“Do you see him?” Adonis asked.
Bash was silent for a moment, looking from his phone to the crowds, scanning for Cort. “There he is,” he said, nodding across the street.
Cort sat on the curb with his legs pulled up to his chest. He was staring at the pavement, not moving.
Bash shook his head and led Adonis across the street.
“Cort!” he called when they were close.
Cort looked up, his eyes wide and glassy. He was definitely very drunk. “Hi, Bash!” he said loudly. His cheeks were flushed, and his voice was slurred, his tone too cheerful. “I amsosorry about this.”
Bash sat next to the younger boy with a huff. Adonis lingered at a respectful distance, but could still hear them.
“Tell me what happened,” Bash said.
“Dude,” Cort said. He shoved Bash’s arm, and Bash didn’t budge at all. The movement toppled Cort, and Bash steadied him. “I went out with friends to get some drinks.”
“You know that is against the Bellford athletic policy,” Bash said. “Even if you were nota minor. These friends, are they on the Bellford team?”
“No,” Cort said. “Friends from high school who play for Yale.”
“I see. Where are they?”
Cort shrugged. “They went to the next bar when I threw up in the bathroom.”
Adonis glanced at the entrance to the dive bar behind Cort. A bouncer was watching them coolly.
“You threw up in their bathroom,” Bash repeated. “Did you at least make it to the toilet?”
“Yes,” Cort said with the pride of an elementary student showing their parent a report card with perfect grades. Then he amended sheepishly, “Mostly.”
Bash rubbed his forehead. Adonis hid a smile. Cort seemed like he would not be pleasant to be around even when sober, but Adonis felt himself relating to the younger boy a bit. He had had his share of hard drinking days earlier in college and had thrown up in many bars, bushes, and backseats.
He surprised himself by walking forward and joining Bash and Cort on the curb, sitting on Cort’s other side. “When was the last time you drank water?” he asked.
Cort squinted at him. “Hi. I don’t know you. I’m Cort Styleton. My dad is—”
“Charmed to meet you, Cort. Water?”
“Water would be nice,” Cort said, nodding dreamily.
“I’m going to get an Uber,” Adonis said to Bash, pulling out his phone.
Bash gave a curt nod. “Thank you. I’m going to talk to the bouncer.”
He stood fluidly and went to chat quietly with the bouncer.
“What’s your name?” Cort asked, blinking at Adonis. His eyes were unfocused.
“I’m Adonis. How much did you drink?”
Cort’s eyes narrowed further, and he breathed deeply through his nose. “If you don’t count the shots I had at the hotel, or the beers I had at this bar…Or the hard seltzers in the car on the way here…”
That was all Adonis needed to hear. He finished summoning the Uber. “A car will be here in five minutes to take us back to the hotel. Cort, you’ve been drunk before, right?”
“I love drinking,” Cort said.
Not the best answer an eighteen-year-old could give, Adonis thought. “I understand,” Adonis said. “So, you have been drunk before?”
