the offer.

“Go on Bette, it’ll be fun.” Shane told her.

Bette frowned. “Says the girl that doesn’t dance.”
Shane looked at had her pleadingly. Bette furrowed her brow, but she
didn’t question it. “Alright, fine. Why not?” she said with a shrug.
Shane waited until they’d both left before she sat down.
“You guys got enough shots here to get half of L.A. drunk,” Alice said,
noticing not only the stack of empty shot glass, but the tray of new
ones that Bette had brought over.
Shane nodded. “Yeah, we were uh, playing ‘I never.’”

Alice seemed surprised. “Really? Whose idea was that?”
“Mine,” Shane replied.

Alice smiled. “I haven’t played that game since my junior year in college.”
Shane pointed at the tray of shots. “Do you wanna?”
“Uhmm”
“Or not, we dont have to.”

“Maybe later,” Alice said.

“Okay.”

Shane leaned back in her seat and began rapidly tapping her fingers
against the table. Was it obvious? Was Alice not talking because she
knew? No, she didnt know. No one knew. Shane looked over at a group of
girls sitting at a nearby table. “Except maybe her,” she thought. That
girl looked a little strung out herself. Shane shook her head. Stop
think about the amount of coke you just snorted in the bathroom with
Jenny. “So” she started to say.
“Shane?” There it was, the we need to talk tone.

Shane cleared her throat and sat up straight. “Yeah?”