Julie looked at her watch. It read four o' clock in the afternoon. She was somewhat frustrated that Marissa was not out of bed yet. Although she knew that her daughter liked to sleep until the late hours of the day, she was worried about her because of the recent events that had transpired. Julie was afraid that her daughter was suffering from depression. Becoming increasingly worried as the time passed, Julie went up to her daughter's room. She knocked on the door twice before entering. There was no answer either time.
Julie decided to enter her room. She found a mess that she could hardly get through. Clothes were strewn about. Make-up kits were everywhere. CD's were lying around and the window coverings were closed, as to limit the amount of light that was allowed to enter into the room. When she finally did make her way to Marissa's bed, she found three empty vodka bottles lying on the ground, next to the bed, and Marissa passed out on top of the bed.
Infuriated, Julie marched out of her daughter's room, and down the stairs to call Jimmy. He had been over visiting with Sandy for a while. The two former business partners had been looking for a chance to catch up since the funerals, and the events with Kirsten. Julie picked up the phone in the kitchen and called Jimmy's cell phone. It rang three times. She prayed that he would pick up.
"Hello," Jimmy answered.
"Jimmy, it's me. Can you come here. It's really important," Julie pleaded.
"What's it about, Jules?" Jimmy asked. He knew what her idea of important could be - like ceramic shower curtain rings from Morocco .
"It's about Marissa. I went upstairs to wake her up because it's four in the afternoon, and I found her passed out on her bed with three empty bottles of vodka beside her. Jimmy, that's not normal. Not for any other teen, and not for Marissa," Julie explained to her ex-husband.
"All right, I'll be right over," Jimmy agreed.
Julie went into the living room and sat down silently. She thought about her daughter - about how much she really loved her, even though they never saw eye-to-eye on anything. She knew that she was the cause for most of Marissa's anguish and drinking. Julie did understand, on some level, why she and her daughter did not have the greatest relationship. However, her recent behavior went deeper than that now. The anger was no longer directed at her mother, it was directed at herself and the world, which worried Julie more than before because it was making Marissa increasingly self-destructive.
The front door opened and Julie rushed to see who it was, although she knew it was Jimmy. She hugged him and took him into the kitchen, so they could talk. He sat down on one side of the kitchen table, and she sat down across from him.
"What do we do, Jimmy?" Julie asked.
"I don't know," Jimmy replied. They sat across from each other silently for a moment. "We should probably wait and talk to Marissa when she wakes up, and call her doctors."
"Probably," Julie agreed. "And she seemed to be getting better too, and this had to happen. Ryan is no good for her."
"Hey, this is not Ryan's fault. Trey was the one who attacked Marissa, and Trey was the one who was attacking Ryan, when Marissa..." Jimmy trailed off.
"Well, if Ryan hadn't brought him here in the first place, then none of this would have happened, now would it?" Julie retorted.
Jimmy did not feel inclined to disagree - Julie did have a point, but he had nothing against Ryan, in fact, Ryan himself seemed to be a good thing for Marissa, in the past, and he knew that this was not directly Ryan's fault - it was theirs'. They sat at the table silently for a long time. Neither one of them knew what to say to each other. They both hoped that Marissa would wake up, so they could talk with her, and figure out what to do with their daughter.
Finally, about two hours later, while Julie was making dinner, Marissa got up. She got dressed and went downstairs. She looked in the living room for her parents, not realizing what time it was, then she walked into the kitchen. She smelled the lasagna her mother was making, and saw her father reading the paper at the table.
"Wow, that smells good," Marissa commented. She went and sat down next to her father at the table. Her mother had already set the places for them to eat at. Everyone was very silent. Marissa began to catch on that something was wrong, but she did not want to bring anything up.
Her mother took the lasagna out of the oven, and let it cool on top of the stove for a moment. She got the iced tea out of the refrigerator, and filed their glasses with it. Once she had set the glasses on the table, Julie got the lasagna off of the stove and served it onto the plates. Once she had served everyone, they all sat down at the table to eat.
"So Marissa, how was your sleep?" her mother inquired.
"It was fine, Mom," Marissa replied.
"Did the vodka help?" Julie said, getting to the point. Marissa glared at her mother.
"Julie, this isn't the time," Jimmy pointed out. "We're having a family dinner."
"You went in my room - without my permission," Marissa replied, astounded.
"Honey, it was four 'o clock in the afternoon. I was worried about you. I know you like to sleep late, but never that late," her mother explained.
"You went through my stuff!" Marissa exclaimed.
"Sweety, I didn't have to go through your stuff. The alcohol bottles were sitting right there - in plain sight," her mother said, defending herself.
"Look, whatever. I don't have to listen to this," Marissa said as she walked out of the room. She went upstairs to her bedroom. Her father waited for her to get up the stairs, and then he went after her. He found her lying on her bed with Share Bear.
"Hey, kiddo," her father greeted her.
"What do you want?" Marissa asked, in that moody tone she could have.
"Just to see how you are doing. Listen, your mom didn't have the right to go in your room without your permission, but you don't have the right - in this house, or by law - to drink. That means that your mom and I automatically have to right to go into your room and go through your things. We care about you, a lot, and we want to make sure that everything is all right... which is why we have decided that you need to go back to therapy, Marissa," Jimmy explained.
"What? Dad no! I'm fine. I mean, a lot has happened, but I'm fine. I can deal with it," Marissa protested.
"Judging by what I heard about, and have seen today, Kiddo, no, you can't deal with this by yourself. You need someone to talk to - to vent to - who is impartial, which is why your mother and I have scheduled an appointment for you with Dr. Milano for tomorrow afternoon," her father explained calmly.
"Fine. Whatever. How long do I have to go for?" Marissa asked.
"As long as she, your mother, and myself feel is necessary," Jimmy answered. Marissa sighed and laid back down on her bed with her bear. Her father stayed sitting next to her. They both knew this summer would not be fun.