"Well, I know I don't know him…and he don't know me…so it's all good for you," Max remarked, bringing me back to the real world.

"He's not my boyfriend."

"He's cute."

"Yeah, I guess so."

"You guess so? Girl, I think you are the one who's a little bit drunk. Not me." Laughing, I slugged her playfully in the shoulder.

"Ok, he's appealing to the eye."

Max gave me a dismissive eye roll and finished off the rest of her third drink. Just as she was about to ask for another, I grabbed her by the arm, holding her back.

"No more," I told her.

"Oh, c'mon 'lanza."

"You're starting to look a little bit tipsy."

"Tipsy? Hell, I'm not tipsy," she boasted and attempted to rise from her seat. Attempted. When she was able to stand on two feet, she fell forward, relying on me to catch her. She smiled slowly. "Ok…you made your point," she replied and pushed off of me back to her seating position.

"I'll give you a ride home."

"Really?"

"No. I'm just gonna let you get squished by a semi or put on probation for under-age drinking."

"I'm close enough to twenty."

"The age is twenty-one," I corrected her.

"That's what I mean. I'm close enough to twenty-one, because I'm twenty."

"You're still drunk."

Max laughed again, spewing her rank breath onto me. I coughed, not saying anything to be polite and tried to ignore it. "And do you think I care right now?" she asked.

"No."

"Exactly." I watched Max carefully just in case she decided to spew. It wasn't the fact that she had only had three beers; it was the fact that she had drank them so quickly. Hopefully, I could get her home without her vomiting in the dance club. If not, there was going to be some major apologizing to the manager.

"Max?"

"Yeah?" she asked, her drunken eyes struggling to focus on me.

"How'd your mom take the news of you discovering your 'true self'?"

"As well as could be expected. She said she was sorry…somethin' like that. I don't remember," Max replied, waving a limp hand.

"I just hope I didn't get you in trouble."

"Trouble? What for?"

"Never mind," I told her. I glanced at my watch and realized how late it had become so quickly. Great. The last thing I needed was Mom angry with me as well as Dad. Two angry parents were not what I had in mind for a family reunion back with Dad. "Let's get going," I said to Max.

"Huh?"

"It's late."

"Nu-uh."

"Come on," I replied, grabbing her around the waist and nearly dragging her out to my motorcycle.

The air was rather cold, but not winter freezing. Already thick fog had settled into the city, neighbors of the obscuring clouds in the sky. In the far off distance, I could hear a police siren wailing through the misty night.

I put the helmet on Max's head myself, since her finger couldn't coordinate to hook the straps together. Then, after I had got partially on the bike, I grabbed her and put her on behind me, making sure to keep one hand free to hold onto her, for she really couldn't support herself.

Somehow, Max managed to mumble her address to me. I was surprised she could even think. The poor girl was going to have a major hangover the next morning. Yet, I headed on over to her apartment complex, which, surprisingly, wasn't that far from mine. I made sure to go slow on the bike so that she didn't fall off.

Once at the apartment, I made sure she made it into bed and was safe before I tiptoed back out to my bike. I sighed heavily, watching the balloon of the moon drifting in the velvet sky above. It was time to go home and face the parents.