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“Uh-huh. I know.” I couldn’t even look at him. I picked up the wrapper from Marcus’s straw and folded it like an accordion.

“So did you like it?”

“Well, you’ve done E, so you know what happens when you’re on it,” I responded, intentionally avoiding the question.

“It’s different for different people,” he said. “Did you like it?”

I shrugged. “I don’t like the fact that Len’s mad at me.” That was true.

“Good enough,” he said, taking his straw out of his soda. “But why am I here?”

“Uh . . . I . . . Uh . . .” I couldn’t talk to Marcus about this. I couldn’t tell him how close Len and I had come to having sex in the backseat of his Saturn last night. I couldn’t tell him that the only reason we didn’t have sex is that I let it slip that for the past year, I couldn’t picture losing my virginity to anyone but Marcus, who just happens to be his best friend.

As all these thoughts swirled inside my head, Marcus released a few drops from his straw on the paper I had just folded. The coil sprang to life, like a snake. I remember more lines from the infamous “Fall” poem:

I taunted and tempted

you

with my forbidden fruit

does that make

the serpent too?

Before I could answer that question for myself, Len arrived at the table.

“Hey,” said Marcus.

“Hey,” said Len.

“Uhohheyimsohappytoseeyou!” said I.

I jumped up to hug him. He kept his arms at his sides at first but then returned my embrace. He sat down next to me, which was a good sign, I thought.

Len cleared his throat. A-Heh-Heh-Heh-Hehmmmmmmm.

“Last night, under the influence of Ecstasty, a drug that is often referred to as a truth serum for its ability to weaken one’s defenses and reveal one’s innermost desires, Jessica said something that disturbed me a great deal . . .”

Len continued talking for a very, very long time. During which I couldn’t take my eyes off the snake.

“In conclusion, I need to know what happened between you two that made her say what she said. You are my best friend,” he said, glancing at Marcus. “You are my girlfriend,” he said, turning to me. “I should hope that you will extend me the courtesy of honesty.”

Marcus and I didn’t say anything because we weren’t sure if Len was finished or not. He wasn’t quite.

“So the question remains,” he said calmly. “What happened between you two?”

Now he was done. Marcus and I were still silent because neither of us had an answer for such a simple question. We looked at each other haplessly, helplessly.

Finally, Marcus stepped up.

“Nothing happened between us.”

Len coughed any remaining reservations right out of his larynx. Ahem! “Then what was she talking about?”

Marcus looked at me. “I’m going to tell him,” he said, very seriously.

“Uh . . .” I replied, not knowing what he was going to say.

“Last year, I tried to sleep with Jessica.”

The snake was just a soppy blob at this point.

“But she turned me down,” he said. “It was pretty humiliating, actually.”

Len put his hand on my arm. “Is that true?”

“Uh . . .” I replied.

“So nothing happened, Len,” Marcus said, sensing my hesitation. “Don’t worry about anything Jessica might have said under the influence. Take it from someone who knows. Drugs have a way of really fucking with your subconscious in a way that bears little resemblance to what’s real. It’s why people do drugs to begin with.”

This argument sounded so much like the one I had rehearsed in my head that I almost thought that I had presented it out loud. But I know I didn’t.

Len was now scrutinizing my face so intensely that I almost couldn’t handle it.

Ahem! “What about now, Flu?”

“What about now?”

“Do you still want to have sex with my girlfriend?”

Marcus took his lighter out of his pocket and flicked it open and shut. Marcus had stopped smoking, but he couldn’t stop his hands from reaching for the lighter when he was . . . what? Nervous?

“Don’t take this the wrong way,” he said. “But I never really wanted to have sex with your girlfriend. I just wanted to see if I could.”

Click. Click. Click. Like bullets spinning in the barrel of a gun. Click. Click.

“That was