"It smells like WHAT?" Mr. Anderson didn't wait for an answer, he was out of his chair to see for himself in seconds.
Mrs. Anderson sighed. "Now don't completely flip out about this..."
"Flip out? I'm going to-"
"You're going to have dinner with me." Mrs. Anderson's gaze was firm. "You're going to calm down before you deal with this."
"Rosalie, this is exactly what I was talking about before. He's getting out of hand and-"
"He's not getting out of hand. He's being a teenager. And aside from being forgetful about his laundry he's generally a really well-behaved one. We don't know what happened. Maybe there's... an explanation."
Gabe gave Rosalie a look. She put her hands up. "Maybe not. But if you go up there all upset, I know you and I know you're going to regret it."
Mr. Anderson leaned against the island, frustrated. "You're saying I shouldn't punish him?"
"No. I'm saying you need to calm down first. And then... find out what he has to say."
Mr. Anderson rubbed his forehead, tense, when he had a sudden realization. "When I was upstairs, before- he said he hadn't been feeling well this morning."
Mrs. Anderson raised an eyebrow. "Well then. It sounds like maybe Blaine did some things last night that had some natural consequences. Greg experimented when he was his age too-"
"Yeah and when I found the empty cans in Greg's room I made good and sure he didn't sit for a week. And it was never a problem again."
"Of course you did," Mrs. Anderson soothed, moving over to her husband and touching his chest. "You're right. We don't let these things go. I'm not telling you to. But there's never been an issue like this with Blaine before. If you're going to-" Mr. Anderson opened his mouth to object and she corrected herself, "-when you discuss this with him... you need to be be fair and not go overboard. If Blaine's been drinking, it's disappointing. But it doesn't make him a bad kid. If you go up there angry, we're going to be in a situation where he just resents you and tries to keep more secrets like this in the future."
Gabriel Anderson took a deep breath. She was right. Years back, he had dealt with Blaine's older brother's behavior while he was angry on too many occasions and come to regret most of them. He had no problem disciplining his sons if he felt they needed it, but he wasn't always clear that he did it because he cared about them. Spoiled children grow up to be adults who have a lot more problems than a little spanking. But that time with Greg and the empty beer cans... It was one of only a handful of times he'd taken his belt to his sons. It was exactly what his father would have done, he had reasoned. But it had been too far, he realized in retrospect, and he probably wouldn't have done it if he'd cooled off first. Things were tense between him and Greg for months after that. With Blaine he'd tried to make a better effort to bond than he had the first time around- taking him to football games, rebuilding that car- but it seemed like the older he got he felt less and less connection to him. He just never felt like he knew what was going on in his head, and his entire relationship was quickly being reduced to keeping him in line, being little more than a warden. Rosalie was much better at striking a balance than he was.
"Okay," Mr. Anderson conceded, sitting down and spooning some chili on his plate. "I'll discuss it with him tonight. If he's been drinking, he's going to be punished. But I will hear what he has to say first."
"Sounds reasonable to me." Mrs. Anderson said, satisfied as she sat down to eat herself.