Enemy Within: Tequila Dreams
Peer pressure isn't good for you

Note: I do not own Power Rangers Jungle Fury or its characters. I'm just playing with them. Also I do not support underage drinking in the slightest. But in this chapter there is, its for the character development, not from finding it to be something that all children/teenagers should do.
Prompt: First Time Drunk (bigthingsinlife prompts)
Genre: General
Rating: T (Minor language, possible nudity)

My parents have come and gone. They did notice that I happened to have a guest and were extremely surprised it was a girl. They had been intrigued enough to ask her the basic are you? How do you know our son? How did you get here? Those kinds of things. I'm surprised they cared to know since they didn't ask me anything. But once again, they were gone and we were alone. I don't mind. I like being with her on a one on one basis.

As night drew near, Kiran returns to my room, having apparently raided the liquor cabinet from the looks of the bottle in her hand and fruit in the other. I've never drank before, never had the notion to. She obviously wants to since she found the bottle of what's labeled a cream sherry. She takes a long drink before she even had the bedroom door closed.

"How's that taste?" I ask, watching the look on her face. I would question why she was drinking in the first place but I knew I'd find out sooner or later.

"Not to shabby. Better than other wines I sampled earlier," she says, making a face. She comes over and sits on the bed; I manage to get the dish of fruit out of her hand as she takes another long drink. Her usually light white skin is now hued with pink.

"How much are you going to drink?" I ask, I don't like how fast and how much she's already drank. She looks at me, her pupils are dilating.

"As much as it takes." Fair enough, while she's distracted, I manage to get the bottle from her grasp and take a small sip. It was sweet and went down easy, I didn't mind the taste. Still not something I had intended to do but I don't want her drinking alone. Besides that, this is my parents good Sherry and I don't want her taking any wrath, if there was any to be had.

She goes to get something from her bag and is swaying on her feet. She's consumed almost half the bottle and judging by her side, she's probably going to feel it fast. She squats down and begins to dig through her bag, body swaying. The lion wants to take advantage of this state. I take another drink, hoping it makes him shut up and to my surprise his voice begins to fade. Instead of the other feeling, the power, the animalistic thoughts going through my head, it's dimming. No wonder why she's drinking. My thoughts aren't being overpowered with thoughts of dominating and power, but something more positive…more me. The me I was before the Lion burst out of me.

She's been upset since she arrived about her spirit; its power is still so strong. I've tried to help her with exercises that helped me. Lately a simple mediation has allowed me to communicate easier with the Lion. He still has a lot of power to dominate my actions but I hope he will start to see that this is my body, not his to control. When I hear a thud from Kiran's general direction, I look over to see her laying on the floor giggling.

"I'm not getting up," she tells me. "I like it here." I just shake my head and get up. "Bring the Sherry!" she calls cheerfully. I roll my eyes and grabbed it.

"Want the fruit?"

"Not really."

"Then why did you bring it?" I asked, as I sat down next to her.

"It's a dessert wine!" I just shake my head and hold the bottle out of her reach and take another sip…which turns into one long drink. "Enjoying it?" she asks, staring up at me. I feel my skin warm up, I'm tempted to just take off my shirt and feel her body on my flesh. I love the feeling, the contact I had been denied for so long, I relish each second.

"Not as much as you." I told her, as she seizes the bottle back and takes a drink. I have no idea how she's able to drink while lying down without choking. I'm feeling pretty good right now and decide instead of getting up and stumbling about, I'd lay beside her. She lets out a happy noise and rolls over to cuddle to me. I smile and place my hand on the small of her back exposed by her shirt. Her skin is so soft; I can't help but want to touch it. She doesn't seem to mind as I run my fingers in small circles against her bare skin. I smile as she laughs softly; I like to hear her laugh. "You're pretty when you laugh." I blurt out. She bursts into a 100-watt smile.

"And you're amazingly snuggle-able."

"First time I've heard that. No one has cared to be this close to me."

"You're very intimidating at first, there's this strong energy around you. Your face, because of your internal battle is so strong, is usually so stern and focused. Mean…fierce…strong…I like that" she says with a smirk.

"Well you're tiny. So small…with your long blonde hair. So warm, compared to me. I liked how happy you made me with a smile. I've never seen someone who's smile could make me smile. The fact you were happy, made me happy. I didn't feel alone when I was around you. I don't like being alone."

"Sometimes people leave you, half way through the wood. Others may deceive you, you decide what's good. You decide alone, but no one is alone." She sang to me softly.

"What's that from?" I ask, the tenderness in the way she sang has me intrigued.

"A musical called "Into the Woods". I remember it when I was a girl." Her face darkens a bit and she leans over and gets another drink and then pushes it away. Its mostly gone now but I don't care, I just want the darkness gone from her eyes.

"Why does it make you sad?"

"Bad things happened. I don't want to talk about it…hmm." She drifts off and smiles, nibbling on her lower lip. My lips are tingling, I don't know if it was from remembering our first kiss or because of the booze but either way, it's a strange feeling.

"My lips are tingling." I tell her, not that it matters, she smiles and scoots up more so she's eye level with me. My hand moves from the small of her back to her face and I gently stroke her cheek, it's just as soft as the skin on her back.

"Can I feel?" she asks, which was rather pointless since she leans over and kisses me anyways. This is nice, laying here, completely relaxed for the first time since I discovered my animal spirit. Here, with her lips on mine, her kiss is so gentle…so her. I want to feel like this all the time, I want to be relaxed, calm and gentle. I don't want to be intimidating.

"I love you," I tell her, I'm not afraid to tell her now. She's tipsier than I am and she may forget.

"I thought you said that to me before Muffin, why hide it? Love is wonderful! All you need is love!" She bursts out laughing, I stare at her. Her laughter dies down and she pokes me in the nose. "Jarrod, I do care so much for you. Hell it may even be love but I can't say love just yet. I want to be with you, I want to be with you. You make me happy. There's something in you, I see, I've always seen. I don't care that your dark and brooding, you've seen me do the same. We all have darkness but we all have light. Those lines blur too often just in different situations." She kisses me again, this time with more passion in it.

I don't know what this means for us now but I love her and I guess she loves me. In a way. Right now as we lay here. I really don't care. As long as I'm not alone.