The evening air, warmed-up by a balmy June day, carried heavy scents of gardenias and lilacs from my parents’ garden. As I swung on the porch, sipping sweet tea and watching the sunset, Grayson's cheerful voice emitted from the speakerphone on the rattan table.
   “In a few weeks, we'll get our certifications, and those late nights of studying will have paid off.”
   “Don’t jinx us,” I said. “We still have to pass the test.”
   “Of course we’ll pass,” Grayson said.
   “Your confidence never wavers, does it?” I wanted to believe it as much as Grayson, but I was more cautious than he was. Besides taking the training course together to become emergency medical technicians, Grayson has been my pre-med study partner and, interchangeably, my beau for nearly two years. After graduating from college three weeks ago, we both returned to our respective homes to start our gap year before the rigors of medical school begin. Grayson would follow in his family's long line of doctors, while I would be the first in mine.
   “I have some ideas about how we can spend our hiatus. The Florida Keys, Sedona, or maybe somewhere in the Caribbean,” he said. I imagined Grayson grinning with anticipation.
   “Don't get too carried away. I have to work and save up money this year. Not everyone’s parents are financing med school like yours. And now my sister will start college soon, so they can only help me so much.”
   I was in the middle of swinging when my sister sat down, breaking my rhythm. I caught a whiff of her vanilla cologne, now mixing with the gardenia. With her hair piled on top of her head in a messy bun, Katy looked at me with those pleading puppy-dog eyes of hers. “I need your help, Jolie.”
   “What is it?” I asked. 
   “I know it’s a big ask, but maybe Momma and Daddy will listen to you.” Katy’s pout curved into a down-turned smile. “You’re my last hope.” Her baby-blue eyes deepened with possibility.
I sighed. “Grayson, let me call you back.” After disconnecting, I turned toward my younger sister to give her my full attention. 
   Katy crossed her legs in the seat and leaned toward me. "You know I've had a crush on Colton Huxley all year, right?”
   “Summerville High’s star quarterback? Yeah.”
   “I think he likes me, too,” she gushed. “Why else would he text me he's going to the Folly Beach party tomorrow night, unless he hoped to see me there? But Momma and Daddy won't let me go.” The perceptible pout was back.
   “Everyone knows Folly Beach turns into a party town at night,” I said. “Why hasn’t he asked you out to see a movie or to hang out…just the two of you?”
   “He just broke up with Savannah, that’s why. It's still early, but I'm working on it. If he doesn't see me, how can I persuade him?” She flung a flyaway blonde hair from her eyes, fixing them on me. “I’ve already picked out what I’ll wear to the party. This could be my last chance before we head off to college. Colton’s going to Clemson on a football scholarship, and I want to make sure he remembers me.” Katy pressed her palms together in a praying-hands gesture. “Please. Can you ask Momma and Daddy for me? I promise never to ask you for another favor for as long as I live.”
   “When have I heard that before? Oh, right. Last month, when you borrowed my little black dress. Or Christmastime when I covered for you while Momma and Daddy were at the neighbor’s party and you came home way past your curfew. Amirite?”
   “It isn’t fair I have the earliest curfew of all my friends.” Not even the creaking swing could drown out Katy’s whine.
   “Nothing I can say to them is going to change their minds once they've made them up. I’m not even sure I want to.”
   “Please. Please try. For me.” As it darkened around us, I could still make out the tiny crease between Katy’s piercing eyes and the pucker of her lips that got me every time. She could wrap anyone around her little finger, but I loved her for it. 
After a long exhale, I said, “A lot of good it’s going to do, but I guess it can’t hurt for me to ask them.” I stood up from the swing. “Here goes nothing.”
***
I came up with a solution, surprising myself. I promised my parents I’d go with Katy to the party and see her home safely. It was the only way they would concede.
   “I want her home early,” Daddy said. “This won't be a late-night thing.”
   “Yes, Daddy.” Then I privately assured Katy I would give her space when we were there.
   “You’re the best!” Katy squealed, hurrying off to her clothes closet. “I owe you one.”
   “One?” I wasn't tracking favors, but seriously? I just shook my head, catching Katy's excitement as she held up a trendy skirt she planned to wear to the party.
Katy and I arrived at the beach house around eight the following night. Immediately, I got a bad vibe. It wasn’t like the end-of-year party I went to when I graduated high school—a bunch of close friends getting together for the last time before going away to college, drinking beer or wine coolers around a bonfire on the beach. Here, there were no parents, no food, no bonfire. Just a bunch of kids out of control. The house was swarming with teens smoking pot and drinking beer. The music was louder than the ocean, everyone trying to be heard over everyone else. They were everywhere, in every room of the house. On the deck. Down on the beach.
   “I have a bad feeling about this, Katy.” We stood in the house's heart—a large kitchen—surveying the wild party scene. It reminded me of a fraternity kegger I went to in my first year of college. I didn’t know anyone there, but Katy spotted some of her friends.
