Two weeks go by with the same happiness between Drake and Beth and Gwen and Launchpad, and the same distance between Drake and Gosalyn. He has decided to take Beth's advice and give her space. The last thing he wanted to do is push her further away. Drake met with the Police Commissioner last week and decided that he was going to go through the academy and earn his badge. He was excited about this new adventure in his life, but even more so by having Beth and Jake with him. He has decided not to wait any longer. He would like Beth and Jake to move in with him so that they could be a family. Beth is at his house and they are in the family room. Her washer broke so she is using Drake's. They are folding laundry together. Beth is sitting and Drake is standing.
Beth is surprised at Drake's request: "Move in with you?"
Drake: "I know that we talked about taking things slow, but I think this will be really good for us. We'll save a ton of money and I can be a real father to Jake."
Beth: "Honey, you are a real father to Jake. And he adores you. He gets beyond excited every time I tell him that you are on your way over. Ah and such a sad face when it's time for you to leave."
Drake: "Well, if you move in with me, I won't have to say good bye to him every night. I can read to him and I can sit up with him if he wakes up in the middle of the night. And I can be there when he wakes up in the morning."
He looks at the pile of laundry.
Drake: "And we can help each other with all this laundry."
Beth laughs: "Yeah, your son goes through three outfits a day sometimes. He's all boy."
Drake: "So what do you say?"
Beth: "I don't know."
Drake pouts: "You don't trust me. Are you afraid that I'll leave again?"
Beth: "No, it's not that."
She gets up and walks over to him.
Beth: "We talked about living together before. That was a very exciting time for us. But, we were worried about Gosalyn, and that it was probably too fast for her, and then you…"
Drake: ".... I broke it off."
Beth: "Mmhm"
Drake takes both of her hands in his: "Things are different now. I'm not going anywhere Bethy. I love you and I love our son. And Gosalyn, she's not exactly thrilled with me these days but I know that she loves you too. My family means the world to me, and my dream is to have all 4 of us under one roof someday."
At that, Beth kisses him briefly.
Drake: "I'm sorry, I'll understand if you're not ready…"
Beth interrupts him: "Yes"
Drake looks at her curiously: "What?"
Beth: "I said yes. Jake and I will move in with you."
Drake can't contain his excitement: "Yes! You said Yes? Ahhhh"
He puts his arms around her waist, picks her up and kisses her.
Skyler and Gosalyn catch a bus on the way to Jackson's party. Jackson is a senior in high school and is on Skyler's soccer team. He is known for the wild parties that he throws at his parents' house on the docs. Of course there are no adults at this party, but Skyler and Gosalyn lied to Gwen and said Jackson's parents would be home. Skyler is not into wild parties, but he feels he needs to go in order to fit in with his soccer team. He is 1 of 2 freshmen that are on varsity.
Skyler: "Are you sure you're okay with going to this party?"
Gosalyn: "Absolutely. Come on Skye you've worked so hard to make the varsity team, it's time you had some fun."
Skyler: "Not too much fun though right?"
Gosalyn: "What are you worried about?"
Skyler: "We've never been to this kind of party before. The guys are great but, they can be off the wall sometimes."
Gosalyn: "Tell you what, we'll go, we'll spend some time there, and if you want to leave, we'll leave. Deal?"
Skyler: "Deal"
They arrive at the party, and most of the kids are just mingling and carrying around red cups. Nobody is acting rowdy or causing commotion. There's music playing and people are dancing. Gosalyn and Skyler walk in holding hands.
Gosalyn: "You see? This isn't so bad."
One of Skyler's classmates, Justin, walks up to the couple with two red cups and hands them to Skyler and Gosalyn.
Justin: "Here dude, cheers!"
Skyler sniffs the drink before taking a sip and realizes it is beer. He stops Gosalyn from taking a sip. He takes the cup away from her.
Gosalyn: "Skye? What's the matter?"
Skyler: "Gosalyn, that's beer."
He takes her hand.
Skyler: "Come on we're leaving."
Gosalyn: "No, wait! Skye we don't have to drink the beer. Just carry it around for a while."
She picks up the two cups that Skyler put down on the counter and hands one to him.
Gosalyn: "If you want to fit in with these people you have to mingle."
Skyler knew she was right, but was very uneasy about being there with a bunch of teenagers and beer. It was only a matter of time before the party would start to get wild and people would start making fools of themselves. Skyler knew how the guys would get after winning a game, and that's without alcohol consumption.
Two hours into the party, the guys on the soccer team start to get loud. They are chanting "Chug Chug Chug Chug!". They have funnels and are taking turns chugging down beer. Just then they could hear sirens, and everyone starts to panic. The police arrive and they don't allow anyone to leave. Skyler and Gosalyn are forced to call Gwen to come and get them.
Back at the apartment, Gwen is furious with Skyler and Gosalyn. Launchpad is there too, but leaves the job of disciplinarian to Gwen.
Gwen: "What were the two of you thinking? You are way too young to be drinking beer."
Gosalyn: "We weren't drinking, honest. We were just carrying the beer around with us."
Gwen: "Gosalyn! That does not make it any better. First of all the two of you lied to me about this party. You made it sound like a group get together where there would be adults present. The fact that you lied about this party meant you knew I wouldn't approve."
Skyler and Gosalyn look at each other with disappointment. It didn't occur to them that they would get caught.
Gwen continues: "We talked about this before. You agreed if you are at a party where there are people drinking, you leave. You don't stay, you don't mingle, you don't join in. You call one of us to come pick you up. What happened to that Skyler?"
Skyler doesn't answer, just looks down with more disappointment. Not only did he get himself in trouble but Goslayn is in trouble too.
Gwen: "Both of you are grounded for two weeks. You are to go to school, go to practice, and then come home. Is that understood?"
Gosalyn and Skyler both answer: "Yes"
Gwen: "Good, now go to bed."
The kids head to their rooms while Launchpad watches on with disappointment. He hates when the kids get in trouble. He's a softy when it comes to the two of them, but he knew that Gwen was right in grounding them.
Launchpad: "You ok?"
Gwen is still angry: "Yes, I just can't believe they did this. Why did they do this? They are good kids and they both know better."
Launchpad: "High School, I remember what it was like. There's a lot of pressure to fit in, and peer pressure is a very strong force at their age."
Gwen: "Yeah, a big contributor to the delinquency of a minor. Launchpad, what if the police decided to arrest them, or press charges? This could have turned out a lot worse."
Launchpad: "Yeah, but it didn't. They are very lucky. We'll just have to make sure they learn from this experience."
