It didn't really occur to Stephen that, while he wasn't exactly just chucking it all down his throat in one go like Matthew was, he was going through it quite quickly while his friend was talking. Indeed, he refilled his glass and started on the next one almost as soon as Matthew had put the bottle down. If he'd been asked, he wasn't really sure why he was doing it, but around the fourth or fifth glass it would make it a lot easier for him to think up responses to what Matthew was telling him. So he was getting a head start.
"Stop saying that," he said, "You were eight, for fuck's sake, no one would have expected you to guess that...what your dad was doing to your sister. Shouldn't have expected you to be any kind of a father figure to her in the first place. That would be really rubbish parenting on the part of your mum and dad," when Matthew asked him what kinds of jobs he was doing, he said, "This and that, you know. Nothing I can tell you about whilst you're still affiliated with the Ministry. If I did, it would probably kill me faster than if you let me have a fag with my drink."