“Serenade” by Elisabeth Hamilton (Fiction ’13)

Serenade

That night my car had a temperamental engine that was threatening to quit, and the rain was a drill as we drove up 101. We were going to the bar so Hailey could tether herself to the bartender, Rebecca, whom she’d met a week before. Rebecca had wound strands of Hailey’s hair around a finger while she snapped back shots of cheap vodka and fed Hailey lime wedges and salt. I’d been bored out of my mind but afterward I wanted to go back to that bar, more than anyplace else, more than my parents’ house, more than my crappy office job. I was working something out about who I was supposed to be, and the bar seemed like the wrong answer, but I couldn’t tell yet. Hailey was my ticket in.