once her boyfriend had left. I’d like to think that it was because I was so damned charming and attractive, but maybe the coke had something to do with it.

Oddly enough, I started to think about Heather and I had to slam about three shots to help me forget.

Something told me it was time to move on- maybe go home- but my senses were too blunted to pay heed to this intuition. About an hour later, Sebastian informed me that the party would be moving to a place on Bacon Street. I staggered into Sebastian’s Camaro and took part of the back seat, where I was packed in close proximity with Stephanie, Lee’ girlfriend, who didn’t seem to mind snuggling up against me in a less than platonic fashion.

Sebastian drove and Chance rode shotgun. The girls and I were sardine-canned into the back. Shared body warmth and the Camaro’s heater soon took the chill off the night air, and after a short ride we pulled off onto a dirt road that led into a small grove of apple trees. Soon the twin beacons of the Camaro illuminated a black Corvette up ahead. As we pulled to a stop in the rutted clearing, Lee stepped from the Corvette and Sebastian and Chance stepped out to join him.

“You three stay here,” ordered Chance. His eyes lingered a little longer on me, and I saw cold decision in his eye.

Wisps of fog shrouded the clearing, illuminated in the misty glare of the headlights. We watched as Lee opened the sleek hatch of the Corvette. Sebastian and Chance looked on as he leaned into the hatch, apparently working on something. A knife glinted and Lee sawed at the unseen object in the hatch. The three of them bent over in a semi-circle, paying rapt attention. I shifted uncomfortably. I had been expecting a party, not a covert rendezvous in the apple groves.

Apparently satisfied, the three stood upright. A wad of cash changed hands and then the discussion began in earnest. I could see fingers pointing, plumes of air rising into the cold air as they spoke. Suddenly Lee wheeled around and strode purposefully, back to our car. He leaned in the door and looked straight at me. He appeared calm, but I could see his fingers dig into the leather driver's seat.

“Come here, September. There’s something we want to show you.”

It could be nothing, I told myself, trying to rationalize all the signs that were pointing to big trouble. I was being dragged out into the middle of an apple grove in the dead of night with three guys who had probably just consummated a drug deal- and the thug who was doing the dragging was the same fellow who’s girlfriend I’d been flirting with all night. To top it off, I’d stayed clear of the drugs offered me earlier that evening- which might make me look like something I really didn’t want to look like.

Lee motioned for me to lead the way. I heard his footsteps crunching in the grass a few steps behind me. I almost didn’t have the guts to look behind me to see what he was doing, but I glanced back anyway and saw him dogging my strides, hands thrust deep into the pockets of his leather jacket.

As I approached Chance and Sebastian, I saw a kilo worth of cocaine in the back of the ‘Vette. A small flap of its plastic wrapping had been peeled away for sampling purposes. My worst fears were confirmed. Now the question was, what did they want with me?

“Hey, September,” Sebastian greeted with a sternness that belied his supposed nonchalance. “We need to talk.”