When I wake up, my head is pounding, and my mouth is as foul and dry as a filthy sock. I open my eyes but close them quickly, the light in the room feeling like a bat to my head. With my eyes closed, I push myself slightly to sit up and feel like puking right away. I clasp my hand over my mouth and suddenly hear Lainey’s voice.

“Hey. I’ve got a bucket here.” I feel her hand wrap around my back and push me forward a bit, and I throw up violently.

When I’m done, Lainey urges me out of bed so that I can brush my teeth. She stands with me every moment and hands me a large glass of water and a couple of Tylenol. After tucking me back in bed, she asks quietly, “Can I get you some toast?”

My stomach rolls at the mere thought of food, and I pull the covers over my head.

The covers move to the side of me, and Lainey slips in next to me, tugging the covers down. “Okay, no food… yet. But I’ll tell you something. No man is worth doing this to yourself. Ever. He’s not worth it.”

Her words bring the humiliation I felt at seeing David with that Barbie Doll to the front of my mind. “Oh my God,” I groan, tears welling in my eyes.

“Oh no,” Lainey scolds me. “Absolutely, no tears. If anyone is going to cry, it will be that douchnozzle. Wait until I get my hands on him.”

I turn and look at my friend. “I know it’s stupid that I just met the guy, but I really liked him. I just wish I could have been good enough.”

“Listen here, Talia Jameson, you are good enough.”

As she says my ‘name,’ I remember that I was going to come clean with Lainey and my name not wanting to risk my friendship because of a few white lies. “Crystal,” I say, quietly.

“Is that the girl’s name? The one he was with?”

“No. That’s my name. My real first name. Talia is a nickname, I guess.”

“Talia’s a cool nickname. Wanna know my real name?”

“It’s not Lainey?”

She shakes her head. “It’s Elaine,” she announces. “I’m named after my grandmother, and I’ve gone by Lainey forever, so there wasn’t confusion between her and me.”

“Oh,” I say. I want to tell her all my secrets. Why I am using a nickname. Where I’m from. Why I don’t drink and why the drinks hit me as hard as they did. I feel like a bad friend keeping it all from her. Lainey is my closest friend, and I don’t want her to think I’m a loser and drop me like a hot potato. Drop me like David did. So, I keep quiet. Baby steps.

“I’m sorry about last night and thank you so much.”

“No worries whatsoever, hon,” she assures me, hugging me tightly. “If I ever found out Lance was cheating on me, it would have been you tucking my passed-out body in bed. But it would have been more than two Big Nick’s cosmos.”

“What time is it?” I ask.

Lainey looks over my shoulder at the alarm clock and says, “Shit. It’s three-thirty. I have to… hey! You should come with!”

“Three-thirty? I’ve slept all day? Have you been here all day?”

Lainey smiles at me kindly. “Yes. You were in a bad way. Passed out cold as soon as we got into your apartment. Had Sergio help me carry you up.”

“Oh God,” I groan and roll over to hide my face in my pillow.

“Don’t sweat it. Serg is cool. C’mon. Let’s get you showered, and then you’re coming with me tonight.”

“Where?”

“My mom and dad’s. My Aunt Kristi will be there, too.”

She’s really inviting me, a hung-over, heartbroken, trailer-park girl, to her parents’ house? My heart swells with the love I feel from a new friend. But I can’t go to a party. Not with a hangover. And not with a broken heart. And, oh, right. She doesn't know about my growing up in a trailer park.

“Isn’t Lance going with you?”

“No. He's on stage tonight.”

“I’m not really going to be good company, but thank you for the invite.”

“Nonsense. Once you take a shower…” she says with a slight sniff in my direction, “… you’ll be as good as new.” Lainey pats my leg, and I hear her words as if they are my own, and I’m talking to my mother. No. I am not my mother. I vow never to drink again.

“You’ll see. Join the living, and you’ll feel better.” Lainey peels back the covers and urges me to the shower.