helped C_____ out of her jacket. He found two plastic champagne glasses in the cabinet above the sink -- the same ones he and Laura had used two New Year's Eves ago. He peeled away the foil on the bottle and twisted the cork. When it exploded like a gunshot, C_____ bolted head‑first into the door beside her, then fled to the corner by the closet. She shrank into a crouch, holding her nose.
"Oh, shit," Will said. "I should've warned you." He went to her and took her wrist and pulled her hand away from her face. She ducked his hand at first, then relaxed and let him touch her. Her nose didn't seem hurt. He touched her cheek.
She followed him into the living room. He filled one of the tall plastic glasses and she swallowed the champagne down in a few gulps. Her eyebrows raised and her lips pursed. He smiled and drained his own glass. He said, "I thought you'd like that grape juice." He wiped his mouth on the back of his hand and said, "Wanna watch some tube?"
The TV didn't interest her anymore. She sat on the floor with her back to it, her empty glass on its side by her knee, drawing with Will's Parker on the sheets of paper he'd given her. She drew only one thing: circles. Unnervingly perfect circles. Her hand never moved faster than a clock's second hand. He sat watching, bleary eyed, following the motion of the pen. The news was on TV. A blonde woman was doing the weather. Clear and cold tomorrow.
