Just then, Nick wanders into Ian’s room. “What the fuck?” he asks. “You guys, like, totally vanished on me.”

“Shit,” Collin says, “he found us.”

Sitting on the couch next to Steve, Nick says, “It’s not that—it’s just, like, I went to get a drink, and there’s some guy passed out on the stairs, and then I come back and you guys are gone.” Nick laughs, a little exasperated.

“Where you been?” asks Travis. “It couldn’t’ve taken you that long to find us here.”

“Oh, no, I was hangin’ out with… uh—you know—Beetlejuice.”

“Jackson,” says Ian.

“Yeah. Jackson,” Nick agrees.

“Ian, le’me have a beer,” Collin says.

Ian just gives Collin a look like, “What’re you gonna’ do about it?”

Getting up to go to the refrigerator, Collin asks, “Anybody else?”

“Yeah,” John says, and Collin tosses him one.

“I’m actually feelin’ just fine,” Travis says, dragging out “fine”.

“I tol’ ya’, right?” Steve says.

“Shit, man, this stuff is righteous,” Nick adds. “You should bottle it and sell it.”

“I still wanna’ know what the hell’s in this,” Travis says, but Steve just shakes his head, smiling flatly.

“We should do somethin’ stupid,” Collin says, sitting down again.

“Stoopid,” Nick adds in a Brooklyn accent.

“Stoopid,” Travis echoes, and they both laugh.

Collin looks at them for a moment, and then says, “What?” He doesn’t get the joke, but it’s just an old joke between Nick and Travis, a cartoon they adored, and they give no hint of explanation.

“What do you mean?” Ian asks Collin.

“I don’ know. Stupid. You can’t think of shit, you jus’ always end up doin’ it.”

“Stoopid,” Nick says again.

“Stoopid,” Travis repeats.

“What the fuck?” Collin asks, get a little irritated.

“Were you out with us for my birthday, when it snowed?” Nick asked seriously.

“No.”

“That was hilarious. Everybody was sledding on Clayton and making snow angels in the middle of the road. It started around one and there was inches on the ground when everybody came out after last call.”

“I remember that. Me and John were watchin’ people wreck their cars on Baxter.”

John starts laughing at the memory.

“Hey, yeah!” Nick says, “Why the hell weren’t you out with us on my birthday?”

Travis shrugs. “Didn’t have the magic card then.”

“Oh, right.”

“You remember that, though?” Travis asks John, who just rubs his eyes and smiles. “You know that hill, right by the dorms?” Travis asks Collin.

“Yeah.”

“Me and John were on the Blue Monkey’s porch, just standin’ there watchin’ while people came over that hill at, like, what?—forty-five miles an hour? There were, like, five cars in a row smashed into each other right there in front of us. And the owners were just standin’ there on the sidewalk screamin’ at whoever came over the hill and smashed into their cars. People on the porch would applaud them when they got out of their cars. Humiliating.”

“Shit,” Collin snorts.

“It was ridiculous,” Travis agreed.

“People here don’t know how to drive in the snow,” Ian says.

“Ya’ll don’t know how to drive, period,” replies Collin—insinuating politely that Ian’s a Yankee. Everyone in the room seems to agree with these two points. People down South drove obliviously, and people up North drove rudely. Big difference, of course.

“See, that’s what I mean, though,” Collin says, shaking his head.

“What?” Ian asks.

“Jus’ stupid shit.”

“Stoopid,” Nick says.

“Stoopid,” Travis repeats.

“Stoopid,” Collin says.

Read the whole thread: Incunabula

Characters and Places: Athens, Ian Fleming, John Riffing, Nick Vaughn, stoopid, The Fat Kid, TKE House, Travis Fleeting