"and a soft taco"

'Yes. That, and everything else on the menu.'

'Let me get the manager.'

We all start laughing, and everyone seems strangely happy. I have only just arrived, but I am
feeling very good today, and ordering one of everything off the menu at Taco Bell sounds like a very
fun time. Already everyone is filling me in with stories about how the employees ran around
confused and how weird some of the food there that nobody ever orders is, and how the car ran out of
gas halfway back and they had to push it the rest of the way and how Ethel's parents are gone so we
are going over there tonight.

They are still very excited and keep laughing at things that aren't even very funny. I wish I had
come over earlier.

Once we are finished with the food that is cold since it took so long to get, we jump right back
into the car, which somehow has a full tank of gas again, raving like a pack of wild animals the
whole time. There are a lot more of us than there are seats in the car, so Mark and I climb into
the very back and laugh at each other the whole way there. I don't even think to ask about the gas.

Adam is not really supposed to be driving us anywhere yet, since he only just got his license, but
we don't mind. The music is so loud we'd have to scream just to bring it up, anyway. We laugh and
take the turns too fast and yell out the windows all the way to Ethel's.

We get there and immediately everyone has a beer in both hands. It tastes awful but I pretend not
to notice so everyone will think I have done this before. We are all having a big time. People are
kissing who I do not think even know each other, and everyone is now either very depressed or very
happy.

I am so happy that I jump up on a table and beat my chest and growl like a monster. Some people
laugh and some other people don't notice. One girl I don't know applauds. I don't really mind
because it was just for fun and I am suddenly starting to feel very dizzy. I fall over.

Adam, who has had the most to drink out of all of us but still somehow can stand up straight, picks
me up, and I lean on his and Mark's shoulders out to the car. Shelby comes too. I never noticed
how pretty she is, before.

Adam says I can stay at his house and I don't care one way or the other so we go around the
sideyard and he disappears inside. After Mark has finished having a piss in the bushes in his
backyard, Adam suddenly reappears, with a big blanket and a half-full bottle of whiskey.

'Drink up,' he chuckles.

The four of us lay out there for a million years at least, telling stories and jokes that probably
aren't really funny, sharing a blanket in Adam's backyard under the cloudy nighttime sky.

'I love you guys.' I tell the stars, but I mean my friends.

Then I throw up, and everything goes black.