Free Intoxicated by Alicia Renee Kline Page A

discussion
of the topic. Matthew went to go find Blake, and I busied myself
with pulling the chicken out of the oven. It smelled delicious. I
had just finished plating everything when the siblings returned. We
sat down at the table to eat, awkwardly silent.
    “This is really good,” Blake said, looking
from her brother to me. The gesture confirmed that she was
attempting to figure out what had happened in her absence.
    “Yeah,” Matthew agreed, not looking up from
his plate.
    “Thanks,” I said quietly.
    A few more minutes of silence passed. I
couldn’t take it anymore.
    “So,” I said as brightly as I could muster,
“any Thanksgiving plans?”
    Blake shook her head. “Not really. Matthew
and I usually just hang out at his place.”
    “No family meal?” This surprised me
immensely. I couldn’t imagine a holiday without my father.
    “We’re not really close,” Blake said
dismissively. She set her fork down on her plate, stealing another
glance at Matthew. When I turned to look at him as well, I saw his
expressionless face. Something about the whole conversation made me
cringe inside. I was headed into uncomfortable territory, of that I
was sure. “How about you, Lauren?”
    “It’s just me and my dad. Sometimes Eric
comes. Maybe we could do something here instead?”
    “Maybe. You don’t see your mom?”
    Well, if we hadn’t already been in
uncomfortable territory, we certainly were going straight ahead
into it now.
    “My mom passed away when I was two. She was
driving home from work and got hit by a drunk driver.”
    Blake offered her condolences. Matthew’s face
turned ashen, and after a momentary pause, he pushed his chair back
and rose from the table. Silently, he stalked off towards the
living room. I, too, prepared to stand, seriously confused by his
actions.
    “Let him go,” Blake advised, cutting me off
at the pass.
    I settled back into my chair. So maybe I had
put it a little bluntly, but after years of having to explain what
had happened, I had grown a little hardened. Really, there was no
good way to say it. When coupled with the fact that I had very few
actual memories of her, it was easy to become distanced from the
entire situation. When I grieved for her, which I certainly did, it
was more for the concept of a mother than for her as a person.
    My reverie was broken by the front door
slamming.
    I had seen just about every reaction possible
to the news of my mother’s death, but that was a new one. I looked
over at Blake, trying to read her expression for any clue of what
had just happened.
    “What did I do wrong?” I asked finally.
    Blake sighed and ran her hands through her
hair. “It wasn’t anything you did, Lauren. It’s what Matthew
did.”
     
     
     

Chapter Seven
     
    “I don’t understand,” I admitted.
    Blake rose and began cleaning up the dishes
on the table. Her explanation so far had amounted to nothing more
than a version of “It’s not you, it’s me”. Reluctantly, I stood and
assisted, reaching for Matthew’s now abandoned plate. We cleared
the table and loaded the dishwasher in silence. Blake was clearly
conflicted. As we worked, I imagined she was running through the
options in her head, deciding what and how much to tell me. Once
the task was completed, she left the room. I wondered if I should
follow.
    She returned a couple of minutes later,
holding a white three ring binder in her hand. She motioned for me
to follow her into the living room. I did so, and sat beside her on
the couch.
    “Promise me something,” she began shakily.
She clutched the binder to her chest as though it was her lifeline.
“Please don’t be mad at me. If you want to break your lease, I’ll
understand. I’ll tear it up and give you all your money back.”
    I swallowed past the lump in my throat.
“Blake, I don’t know what to say. You’re scaring me, honestly. But
things are never usually as bad as they seem. So I’ll do my best to
keep an open mind.”
    She nodded,