   “Oh my gosh, there he is.”
I followed Katy's gaze to the deck where a tall, tanned, blond-haired guy, surrounded by a horde of friends, sported a cocky smile. “So, that’s Colton,” I said, deadpan.
   “Isn’t he hot?” The name Colton Huxley had come up a few times in our sister chats. I knew from Katy that he broke touchdown records at our high school, and for the better part of Katy’s senior year, she, along with every other girl at Summerville High, obsessed over him.
   “If stuck-up blond guys are your type—”
   “Bruh, who’d you bring with you?” a dark-haired, pudgy guy asked Katy, talking loud enough to wake the dead.
   “This is my sister. She didn’t have anywhere to go tonight, so I brought her along,” Katy said. I had to hand it to her—that sounded better than saying I was there babysitting her. She didn’t waste time on introductions. She gave me a slight shrug and returned to eyeing Colton over on the deck. A girl on a mission.
Squinting at me with glassy eyes, the loud guy slurred, “You look like you could yuss a beer.” He looked like he could use a detox. The beer in his hand was definitely not his first, nor did I suspect it would be his last. Luminous pink blotched his chubby cheeks, and his Go Green Waves T-shirt had come partway out of his shorts, a loose drawstring dangling longer on one side than the other.
Katy started toward the deck where Colton was. Where she wanted to be. I gave her preppy-looking wrap-around skirt a tug.         “One hour. That’s all. And no drinking.”
   “When have I ever?” she said over her shoulder, her answer landing as a question. Then she was gone, leaving me alone with Loud Guy. 
   “Is it hot in here, or is it you?” he said to me with a smirk, his beer breath wafting toward me. I couldn’t remember if guys were this cheesy when I was in high school.
As night fell, more kids filled up the place, many from other towns. It was reminiscent of an uncensored spring break gone wild. It was also hot as hell in the house. I looked at the can in Loud Guy’s hand. “Where can I get something cold to drink?” He reached down into the cooler and pulled out a Corona. 
I reached for it, but he pulled it back. “Wait a sec. You don’t want this one. There’s got to be another Guinness in here.”
   “Actually, I—”
   “Here you go,” he said, pushing a Guinness at me. “I wanna do this right.”
Great. A beer nerd. “Thanks.” I put it against my neck, but it did little to cool me off, so I opened the can and took a gulp.
   “Goes down smooth, don’t it? Never has got me drunk.”
I had no desire to dispute his point. I needed to get some air. Avoiding Katy, I went down the steps to the sand and removed my sandals, breathing the salt marsh air.
I thought I’d lost Loud Guy until he came up on me out of nowhere. “Do you believe in love at first sight?” he said with the goofiest grin on his face.
   “I believe you’ve had way too much to drink.” I dumped my half-empty can of beer into a trash can.
I glanced up at the deck where I could make out Katy’s bright yellow skirt and realized I couldn’t have chosen a better color if I tried. My stomach was growling. I wished I’d had something to eat before I came here.
Not too far from where I stood, I heard swooshing and moaning when I realized a couple were having sex right on the sweetgrass-covered dune. I grimaced and shook my head, fiddling with my sandal straps and walking toward the shore with Loud Guy following. He seemed harmless. People walking along the surf couldn’t help noticing the lit-up, rowdy beach house party. A woman with a golden retriever tugged on the leash to stop him from barking and lunging.
   “I feel really connected to you,” Loud Guy said. As soon as he tried to slip his arm around my waist, I swatted his hand.
   “Don’t touch. Don’t talk. Just walk,” I said. “Or not.” I kept asking myself why I’d signed up for this. For Katy. I did it for Katy. I looked back at the raucous house. Straining my eyes, I didn’t see yellow anywhere. Where did she go? Perhaps I’d strayed too far along the beach. Over an hour had already gone by, and I wanted to leave. I worked my way back there to look for her, crisscrossing my small purse with the long straps over my shoulder and letting go of my sandals in the sand by the stairs. 
When I came into the house, music was blaring, and an avalanche of binge drinkers accosted me as joints were being passed around. Loud Guy veered off to find Sam Adams or Michelob or Guinness. They’d all come.
I started checking each of the rooms in the house looking for Katy, swinging doors open I wished I hadn’t. Teenagers were everywhere, in various stages of undress, some four to a room. This I did not sign up for. I pushed through the crush of teens to get to the deck. Where the hell was she? That’s when I spotted Colton in the deck corner, caught behind a pack of guys crowding around a keg of beer. I moved closer when I overheard him talking to another guy. “I get plenty,” he said, and right away I thought, plenty… girls…plenty sex? “And I’m gonna get me some tonight.”
Colton went up to a lanky guy with a narrow face and dark-framed glasses who was standing apart from the others holding a cup of beer in his hand. “Willie, my pal, I need this more than you do.” Colton took the cup from him, despite Willie's glare.         “I've got someone waiting for me,” he said, then he hustled away. I assumed Colton always got what he wanted.
