Archie just stared at Zeke.

"What? Don't be daft." His brain refused to wrap around the words Zeke had uttered. "What am I going to tell Clio if pictures of whatever I did last night wind up on the internet? 'Oh, sorry, darling, I didn't want to, I was raped'?"

Zeke looked at Archie, sympathy in his eyes. "Archie? Archie. Think for a minute. What if Clio told you that what happened to you last night happened to her?"

Archie considered. If his Clio woke up with marks on her body that had been put there by someone else that pointed strongly to sexual activity? Sexual activity that she didn't remember? And the last thing she did remember was things getting all fuzzy after the'd had a few drinks and a second-hand hit of pot that could have been laced with something?

It made his blood boil to even think about it.

"Archie?" Zeke's voice broke into his thoughts. "Would you consider going to a hospital?"

Archie's head jerked up at Zeke's words, and he looked deep into the eyes of the troubled young man who sat across from him.

Hospital?

"N-no," he finally managed. "I don't need a hospital, my headache's nearly gone, and I'm not injured in any way."

"But they could run a kit on you, test you for diseases, and test your blood to see if you were drugged," Zeke responded.

Drugged?

"You think I was drugged?" Archie finally asked.

"It sounds like it, doesn't it?" Zeke ticked off his fingers. "You took a hit of questionable pot that could've been drugged itself, given what was going on in the basement of the premises. And even if the pot weren't tainted with something, you were definitely more than a little stoned from it, and not very aware of what you were drinking after that. And by your own admission you had a lot to drink, drinks that were prepared by other people that you were in no shape to keep an eye on." Zeke sat back. "What do you think? Can you say for certain sure that no one put anything in one of your drinks?"

Archie once again considered. It was as if his memories of the night slowly began to blur away at the edges until finally it just winked out altogether into blackness. There's no way he'd have noticed if someone had put something in one of his many, many drinks.

"But why?" he finally asked, honestly perplexed. "If it was a girl, and I'm pretty sure it was, girls who want anonymous, drunken sex usually have no problem finding partners at parties to shag. Are you saying someone specifically wanted to do this to me?"

Zeke shrugged. "You're famous, you're rich, and you're related to someone who's even richer and more famous than you. Maybe someone wants to blackmail you. Or extort money."

Archie, who didn't actually know the difference between blackmail and extortion, shrugged.

"Or maybe someone just wants to fuck up your life by posting the pictures online or something, maybe ruin your relationship with Clio," Zeke continued.

"Who would want to do that?"

Zeke shrugged again. "You remember what happened to Charlie McAllister a few years ago with the sex tape, don't you? No one ever asked for money or anything, it was just out there, nearly ruined his girlfriend's life, for sure nearly wrecked their relationship, I believe."

Archie's blood ran cold at the thought of what would happen if pictures, or worse, video, of whatever had happened last night, somehow made it to the internet, and Clio were to see them without knowing the background.

But surely she'd believe him? Wouldn't she?

"Archie? The hospital?" Zeke repeated.

Archie gave Zeke his full attention, making a decision at last.

"No, no hospital."

"What are we going to do, then? I mean, what are you going to do?"

"Nothing." Archie said decisively. "Other than these marks on my body, there's no evidence that anything happened for sure. I have no memory of it, so no harm done, right? Let's just assume that someone gave me these marks and that's it."

Zeke looked incredulous. "But Archie--what about Clio?"

"No, especially Clio." Archie cut him off. "And I want you to give me your word, as a friend and as a gentleman, that you won't tell a soul about any of this."

As a gentleman? Was he kidding?

Archie knew that such a phrase might not mean much to most people. He also knew that to someone like Zeke, it would.

"That's not fair," Zeke protested. "Clio should know, and if she ever finds out I knew and did nothing, it will affect our friendship. You have no right to ask this of me and you know it!"

"Nevertheless, I am." Archie was steadfast as he looked across the table into Zeke's very troubled eyes. "Something like this would kill her, and she doesn't need to know. No one needs to know."

"But what if it comes out?" Zeke tried. "There could be pictures or worse online right now."

"Let's check, then." Archie opened his laptop as Zeke came around and stood behind him.

Archie first googled his name, and found only the usual, then his brother, but found nothing. He then started checking all of his friends' social media, but again, found nothing.

"Have you asked Willow?" Zeke asked suddenly. He thought it strange that her name hadn't come up in their conversation until now.

"No, I didn't want to upset her if I didn't have to," Archie replied, continuing to type as he spoke.

Zeke thought this incredibly short-sighted on Archie's part, but he kept his mouth shut.

"I think I'm going to have to ask her, though," Archie acknowledged. "I just have to be careful how I do it. I don't want her to know what happened, you know?"

"But Archie, what if it was her?" To Zeke this question was obvious.

