“Our evening was going so well tonight until I told my parents that I was staying here tonight. My mother began to preach to me about how you Shane aren’t living your life right. She told me that all of you are bad influences on me and that I need to find new friends. She also tried to hook me up with Richie Waters—my parent’s friend’s son.”

“Isn’t he in our music class Al?”

Alice nodded. “Yeah. He’s kind of cute, but not for Dana.”

“Alice.” Dana glanced at her friend.

“Sorry.”

“I told her that I was interested in Richie, and then she began to freak out saying that I’m not interested in any guy she and my father pick for me. All Howie could do was sit there and laugh as this was all happening. I really want to understand this is the life that I want, but I can’t live it because I have to keep up with my reputation as being a Fairbanks.” She grabbed Alice’s beer out of her hand and drank the rest.

“Okay—I’ll need to get another drink.”

“Can you bring me one please?” Dana handed Alice the empty bottle. Shane looked over at her friend.

“Are you going to be okay?”

Dana nodded. “I just need a few drinks, and I’ll be okay.” She got up from the floor. “I want to do shots. Who wants to do some shots?”

Carmen rested her hands on her knees. “I’m down for some shots.” She smiled as she got up from the couch. Shane got up after Carmen.

“All right—let’s do some shots.” Everybody got up and walked towards the kitchen. Alice stopped as she watched everybody come into the kitchen.

“What’s going on now?”

“Dana decided she wanted to do shots.” Shane smirked.

“All right,” Shane grabbed shot glasses and placed on the counter. She grabbed a bottle of tequila and poured the liquor into the glasses. She sat the bottle down and grabbed a shot glass. Dana grabbed one and down it. She slammed her glass on the table and grabbed the bottle again. She poured herself another shot as everyone else finished their first one. She slammed her second shot and licked her lips. She grabbed the beer that was on the table and opened it. She took a long swig and swallowed hard. She exhaled and raked her fingers through her hair. Shane walked over to Alice and leaned over.

“I want you to watch her and make sure she doesn’t get out of hand tonight.”

“I can’t stop her from what she wants to do. She wants to get shitty drunk—let her get shitty drunk.” She said nonchalantly. She went to walk away, but Shane grabbed her arm. “What?”

“Just watch her alright?”

“Okay—I’ll watch her.”

“Thank you,” she looked over at Dana as she polished off her beer.