Sparks leaped in my brain. I tried to follow Colton but soon lost him in the crowd. I paced the deck and then hung over the railing, doing a quick scan, when I spotted him, this time taking the stairs and aiming for the beach. I didn’t want to lose sight of him again, so I kept my eyes on him. He headed straight toward someone sitting alone on the sand, partially hidden behind some bushy beach grass. I squinted to get a better look. A girl with long blonde hair, sitting with her knees drawn up. When Colton reached her, she rose, and a flash of yellow caught my eye. Colton held the cup of beer near Katy’s face.
I started down the steps in my bare feet and made a beeline in their direction, determined to get us out of here. I’d already stayed longer than I said I would.
   “What took you so long?” I heard Katy say to Colton.
   “I didn’t want to grab a can. It could be skunked. This is fresher. Came right out of the keg.” Colton passed her the cup of beer.
Katy took it from him and brought it to her lips, and that’s when I moved in. I snatched the cup from Katy’s hand. “Don’t mind if I do,” I said with a head tilt. I took a swallow of the cold beer, wiped sweat from my brow, and looked right at Colton. “I’m legal. She’s not.” I gave Katy a look. “I think we’re done here.”
Colton’s face crumpled. Looking part edgy, part peeved, he grunted, “Your sister?” 
   “Yeah,” Katy said, looking embarrassed. She turned to me and relinquished a sigh. “Could you just give us a minute?”
Colton’s expression was a mixture of confusion and angst. He wasn’t counting on Big Sis to come along and mess things up for him.
I turned my back and walked a few feet away, giving them room. After a few minutes, I looked back over my shoulder and saw they were engaged in a make-out session. I rolled my shoulders, sighed, and swigged more beer to quench my thirst.
Loud Guy tottered over. “There you are,” he said with a lopsided grin. Sweat beads covered his forehead. “Where’d you go?”
   “Getting ready to leave,” I said.
   “You can’t go now. The party’s just getting started.” 
   “Exactly.” I brought the cup to my lips and realized I’d finished it. 
   “That come from the keg?” Loud Guy asked.
   “Yeah. So what?”
   “Who knows what’s in that cup.”
   “Because it’s not Guinness, you mean?”
   “Because—.” He gagged then moved a few feet away and retched. I recoiled. Not in the least bit drunk, are you?
Katy finally joined me. “Wow. Just wow,” she said dreamily.
I disposed of the empty cup and looked over at Colton once more, sliding his hand inside the pocket of his classic shorts and eyeing us with a frustrated look. I really pissed him off. 
As Katy and I walked away together, I said with incredulity, “You like him? Like…really like him?”
   “Have you seen him? What’s not to like? He’s the hottest guy in our class.”
   “So you said.”
She let out a huff and frowned. “You couldn’t let me stay for another thirty minutes?”
   “No. Besides, I have a headache. I knew I should have eaten something. Where did I put my sandals?” I did a quick inspection near the stairs but didn’t see them. Nausea gripped me, so I decided to just leave them. I wanted to get out of there.
The walk to my parked car felt endless, but my stumbling made me realize something was wrong.
   “Where should we go to eat? I’m famished,” Katy said.
   “And I’m shoeless and dizzy. I just want to go home.”
   “Jolie? Are you okay? You look pale.”
   “I’m feeling lightheaded.”
   “No need to worry. I can drive!” Katy said, jumping at the chance.
   “I think you’re going to have to.” I passed Katy my car keys and buckled myself in the passenger seat while Katy adjusted the rearview mirror. It was downright humid out, but I had never perspired so much before. “Hurry and put the air on. I’m sweating buckets.”
   “Southern ladies don’t sweat, Jolie…”
   “Yeah, yeah. We don’t sweat. We glisten,” I said, reciting our momma's familiar mantra with cynicism.
   “What’s come over you? How much did you drink?” she asked as she pulled out of the parking spot.
   “Just that beer. It really hit me.”
   “Holy smokes, Jolie. I’m still whirling. Does Colton ever know how to kiss!”
   “Probably not all he knows how to do,” I said under my breath. Katy’s vanilla cologne, usually so pleasant, now overwhelmed me as the dizziness returned, forcing me to bury my face in my hands. 
   “Now you’ve seen him…whatcha think?” Katy asked with a lilt in her voice.
Coming up to the interstate, I lifted my head slowly to gaze at her. “I think…I think something was wrong with that beer. That’s what I think.”
   “What do you mean?”
   “Just what I said. How well do you know Col—Hey…” I said, squinting through blurring vision. “Puh-put your seatbelt on.”
   “Colton would never do anything like that.”
   “Sheee-bel.”
   “All right, all right.” Katy moaned as she reached across for the seatbelt, struggling with it.
The next moments descended like a whirlwind.
Screams. A bang. Shattered glass. Then total darkness.