Archie looked over his shoulder at the other boy. "Willow would never hurt me!" he answered, shocked. "Why would you even think that? We're friends!" He tapped out a quick text asking Willow if anything strange had happened the night before at the party.

"People get assaulted by people they thought were their friends all the time," Zeke responded grimly. "You must know that."

But Archie just shook his head. "You're clouding the issue. The main thing is for Clio not to find out about any of this. Nothing else matters, understand? Nothing's come out online, so the only people who know about this, officially, as of now, are you and me." He glared at Zeke as the tall boy once again sat across from him. "And we've made a pact never to speak of it again, have we not?" he asked, sounding very English. "Have we not?" he repeated when Zeke was silent.

Reluctantly, Zeke nodded.

"Okay then, there shouldn't be any problems," Archie said with relief, closing his laptop and pushing it away from himself.

His phone pinged with an incoming text. It was from Willow.

"No. I mean, you were pretty wasted, if that's what you mean lol. We played some beer pong, you danced, we played some cards, there was some really awful karaoke, then we all piled in cabs and went home. Why, something wrong? You missing your wallet or something?"

Archie showed the text to Zeke.

"See? Nothing happened. Willow's a terrible liar, I already know that about her," Archie said. "Someone probably gave me these marks on a dare or something during a card game." He resolutely put the memory of the lipstick on his groin out of his head, and the complete blackout of the night also.

Surely if something had happened he'd remember?

"So why not tell Clio, then?" Zeke tried. "Why not tell her what you remember, at least, so it's out in the open? Tell her you don't remember? What's the harm in that?" He slapped the table in frustration.

"Because we both know she'd utterly flip her shit," Archie answered. "I don't want her to worry about what might have happened." He also thought uneasily about the brief portion of the night he did remember, of dancing with Willow, of how she ran her hands through his hair and kissed him to give him the hit of pot. If anyone had seen that, but not the part about how he'd stopped her, it might take some explaining.

"Why did you call me, then? Seems like you've worked everything out just fine on your own, you didn't need my input for any of this," Zeke observed, his anger apparent. "You're not the only only one who loves Clio, you know."

Archie sighed. "I know that, man, and I'm sorry for involving you like this. You're right, I never should've bothered you."

Zeke bit his lips together. "No, I'm sorry I said that. If it involves her, even peripherally, I want to know, I want to help if I can."

"Then you see how her knowing doesn't help anything, right? How it will only upset her and make her worry?"

Zeke was getting ready to respond when Archie's phone pinged with another incoming text, from Clio this time.

"How are you? How was the party? Italy is beautiful, but I miss you so much that all I've been doing is wandering the countryside crying, I want you to know."

Archie showed Zeke the text.

"Just tell her, man. Please."

Archie looked at Zeke, swallowed, and tapped out a text.

"The party was fine, a little wild for my taste. I didn't stay very long. Nothing's any fun without you, darling, can't wait to see you. Have your parents said anything more about France? Have they changed their minds?"

He hit "send" and looked at Zeke. "There. Can't be undone, nothing more to talk about. The time to tell her has passed."

Zeke shook his head and rose. "I guess I'll be going, then, since you don't need me for anything."

Archie, too, rose. "You haven't given me your word, yet, Zeke. About the other. You won't say anything to anyone? Please?" Archie held out his hand.

Zeke just looked at the hand for a moment, then reluctantly put his own in it with a nod. "I give you my word," he said as he shook. "I hope I don't regret it."

"You won't," Archie assured him. "Nothing happened."

"Right." Zeke sounded morose. "Hey, listen, if I don't see you again, have fun in Europe."

"Thank you," Archie responded. "For everything."

After Zeke left, Archie took another shower, as hot as he could stand, trying not to think about the unknown person who'd had her mouth on him the night before. There had been times in his life when he'd been with people, sometimes multiple people, while falling down drunk, but never while blackout drunk, never so he had no memory of it at all. And the idea that he hadn't given consent, was so drunk he couldn't give consent, haunted him.

After he got out of the shower, he texted a few other people from the party whom he knew casually or recognized from pictures he saw online, but no one seemed to think anything untoward had happened. He spent the rest of the day binge-watching some shows on TV, effectively shutting off his brain.

As he was settling down in bed with his kittens, he got a text that brightened his day a great deal.

"Guess what! I can go to France! Francie worked on Mom for me, and then Mom convinced Dad, I think. Not for ten days, not the whole time you're there, but for half the time, for four or five whole, glorious, days, what do you think?"

"Marvelous! I'm looking forward to it so much, darling, can't wait to see you. I miss you, too, so so much."

Archie fell asleep and dreamed that he and Clio were skiing in France, and that he accidentally skied off the trail and into a ravine. Clio, who didn't ski very well, unknowingly and trustingly followed him off the trail, calling for him to wait for her, not knowing that she was trailing him into dangerous and uncharted paths.