Summary

The narrator returns to the night of Hella’s millennium party and explains that he decides to go even though he has just broken up with Emma and cannot get on the guest list. He arrives with two friends, realizes the bouncers have closed the entrance, and then spots people climbing a tree to enter through a third-floor window. Drunk and determined, he climbs alone, jumps into an empty office area, and finds his way to the dance floor, where he tries to disappear into the crowd and convince himself he is not lonely. He finally sees the Mikkola sisters nearby and works up the nerve to approach Evelyn, but she does not recognize him or respond in a way he can understand, and he retreats. As the countdown to midnight begins, he slips out into the stairwell, glances back once more, and...