Shattered Appearances ✓

t e n: It Only Takes One Drunken Mistake to Ruin Your Life

The morning after wasn't fun at all. It was only a matter of time before I had to step out and face the punishment for my crime. It seemed like a much better offer to sleep in my comfy blanket and stay in here forever.

Knowing that I could stay here forever, added to the fact that I was hungry, I stepped outside and slowly went to my kitchen. My dad was sitting next to the island, reading a newspaper, when he saw me.

"It was a only a matter of time before you came down."

"How did you know I was going to come here?" I protested.

"The kitchen has food. My case in point." He said when I opened the fridge to take out a greek yogurt.

He didn't say anything else while I sat down and started eating my yogurt. Only when I was done and was about to throw out the container, he decided to speak.

"I just want to know why. Why did you do what you did yesterday?"

My mind scrambled for a lie, but a second later, smooth words were leaving my mouth.

"It wasn't that big of a deal. Teenagers drink all the time."

"But to do it in my home. That's unacceptable. I thought we raised you better than this."

My jaw ticked at what he said. It was one thing to say that this was his home and I basically didn't belong here, but it was another thing to say that he raised me.

"You didn't raise me; my mother did. And thanks for making me feel like more of an outsider. I'll make sure I won't damage your home again."

My father was left speechless when I left the kitchen and marched right off to Stephanie's room. I banged on her door, and it gave me slight satisfaction to know that it probably made her head hurt ten times worse. I already knew that my dad thought of me as an outsider to his perfect family but it hurt even more when he confirmed it.

It took a couple of seconds before Stephanie opened the door in annoyance. She was holding her head and her eyes were half closed. After she opened the door, she went back to bed, and I sat on the first chair I saw.

"What do you want?" She muttered and she put a pillow over her head.

"I think I deserve an explanation. I did cover for you and got my ass in trouble."

"I never asked you to do that. It was completely your choice."

"It's not too late to tell dad that you were the one drinking and not me. Now that I think about it, I have no idea why I go through all this trouble to protect you if you're never willing to do the same for me."

"You wouldn't dare." Was all she said as Stephanie got up and looked at me straight in the eye.

"Try me. I can be a cruel bitch when I want to. Now start talking."

My voice came out harsher than expected but it was hard to say what I did in a kind voice. I started circling the room, waiting for an explanation. At first she didn't say anything, but after a couple of minutes she stood up and went looking for something in her drawer.

"I was doing well. I haven't drank in a long time. It really started again around two months ago."

Although I tried not to feel anything, my soul became heavier at that statement. A couple of weeks before I left to Maryland two years ago, Stephanie promised me that she would never drink again. There's a history of alcoholism in our family, so I tried to avoid the bloody drink as much as possible. As much as I hated to admit it, I didn't want to end up with Stephanie.