“C’mon, Justin, you can’t fall asleep. You have to stay awake.” She coaxed his drunken self to wake by gently shaking his shoulder. When he didn’t flinch, she tried a little bit harder.
“Hey,” Travis turned his head to look behind him. “We’re almost there. Okay, bud?”
The car hit a bump and Kristen rolled her eyes when his head lolled to the side. “Justin,” she said suddenly.
“Hmm?”
“Wake up.”
“Okay.” He squinted at the headlights passing by on the other side of the road. He leaned forward and rested his forehead against the seat in front of him. His eyes drifted shut. “This thing is wet.”
She leaned forward and felt the head rest. “No, it’s not. You have to keep your eyes open. Stop shutting your eyes.”
“I can’t,” he told her.
She grabbed his shoulders from behind and pulled him back against the seat. His head flopped back against it. He opened his eyes and his head rolled to the side. “I see a telephone pole.”
“Yeah?” Kristen asked. “What else do you see?”
He lifted his head. “I see trees.”
“What else?”
“I see … trees. And leaves. And bright lights,” he said softly. “And… cars… dirt…” He cleared his throat and leaned back against the seat.
“Justin, you can’t go to sleep. You have to stay awake.”
“Uh huh…” he said with closed eyes. She rubbed his leg to keep his nerves stimulated. “I don’t feel good.”
Travis’s head snapped back and he gave Kristen a glare. She gave him a goofy look that simply meant “Uh oh…” Travis mumbled an indecipherable something under his breath, and Kristen was sure it was something along the lines of Justin being dead meat. He pressed on the radio and a soft melody filled the small car.
Kristen brought her hand over to cup the opposite side of Justin’s face and turned it to face her. She tapped his stubbly cheek softly to wake him. “You need to shave,” she whispered into his ear. She looked out the window at the trees going by. “Trav, I thought you said we were almost there?”
“We are.”
“Kind of,” she snorted. “I can’t keep him awake any longer. He’s already out.”
“Fine, just let him sleep. Maybe some of it will wear off by the time we get there. I’ll try to kill some time.” He took a harsh turn, sending Justin’s limp form onto Kristen’s shoulder. His side began to slide off of hers, so she took him in her arms and laid him down in her lap. She rubbed his shoulder unconsciously like a mother would caress her sick child.
“Honestly, Trav. Do you really think alcohol can wear off in ten minutes? We have to be back by midnight.”
“Oh, well. It’s his fault. He shouldn’t have drank. He knew we were sleeping at my place, and he certainly knows how strict my parents are. He’s fucking stupid.”
Kristen held her silence. As much as she wanted to defend Justin, he shouldn’t have drank.
“As long as we can keep him quiet, my parents won’t find out.” He looked at them in the rear view mirror and Kristen just nodded. “Actually, I do hope he gets caught,” he said, half serious. “He deserves it. He always gets away with it.” He flicked his blinker on and his car crawled down his bumpy road.
Kristen looked down at Justin for some kind of movement. Some sort of reaction to the rutted road. But there was none.
The car rolled into Travis’s driveway and he turned it off cautiously. Kristen shook Justin’s flaccid body and received no response. Climbing out of his car, Travis leaned his seat forward to help Kristen get Justin out. She unbuckled his seat belt and sat him up. His head flopped forward.
“How the hell are we going to do this?” she murmured. They seemed to be stuck. Getting a passed out seventeen-year-old out of a two-door car wasn’t exactly the easiest feat. Travis grabbed Justin’s torso and pulled it out of the car. Kristen grabbed his feet and picked them up. She pushed them out of the car onto the ground as Travis continued to pull him out. She climbed out of the car and closed the car door as discreetly as she could. Travis had wrung Justin’s arm over his shoulders and tried to persuade him to walk. But Justin’s knees were weak and his body was like spaghetti, only heavier, and he did nothing but threaten to fall flat on his face.
“Mother fucker,” he mumbled. He laid Justin down on the ground and scooped him up from under his armpits. “Grab his ankles,” he whispered harshly. Together, they hauled him to the door. “Shit,” Travis mumbled, fumbling for his house key in his pocket. He let go of one of Justin’s sides and his arm slumped to the ground. Travis fingered his key and pulled it out of his pocket, forcing it into the door handle and turning it. He pushed the door open and slid his arm back under Justin’s pit. They carried him into the house and Kristen kicked the door shut with her foot. Justin was brought to Travis’s bedroom and laid on the bed.
Travis sighed. “That wasn’t so hard.”
“It wasn’t, was it?”
Both Kristen’s and Travis’s heads snapped around and saw her standing there angrily with one hand on the doorknob and the other on her hip. “Mom!”
“What are you doing?”
“Nothing,” he answered calmly.
“What is he doing?” She motioned to Justin with her head. “Is he drunk?! What, did he pass out?”
“Uh - no,” he said.
“Travis Michael, don’t you dare lie to me. Were you drinking, too?! Was she drinking?!”
“No! No, mom, we weren’t drinking. Me and Kristen didn’t drink.”
“Travis, I’m sick of this! You’re always out partying, and I’m sick of it! I won’t have it anymore! I’m driving him home.”
“Mom - you can’t! His mom thinks he’s sleeping here.”
“I don’t care,” she shook her head.
“Mom, please. Just let him sleep here. I’ll bring him home in the morning.”
“I’m not going to keep being responsible for all of your drunk friends. You’re going to have to stop with this. No more, Travis. Do you hear me? No more.”
“I understand, mom. Good night.” He got up and closed the door as she walked away. “She’s so fucking dumb. See what you do to me, Justin? You get me in trouble.” He slapped him upside the head. Justin flinched.
Kristen clicked her tongue at Travis and climbed into the bed with Justin. “Hey, Jus, you awake?”
“I have to take a piss,” he groaned.
“I’m sure you do.” She sat him up and helped him off the bed. “Go ahead.”
Justin grabbed his head and swayed a bit, putting a hand on the mattress to steady himself. He walked into the bathroom, not bothering to turn the light on before he pulled down his pants and held himself up with a hand against the wall while he pissed.
He stumbled back to the bed and fell into it when he was done. His legs dangled off the side. While Kristen went into the bathroom, knowing he hadn’t flushed the toilet, Travis took off his shoes and tossed them onto the floor. He twisted Justin’s body so that it was back on the bed. Kristen pulled a blanket up over him.
Kristen turned to Travis. “He got away with it again.”
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