Chapter 3
(Kevin's point-of-view)
I knocked on Howie's door rather roughly. I was so ticked. What did Nick know about sadness? He hadn't lost a sister or a father, suffered from a painful divorce or lived with a heart condition. He didn't know real pain.
"Hey, Kev. Man, you look pissed," AJ noted as he opened the door.
"What are you doing here?"
"I could ask you the same thing. Come on in, you'll find out."
I entered to see Howie pulling wine coolers and beer out of the small refrigerator. "What the hell?"
AJ sat down. "Oh, come on, Kev, he's going through a rough time right now. This will make him feel better."
"Not when he has a hangover."
"If I have a hangover I can't think about Caroline," Howie said matter-of-factly placing the bottle to his lips.
I watched AJ pulled the tab back on a beer. "Just what the hell do you think you're doing?"
"Having a beer," he answered slowly as if I were a child.
"Howie, you know he's too young to drink."
"So? He's a few months away of twenty-one, in which case he'll just get drunk off his rocker anyway. And besides, it's not like he's never done it before. He had beer in Germany when he was seventeen, I think it's okay at twenty."
I couldn't argue, I was pretty tempted myself. Spend my evening with Rok and the whiner or drink with my buds? I made the simple decision-bring on the beer.
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