House of the Bakers
My brothers' birthday party was still in full swing as I sneaked into my room with Brandon and shut the door as a precaution, so nobody could bother us. We had been a couple for a few weeks. But apart from a few shy kisses and hand-holding, nothing sexual had happened between us. I had been surprised to notice that he was even more shy than me. At first I had only been interested in tutoring him. But after a few months of going in and out of his house I had realized that I felt more for him than just friendship. And I had been totally happy when I found out that he had felt the same way about me. He had just been too shy to ask me if I wanted to become his girlfriend. And because of that I had decided one day to ask him.
"What if someone finds us here?" Brandon asked, looking around uncertainly. "Won't we get into trouble then?"
"It's not forbidden to invite a friend to my room," I replied snappily, pushing him over to my little sofa. "Just take a seat and have something to drink." I pointed to the drinks I had previously taken from my parents' bar and had smuggled upstairs.
Brandon read the various labels stuck to the bottles and his eyes widened. "There is alcohol in the bottles," he exclaimed in surprise.
I rolled my eyes impatiently. "Of course, they are with alcohol. Where is the fun otherwise?"
"We're both 15, Izzy!"
His reproachful look hit me, and I sighed inwardly. I should have known that it would be difficult to persuade him to do something forbidden. Brandon was always so correct in everything. He reminded me of my big brother, Jude. "A few more weeks and I'm 16," I said pointedly. "When is your birthday?"
"February 23," he muttered. "But even then we must not drink alcohol. Where did you get that stuff from anyway?"
"From my parents' bar," I admitted. "They always have the bottles unlocked in the living room cabinet. I think they won't even notice that a few bottles are missing."
"That doesn't make it any better," he replied.
I took the liqueur bottle and poured the contents into two glasses and shoved a glass into his hand. "Try it! It tastes really sweet and fruity. And it doesn't have that much alcohol either." Although he hesitated at first, he actually took a sip and then looked at me in surprise.
"Tastes really good," he admitted. "And you're sure you can't get drunk from it?"
I nodded, hoping to convince him. It was a lie, of course, but I just wanted Brandon to relax a bit. He was always so tense when we were together. "I have often drunk this myself. I've never been drunk," I continued with lying.
"Well then..." He held the glass to his lips again and took another sip.
When he finally put his empty glass on the table, I stared at him in amazement. Apparently he had quickly overcome his doubts about alcohol. "Do you want more?" I asked cautiously, pouring the glass again as he nodded. With a frown I watched him as he emptied the next glass to the last drop and then got up and walked over to my bed.
"You... you don't mind... if I rest... a moment... Iz...?" he slurred.
From the way he stumbled over the words I realized that he wasn't sober anymore. I had wanted him to relax, but when he stripped off his jeans and shirt and crawled into my bed and pulled the blanket over his head, I doubted my action. I took the bottle and looked at the contents. He hadn't drunk that much. But apparently he wasn't really used to alcohol. Sighing, I reached for him. "Brandon? You can't sleep here," I said determinedly as I tugged at his arm. "At some point they will notice our disappearance, and then they are looking for us." I could have spoken to a wall because he didn't respond to my words. He didn't respond to anything I did. Panic came over me. Did he suffer an alcohol intoxication? I remembered that Davis had been so drunk once that Dad had taken him to the hospital. He had been unconscious at the time. I looked at Brandon. He looked very peaceful, as if he was asleep. But it was also possible that he was already unconscious. After trying another time to wake him up, I finally decided to call for help. With trembling fingers, I unlocked the door and ran as fast as I could down the stairs. I didn't want to run into my mom or dad. But I really didn't care about that at the moment. I just wanted to get help quickly. But it was Lydia I almost collided with when I turned the corner.
"Hey, why are you in such a hurry?" she asked with concern in her voice.
I left the question unanswered and grabbed her hand instead. "I need your help," I said curtly, dragging her up the stairs. She was 7 months pregnant, so I had to force myself not to run. But when we reached the top, I hastily opened the door to my room and pushed her inside. I hardly dared to look her in the face, but I could hear her gasping for air. "It's not what it looks like," I hurried to say before I slowly went to the bed, where Brandon was still lying motionlessly.
"Oh my God, Izzy! What did you do?" Lydia exclaimed stunned.
"Nothing." I ran a hand through my dark curls. "We were drinking alcohol, and then he was suddenly tired. He crawled into my bed and fell asleep immediately. Nothing happened between us. I promise!" I could see from her skeptical look that she didn't believe me. "It's the truth. I swear!"
"You're both fifteen," she muttered, feeling for Brandon's pulse. "Thank God, he still has a pulse. But I think you underestimated the effect of alcohol."
"Do you think we should call an ambulance?" I asked anxiously, stepping nervously from one foot to the other.
She shook her head. "I don't think that's necessary. He is breathing normally. What he needs is just some sleep."
"Thank God!" I let out a sigh of relief. "I really thought I had killed him!"
Lydia took the bottle of liqueur and sniffed at it. "If you are not used to this stuff you can get pretty drunk," she said with a serious face. "What did you intend to do? Did you want to seduce him?"
My horrified look that I gave her was not even played. I really didn't think about that. A little smooching and fumbling - yes, but no sex!
"Don't look at me so shocked. You are almost 16. It's not that unusual to have sex at that age." She pointed to the bed. "You can be glad it was me and not Brooke or Julian who found him here."
"You are not telling them, are you?" I looked at her pleadingly. "Please Lydia. I didn't mean to seduce him. I just wanted him to relax a bit. We don't think about having sex or anything like that yet. And that's really not a lie."
"I won't tell your parents," she promised after a moment's hesitation. "But you have to promise me you won't do that again. That could have ended really, really bad. Let him sleep off the intoxication now. When he wakes up, he might have a headache. But that will wear off soon."
"You are speaking from personal experience?"
She nodded hesitantly. "Yeah, you remember my birthday?" She raised her eyebrows meaningfully. "I was pretty drunk and it almost cost me my life."
"I know." I looked at her in concern. "Davis saved you back then."
She nodded again. "That's why I know how dangerous it can be to consume alcohol senselessly."
"I'll never do that again, I promise," I vowed.
"It's okay. We are like sisters. And sisters have to stick together, right?"
When Lydia left the room I went to Brandon and laid down on the bed next to him. It would probably take hours before he had slept off his intoxication. Sighing, I reached for my MP3 player, put the earphones in my ears and snuggled closer to him. Tired, I closed my eyes and let the rhythm of the music lead me into a daydream.
