December 24th 1985, 11:46 pm, 6 hours earlier

I had dragged Robin to a Christmas-eve party, because we hadn’t seen much of each other in the past few days. Robin and I sat on Sean Hines’ couch and drank beer as a hundred other kids played beer pong and smoked in his tiny studio apartment.

“I’m getting chips, do you want chips?” I asked Robin, yelling over the noise.

“Yeah, I’ll have chips. Thanks.” She said, smiling up at me. I went to the snack table, stepping over kids playing spin the bottle and poker on the ground. As I put some chips in a napkin, I thought about Christmas at home with my mom. We could have Robin over, because she hated Christmas at her house, and we would make hallacas. I turned to go back to the couch, and it took me a second to see through the haze of cigarette smoke, but when I realized what I was seeing, I wished I hadn’t. Robin and Sean were making out. Tears filled my eyes, and I swatted them away.

“Robin. Can I talk to you?” I was trying to keep my voice steady. She pulled away from him, looking up at me.

“Uh, yeah. Sure.” She put down her beer and peeled herself off of Sean.