"Oh, Jesus," the waitress said, "first time's the worst."
"She didn't say anything, but I saw it in her eyes—just like I saw she was going to be mine when I asked her in the hallway to go roller skating." Will shook his head. "I didn't even know how to roller skate. She looked down and then she looked up and her eyes said yes and then she said, yes. And that was that. Five years ago."
The waitress took a last drag and stubbed out her cigarette. "You want something to eat?"
"I don't think so."
"You sure? Piece of toast?"
"Well—toast, maybe." Heidi's friends surrounded him. Their faces were soft and excited, sure of themselves. They wore expensive sweaters and sports jackets. They seemed to belong to a club where everything was taken care of.
The waitress set a plate of toast in front of him. He took one bite and then another. "Tastes good."
"You gotta eat," she said.
"I drank a lot of beer, after. Heidi had to go back to her dorm. I was on this path near where the car was parked, and I just lay down in the path. When I woke up, there was a roaring and a weird light in the trees. It was a power plant or something that fired up in the middle of the night. I couldn't sleep, so I found the car. I just wanted to get out of there."
"Get moving," she said. "I know it's easy to say—but it might be it's for the best. People do go in different directions."