The Quiet One

Four

"Ayyyeee!" went a crowd of people after Kimberly and Noah arrived at the party.

Jared Lyman came up to Noah and threw his arm around him. "Who's the pretty girl you brought?"

"It's Kimberly, remember? In our government class?" Reminded Noah.

At first Jared seemed a little confused. His dark brown eyes narrowed in concentration. They nicely complimented his tan skin and dark hair. Finally, his eyes lit up in a lightbulb moment. "Aw, yeah man!" He then leaned closer to Noah and loudly whispered, "That girl's quiet, man. Never speaks a word."

Noah saw Kimberly wince at the comment, having just learned about how her quietness made her feel impaired. He definitely smelled alcohol on Jared, though, and figured that he must be drunk. "She actually has an astounding personality. Truly is beautiful inside and out." He looked over at Kimberly who was now blushing and smiling.

"Yeah," Jared giggled, "she's pretty hot."

"I smell alcohol," stated Noah. "Have you been drinking? Are you drunk?"

Jared laughed some more. "Probably. I had a couple beers. Maybe four."

"My gosh," Noah sighed and directed him to the couch for him to hopefully stay before doing something stupid. "Have a seat. Eat some bread and water and try to get it out of your system."

"You can't eat water!" Jared cracked up.

While he was having a laughing fit with a couple of other drunk people, Noah went back over to Kimberly.

"Hey, I'm sorry, Kim," he said.

"For what?" She asked.

"I didn't know there would be alcohol here. I should've figured, knowing Jared. We don't have to stay if you're not comfortable," he offered.

"No, I want to," she smiled.

Quite honestly, Noah was surprised. "Really?"

"It's Friday night," she said. "Senior year. I want to loosen up, have some fun. I never have outings like this."

"Okay," he consented. "But we aren't going to drink. I don't want to upset your mom."

"Right, I know," she smiled. Then she started moving to the blaring loud music. "Let's dance!"

They danced a while, and eventually Jamie came around with beers. "Want some?"

"No," declined Noah. "Thanks."

"Do you?" She asked Kimberly.

Kimberly was honestly thrilled that someone asked her in particular what she wanted. This made her feel like she had to accept. "Well, just one couldn't hurt, right?"

"Right!" High fived Jamie after handing off the beer before leaving.

Noah seemed less than thrilled about her decision. "What are you doing? You're underage."

"Come on," Kimberly shrugged. "It's senior year, and I want to loosen up. It's just one, anyway. Look, I won't even drink the whole thing. I just want to try it."

Not wanting to seem bossy or controlling, Noah didn't say more and just pouted and tried to ignore what she was doing.

Soon, half a can became a whole can. One can became two, and she became drunk. She tried to get a third, but Noah didn't let her. "Noah!" She said drunkenly. "Let me do what I want. You were so sweet earlier."

"We're going home," he said, guiding her out the door and into his car.

"Way to stop the fun," she pouted.

"Who even are you?" He asked. "You were so different on our way up here."

"I loosened up," she shrugged. "I'll be all normal again tomorrow. Now I just need to sleep."

Before she dozed off, he made sure she knew she had to face a certain reality: her mom."What's your mom going to say?"

She shrugged. "I don't want to think about it. She might be sleeping. I can sneak in." She wasn't wrong- it was 11:30, so her mom might've gone to bed.

"I'm sorry I let you do this," he shook his head. "I'm going to drop you off and make sure you get inside okay, then I'm going to leave. If she's up, I'm sure your mom will want to do some talking. Tell her I'm sorry, too."

"Sure," she said, even though she didn't totally comprehend what all he said.

They arrived at Kimberly's house, and to her advantage, with all of the lights in the house off. She thought her mom would probably be in bed, but there was always that chance that she might have stayed up to hear about the dated that Kimberly probably ruined.

"Well," sighed Noah, "we're here. I have to say, I'm a little disappointed about tonight. You were so great until you started drinking. It's my fault, too, I should've never even let you take that first beer. For that, I'm sorry."

"Me too," said Kimberly, although she couldn't think clearly enough to muster up an entire apology. "I...can't think. I have a big headache, and I'm going to go inside."

"Right," said Noah. "I guess I'll see you Monday."

Kimberly held up her phone. "Text me?"

Noah shrugged in response, not sure of how he felt. "Go on in. I'll wait until you get inside."

Kimberly nodded and headed back to her house, as quietly as she could for being drunk. She stubbed her toe on the first step and agonized her pain in silence. Finally she waved off to Noah and went upstairs to her room. She walked past her mom's room, where she was watching the TV.

"Hi Kimberly!" Called out her mom. "I wanted to go to bed, but I also wanted to hear about the big first date, so I stayed up! How'd it go?"

"Good," she put her thumb up and tried to smile. Good thing the lights were off and the only thing battling the dark was the illumination from the TV screen.

"Want to talk about it?" Asked her mom, sitting up.

"Not tonight," said Kimberly. "I'll talk to you tomorrow. I'm really tired and I have to get some sleep. I work tomorrow."

"Not until 4, I thought?" Questioned her mom.

"Yeah, I picked up a shift," lied Kimberly. "I actually go in at 8. But it ends at 12. I'll talk to you when I get home in between shifts." Now Kimberly would have to find somewhere to go at 8 so that her mom wouldn't pick through the lie. Even drunk, she felt really guilty about the lie. She never lied to her mom. What happened?

Her mom seemed disappointed, but tried to be understanding anyway. "Okay, Sweetheart. Get some rest, and have a good day at work. We can get some lunch after you get off and talk. Goodnight."

"Okay," said Kimberly. "Goodnight."