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losing the respect of those who had come to one of the finest universities in the country to do something other than look good.
         Kathryn didn’t bother to look at Jesse as he slid onto the barstool next to hers. “Where’s Randall?”
         “Bathroom.”
         “I thought you two were, like, attached at the hip.”
         Kathryn took a sip of her drink. “What’s her name?”
         “Don’t know yet.” Jesse sipped his drink and Kathryn finally made eye contact. He lifted his glass. “Seven Up.”
         Kathryn nodded, as if impressed.
         “You?”
         “Club soda. I thought you were a Bud man, Jesse.”
         “Only when it’s free. But not when I have to perform.”
         Kathryn’s smile hurt her cheeks. She looked toward the bathroom, praying Randall would emerge. Instead, she saw Jesse’s nameless brunette filing out of the women's room with three other girls. The brunette’s eyes shot in both directions before she clasped her hands, as if in prayer, using both index fingers to wipe at her nostrils. Kathryn noticed one of the other girls applying a liberal amount of Chapstick. She read the group’s behavior in an instant. They hadn’t gone to the bathroom together to put on makeup.
         Suddenly she was back in San Francisco. Her best friend Kerry was clinging to her pleadingly, lying and telling Kathryn she was just drunk. Lying even more when she said she was just stoned. And Kathryn, knowing only that alcohol didn’t dilate your pupils, was too stupid to know more.
         “Hey.”
         Startled out of her memories, Kathryn turned. Jesse leaned toward her with one bent elbow braced on the bar. “Mind if I ask you a question?” 
         “Never,” Kathryn answered.
         Jesse laughed, his eyes not leaving hers. “No, believe me, I know you’re off-limits. I’d just love to know what it is I do that pisses you off so much.”    .
         She held his gaze. “You need to be humbled.”
         “Meaning?”
         “You need to find one girl who won't sleep with you.”
         Jesse leaned back on his stool and gave her a slight nod, not in agreement, but as if satisfied to have received an explanation for her constant chill around him. ‘Thaven’t?” he asked, gesturing down the length of her body with one hand.
         She smirked and returned her attention to the television.
         “You know, I think it’s kind of cool what the two of you have,” Jesse said.
         She thought she heard a genuine trace of envy in his voice. But maybe she had imagined it. “What do you mean?”
         “I just remember the way you guys were during Orientation Week. Everyone else was hanging out in the lounge making bullshit conversation, spouting off those statistics about how 90 percent of married couples meet their other half in college, or going to those stupid ice cream social things. Not you and Randall. You guys were like running off in taxis to gay bars on the first day."
         "I don't exactly recall you bonding with our dorm unit either.”
         “I didn’t,” Jesse responded, without pausing. “That’s why I think ..it’s cool.”
         Puzzled, she waited for him to continue.
         “Jesus, it’s like everyone on our floor, they’re all rushing out to join some club, or they’re going to do some whacked-out major like April, with a hundred requirements, and they’ve already gone to three classes by the time I wake up. It’s like they’re working their asses off to be anything other than what they are.”
         “What are they?” Kathryn asked.
         “Kids. Away from home. But if you ask them, they’ll tell you they’re a major or a club. ‘Hi, I’m premed.’ ‘Don’t bother me, I have to go weave baskets for starving children in Iran.”’ Kathryn couldn’t suppress a smirk. “Not us though,” Jesse continued with sudden gravity. “You, me, Randall. It’s like we