Chapter 52

Stef noticed Lux begin to eye her surroundings as if she was determining whether or not to make a break for it. "Don't even think about it," Stef said in a stern voice.

Lux remained still and stared at the bathroom door and then back at Stef. "What are you doing here?" she asked in a somewhat accusatory tone. She was too drunk to really contemplate the consequences of her actions.

"I can ask you the same thing," her mother answered simply. "Mariana?" Stef yelled so that her other daughter could hear her from the other side of the door.

"Mom?" Mariana said in a confused and frightened tone. "What are you doing here?" she repeated Lux's question.

"You're both drunk!" Stef said. "Unbelievable," she shook her head as she stared back at Lux. "How were you expecting to get home?"

"Uber," Lux answered nonchalantly, which bothered her mother even more.

"Who else is here?" Stef asked. "Callie?"

"No," Lux said as she made a face. "No one wanted that Debbie Downer to come. She wouldn't have let us have any fun, if she came."

"FUN?" Stef repeated. "Oh, you'll have plenty of fun over the next few weeks…" she smiled slyly.

Mariana opened the bathroom door and was greeted by the looks on both Stef and Lux's faces.

"Mariana," Stef began as she reached for her when she saw that she was holding onto the door frame in order to keep herself from falling. "You look like a mess."

Once Stef held her up, Mariana looked back at her mother, "I just threw up," she told her causing Stef made a face at the smell of her breath. "Yeah sweets, I can tell."

Lux smiled and tried to hold back a laugh. She felt her cellphone begin to vibrate in the back of her pocket. She pulled it out and saw that it was Eric. She immediately pressed decline and noticed a bunch of texts from him.

Lux where are you?

Lux I'm worried. Please call me back.

Please don't drink and drive. I can come get you. Just tell me where you are?

I'm really sorry about what I said. I didn't mean it. I love you.

"Are you seriously on your phone right now?" Stef asked her.

Lux looked up and could see the annoyed look on her face. "Just one minute, Lux answered as she tried to type a reply to Eric, but Stef snatched the phone from her hand and placed it into her pocket.

"Look at your sister," she ordered.

Lux stared at the phone in her mother's hand.

How could she not answer him back right this second? Erick just told her he loved her. He needed to know that she felt the same way. She wasn't sure if it was the alcohol in her bloodstream making her be overly emotional, but she needed to answer him.

"Can I please have my phone back? It's important."

Lux straightened up her posture when she noticed Stef's eyes harden. The young girl could almost see the blood boiling under her skin. Lux sighed, "Never mind…"

Lux turned to look at her sister. Mariana did look ill but she'd obviously had a low tolerance for alcohol. Lux couldn't help but think that her older sister should've listened to her when she said, "Beer before Liquor will make you sicker."

"She'll be fine. She just needs water," Lux answered. "And maybe some coffee."

"Lux?" Mike asked as he showed up behind Stef and Mariana as he got a glimpse of his daughter.

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"I can't even believe the two of you would do something so stupid," Stef said as she turned around from the passenger seat of the squad car that Mike was driving. "Do you have any idea how doing something so reckless could've ended up really bad for the two of you."

Mariana could barely look her mother in the eye as she leaned against her sister's shoulder and shut her eyes. "I feel dizzy."

"Who else knew that you two snuck out? Did Callie know?"

"No," Lux lied. "No one knew, okay? Geezz."

"You're lying," Stef accused.

"No, I'm not," she lied again. "This isn't a big deal. I don't know why you're turning it into one."

"Not a big deal!" Stef yelled making both girls practically jump in their seats.

"Everyone drinks, especially at parties," Lux pointed out.

"No, everyone doesn't drink," Mike intervened. "And you don't get to make those mistakes. You're the kid of an alcoholic or did you forget that part."

"I'm not an alcoholic," Lux pointed out. "And stop trying to make your mistakes, my mistakes. We're two different people."

"Do you think I started out as an alcoholic?" Mike asked her. "I started out just like you, drinking at parties, always thinking that it was no big deal, until it was. Pretty soon after that I was drinking at school, then drinking only to celebrate. And where did I end up? Spending most of my free time at meetings just so that I don't take a sip of that beer I was thinking about all day."

"Lux," Stef interrupted. "What your dad is trying to say is that you don't get the luxury of getting drunk every once in a while, and neither do you, Mariana.

Mariana opened her tired eyes to look at her mother.

"Both of you have parents who are addicts. And I know it might not seem like this right now, but it can be really easy for either one of you to carry that in your genes. And we don't want that. For either one of you. Not only that, it's dangerous for kids your age to be this drunk anywhere. Anything could've happened to you. Do you understand that?"

Both teens remained silent.

"We'll talk about this some more tomorrow," Stef said when she realized that her daughters might not remember anything about this conversation by tomorrow. And Lux's phone continued to buzz in Stef's pocket, which was beginning to irritate her.

"Hello?" she answered.

Lux's heart stopped…