I wasn’t sure how much I would have to drink to not gag on that. And I had planned to only have one or two to be social because I was in training.
“Yeah. Go get something decent,” I said.
I noticed she hadn’t brought me any change. She had money to spring for something better.
While she was gone, everyone else started to show up.
“Dude,” Tim said in shock when he saw the beer.
I flipped him off. He was confused because I never drank when training.
Wolf came up and smiled.
“You read my mind. I need a beer after today,” he said.
I had a big grin when I saw their faces as they tasted it. They looked at it and then at each other and shrugged. I cringed when they downed their first one.
“It’ll taste okay after a few,” Wolf said sagely.
Lisa came back and handed me a bottle of beer.
“They didn’t card you?” Tim asked.
“No, and if you’re bowling, they’re having a special. Those cost a quarter each,” Lisa shared.
So much for this being a secret. Tim took a picture of the tray of beers and announced it to the world on social media. I tried to stop him, but he reminded me that baseball started on Tuesday. Once that happened, Moose would enforce the no-drinking rule. Plus, tomorrow was President’s Day—meaning no school. It looked like we were having one last party before the season began.
◊◊◊
Within an hour, the bowling alley was packed. By the second hour, parents started to show up. How do I know that? Guess …
Yep. My mom sat down beside me, catching me completely by surprise. It sucked that she was social-media savvy. Either that or someone like Angie had clued her in to what we were up to.
“Somehow, I knew you would be in the center of all this,” she said.
I just pulled a Dawson and blinked at her.
“Aren’t you going to get me a beer?” she asked.
I reached behind me and grabbed a new beer out of the bucket. Lisa had discovered that they sold a bucket of six decent beers for ten bucks. I sat in stunned silence as my mom took a long draw, and then we locked eyes.
“Everyone drinking is not driving. You are responsible for collecting car keys. There will be rides for everyone in …” she checked her watch, “two hours.”
Apparently, I’d just entered some kind of alternate universe where my mom was cool with having a beer with me. I might have to have another one to help wrap my brain around that.
She gathered all the other parents, and they traipsed into the bar. What they didn’t see wouldn’t get them put in jail. I put Phil, Yuri, and Roc in charge of car keys, giving up mine first, and then kicked back and enjoyed all my friends and my date with Lisa.
◊◊◊
Chapter 19 – Straighten Me Out? Monday February 20
When my parents had shown up last night and made everyone drinking turn in their car keys, I’d decided to have a few more beers. I shouldn’t have been surprised when I found myself a little hungover when I woke up.
Duke had finally trained me, so he now slept on my bed at night. I rolled over and put my arm around him to give him a chest rub.
“How about we skip running this morning?” I asked him.
He looked up at me, and his tail wagged in agreement.
I rolled out of bed and stepped carefully to the bathroom where I took a couple of aspirin before getting into the shower. When it was hot, I began to soap up and enjoy the sensation as I started to become human again.
I still had a small smile on my face as I remembered Dare’s mom. Later in the night, she’d come to pick up Dare and Chrissy and found him drinking a beer. Apparently, neither of the Rossettis had been schooled in how to handle a situation where, in her book, he had misbehaved.
Dr. Rossetti finally decided that he needed a good scolding, and Dare looked like he might start to cry. Brook was right; he needed toughening up. If my mom ever took him to task, Dare would undoubtedly end up in the same mental health facility I planned to send Cassidy to.
The best part had happened when his girlfriend had stood up for him. Evidently, this wasn’t Chrissy’s first rodeo as far as getting into trouble went because she calmly talked to both Dare and his mom. When she was done, mom and son hugged it out. It looked like Chrissy was good for both of them.
Lisa had taken on my role as social butterfly. Word was out that she was my date, and my friends made an effort not to be so judgmental. I knew all would be well when she and Gina had a long, animated discussion, and both were smiling when they finished.
Speaking of Gina, she finally laid claim to Wolf. Tim had joined me to advise me that it had at last happened.
“I give it two weeks,” Tim predicted.
“I don’t know. The Bickersons have a better shot than most. They already know how to argue with each other,” I observed.
