Summary

“Difficult at Parties,” follows an unnamed, first-person female narrator through a few weeks of her life in January. The narrator is living in an apartment after she has come home from a traumatic incident that sent her to the hospital. She has a presumed romantic partner named Paul who doesn’t seem to live with the narrator, but has a steady job and visits her each day. Paul seems to act as caretaker, financier, and partner.

Often Paul stays the night with the narrator; however, it doesn’t seem as though he can sleep in the same bed as her due to the narrator screaming and thrashing at night. The narrator receives notice from an officer who took her statement while she was at the statement. The narrator was the victim of a crime, and the officer calls to ask the narrator...