The Wonder Bread Summer by Jessica Anya Blau

Allie reached out, grabbed the board, and pulled Roger forward.
    “Open and shut! Open and shut!” Bud slammed a lazy fist on the table. His beer splashed onto his wrist. He lifted his arm and licked the beer off. Okay, Allie thought, definitely drunk. Kathy looked as sober as she had when Allie had picked her up.
    “Yeah, Bud said it was all a mix-up.” Kathy spoke as if she were intimate with the case. “And that Roger is no more a criminal than you or me. Or maybe just me.” Kathy looked at Allie and gave a little laugh.
    “What?” Allie said. She could feel beer in her ears. It was making the noise in the room wobbly.
    “I think you’ve done a little more criminal activity than I have.” Kathy squeaked out a tense laugh.
    Allie wasn’t sure if she were hearing correctly. Did Kathy think Allie was a criminal because she had smoked pot twice? Or was it because she had done the cocaine? Allie hadn’t even told her about the bag of stolen coke in the car, but certainly she couldn’t confess to that now.
    “I have?” Allie asked.
    “Let’s just say you’ve changed a lot since high school,” Kathy said, and she pushed her mouth into the closed-lip smile.
    “You’re committing a crime tonight!” Allie wished her words weren’t so mushed together. “You’re not twenty-one and you’re drinking!”
    “We didn’t get carded,” Kathy said.
    “You’re still committing a crime,” Allie said.
    “I’m just saying I’ve never deviated as far as you have,” Kathy said, and Allie knew then that the drift she was feeling from Kathy might be permanent.
    “What about Roger? Are you okay with what he did?” Allie turned to him. Roger’s head had dropped to one side and his eyes were shut. Was he actually sleeping?
    “Roger is not a criminal in the slightest!” Bud said with a spray of enthusiasm. “The girl looks thirty. I saw for myself.” He laughed. “She’s got stretch marks and everything hanging down.” Bud held his palms below his ribcage and lifted them up and down as if he were weighing something.
    “Who?” Allie asked. “What are you talking about?”
    “Roger’s case! The girl! It was all low and hanging!” Bud shut his eyes as he laughed.
    “Hanging boobs?” Allie felt as though popcorn was exploding in her head. She wanted to clear out her brain, eliminate this frustrating confusion.
    “Of course he’s not talking about boobs!” Kathy glared at Allie. Allie tried to roll her eyes.
    “Yeah, I am,” Bud said to Kathy, and he refilled everyone’s beer, even sleeping Roger’s. How many was that now? Allie had lost count long ago.
    “Wait, so what about the girl’s boobs?” Allie picked up her glass and sipped. She really wanted to stop but it felt like she was defying Kathy if she drank more.
    “She had these sad, droopy-eyed boobs,” Bud said. “I mean, there is no one who would ever think that she was only seventeen. Especially since she had an Alaska driver’s license that said she was twenty-four. And it’s not like Roger had ever gotten a girl from Alaska in one of his movies before! How the hell was he supposed to know what a real Alaska license looks like?”
    “Oh, did she need parental permission to be in his movie?” Kathy asked. “Or, like a mother on set, right? I would love to put my kids in movies! I mean, it would be so interesting to be on the set and see how everything works, but not to have to be in front of the camera and worry about having movie-star looks, you know what I mean?” She stared at Bud, then Allie. Allie figured Kathy wanted them to shout out that she did have movie-star looks, but she kept her mouth closed. She didn’t think Kathy deserved her support after insinuating that Allie was a criminal.
    “I don’t think you want your kids in one of Roger’s movies!” Bud laughed again and pulled Kathy into his shoulder as if he were going to give her a head noogie. He didn’t give the noogie but he did kiss her on the forehead.