AN-This is a sequel to chapter 424, where Tyler came back home drunk one night.
…..
Mass
"Well, look who's finally up," Sam said as Tyler walked into the kitchen, still wearing the clothes he had on the night before.
"My head hurts," Tyler mumbled, collapsing into one of the kitchen chairs.
"It's called a hangover," Sam said as she handed him a cup of black coffee and two Aspirins. "Here."
She watched as her son took a sip of the coffee. "Well I hope you had fun last night, because you're not going to be going out for awhile."
"Yeah, yeah, I figured," Tyler mumbled.
"Tyler," Sam sighed. "Why would you be stupid enough to drink?"
"Can I take a rain check on this lecture?" Tyler groaned. "I told you my head hurts."
"Good!" Sam said. "Maybe you'll think of that next time you decide to be an idiot."
"Come on, mom, everyone was drinking at that party," Tyler said. "Huey and Kirby probably had more to drink than I did!"
"Well that's up to their parents to deal with," Sam said.
"It's not that big of a deal," Tyler said. "And I didn't even drive home. I was responsible and called Emma to pick me up! Don't I at least get credit for that?"
"That was very smart of you, Tyler, and I'm glad you called your sister to come get you," Sam sighed. "But the point is you were still drinking."
"Mom, I told you, everyone was drinking!" Tyler said. "What was I supposed to do?"
"Oh, I don't know, maybe you could've used your own brain and made your own decisions instead of just doing what everyone else was doing," Sam said, crossing her arms. "Look, Ty, I know your dad and I raised you better than to be someone who just goes along with what people tell him to do."
"God, I just wanted to try it," Tyler mumbled. "It's not like Jason never did it! Or Emma! Or Ashton!"
"And they all got the same talk you're getting now," Sam said firmly. "Listen, I was in high school before-"
"Yeah, a million years ago…"
"You're not helping yourself here, kid," Sam said, rolling her eyes. "As I was saying…I was in high school before. I know that parties don't just have Seven Minutes in Heaven anymore. But you need to be responsible and know where to draw the line. I get that you like to have fun. I get that you were probably pressured into drinking last night, but you need to know when to say no to something that you know isn't okay for you to be doing."
"Alright, alright, I won't drink anymore!" Tyler snapped. "Jeez, why do you have to be on my case all the time?"
"Because, Tyler, you happen to be my son and I love you," Sam said. "What would've happened last night if you had a few more drinks and the little bit of sense that told you to call Emma to pick you up left you? What if you had wound up driving home and you got into an accident and got seriously hurt? You wouldn't be playing football anymore, that's for sure. You probably wouldn't be able to move for a month. What if you would've gotten into a worse accident and gotten yourself killed? Do you know what it would've been like for your dad and me to wake up to some police officer knocking at our door to tell us that our youngest child was dead?"
Tyler didn't respond.
"Okay…I don't mean to scare you," Sam sighed. "But answer me this, Tyler. Last night when you were drinking…did you have more fun than you usually do when you're at a party?"
Tyler slowly shook his head. "No," he admitted. "Not really. I sort of felt dizzy and sick the whole time. Plus everybody else was really drunk too so nobody was even making sense anymore."
Sam nodded. "So you didn't enjoy it?"
"Not as much as I thought I would've," Tyler said heavily. "Especially not when I have to wake up feeling like a dumbbell dropped on my head."
Sam smiled. "Good. I hope that means next time you'll think about that."
Tyler nodded.
"But…I'm also not an idiot," Sam said. "I can only tell you not to do stuff for a couple more years. Soon you'll be off to college and out there doing your own thing…I want you to know that your dad and I both trust you to make those good decisions. But I also want you to know that if you ever do find that you've maybe gotten yourself into a situation that you can come to us, okay? Believe me, we'd be a lot less upset about having to pick you up somewhere than if you wound up getting hurt."
Tyler gave his mom a small smile. "Okay. Thanks, mom."
Sam patted his shoulder. "Alright, finish that coffee quickly. You have a lot of work to do."
"It's Saturday," Tyler frowned. "What do I have to do?"
"Your punishment, of course," Sam smiled. "What? You didn't think you were gonna get off that easy, did you? Let's see, I think I'll have you start by cleaning out the shed in the backyard. Careful, though, I think I saw some massive spiders. And when you finish with that the garage door needs a fresh coat of paint and then the front yard needed to be weeded. Oh, and I think your dad's train display case needs to be polished. That one will take you awhile, you know how picky he is with that."
"So I'm gonna be doing chores all day?" Tyler exclaimed.
"That's right," Sam said brightly. "So you better get started."
