7

Her face is tucked down, her hair falling like a curtain around it. I can’t see her eyes but I can tell she is staring intently at the lid of her coffee. Her heart rate has increased and it only takes me a moment to deduce that she is extremely embarrassed about this, and genuinely worried what I will think. She regrets it.

“Drunk night?” I ask, trying to keep it light and praying there was some other force at work that put them together that night.

“The first and last of my life.” she breaths out slowly.

“Quitting already? So young?” I half joke, half hope that’s true if this is what happens when she drinks.

“Yep. 100%. Never a sip again. I’ve avoided it all my life because I’ve seen the decisions people make when they drink. One major fight with my dad and I became that person that I always judged and promised myself not to be. And i