His Choice Wasn't Me
The mocking grin had dissolved into something more genuine: curiosity mixed with a trace of something almost like concern.
"I didn't mean any disrespect," he said, his voice quieter now, stripped of its earlier performance. "It's me. Your friend from college."
James stared at him. The face was there; familiar in the vague, distorted way of things remembered from a great distance, blurred by years and alcohol and the simple passage of time.
"What the hell are you talking about?" James said, leaning back. "I don't know you."
"James, come on," the man pressed, rubbing his forehead as though he could stimulate the recognition himself. "It's me."