I'm drunk, real drunk, and this evening's turning into a nightmare anyway, so I decide that I'll bring up the idea I had earlier as a way to just possibly save this fiasco and just maybe put Aaron in a better mood. I saddle up to him on the couch and whisper, "Maybe we just need to get out of this rut."

"Yeah, maybe," he says, taking a drink and not looking at me.

"Maybe we could... you know..." I rub his shoulders with my hand. "Do some more stuff like we did earlier tonight." I stroke the back of his head. Well, Barb, here it goes. "Maybe we could even..." I pause, take a deep breath. "You know. Invite someone over with us some night. You'd like that. I know you would."

Aaron gets that little sneer on his face that I fucking hate. "No, you'd be the one who'd like that."

Even though he's right, I'm drunk and indignant and suddenly I've decided that I'm offended. "What do you mean by that?"

"You know exactly what I mean," he says, and fuck it, okay, it's time, right? It's time to just fucking get this out in the open. I just can't take this anymore. No more half-hidden gestures, no more "nights over at Deb"s. He wants to be this way? Fine, let's just get it out in the open. Right now.

"No," I say, "I don't know what you mean. What do you tell me what you fucking mean?"

Right then Deb walks up.