24 – Jake’s Birthday Blast (1)

 

Maple hadn’t been allowed to do… anything.

She couldn’t leave the house. She couldn’t use her phone, watch, or tablet. She couldn’t even ask Kyra how her labor went. (For all she knew, Kyra died giving birth!)

She also wasn’t allowed to attend her own graduation ceremony. But surprisingly, her brothers didn't tell anyone about her phone.

“You said you’ve been using a VPN on this?” Walker had asked her later, phone in hand. “You do know those are illegal?”

Maple did not. “Really?”

“In certain scenarios,” Carter added. “Like this one.”

“Why?” Maple asked. “Because they want to hide information from us?”

Walker shook his head. “Because minors might use one to look at… things they shouldn’t be looking at. Things that are bad for them. It’s to protect the children. Or, it was originally…” He looked at the phone in his hand. “We need to destroy this.”

“But I’m not done searching some things with it,” Carter whispered to him.

Muttering to each other, they walked out of her room.

Now, Maple had spent days alone with her thoughts. Not for the first time, she wondered if Jake, too, was using a VPN illegally. Surely the ES wanted to control information as much as the FS?

Then again, the ES didn’t seem as bad, so maybe not. It was a question she’d ask Jake- if she ever saw him again. Her chest ached. Already, she missed him. She was supposed to be celebrating his birthday with him later that day. Could she sneak out somehow? But even if she could, she didn’t know where he lived. Her brothers took away the phone before he could text her his address. God, she’d never even gotten the chance to get him a present.

Carter poked his head into her room. “You still hoping to go see Jake?”

Maple perked up. Were they going to allow it after all? “I thought I was grounded.”

“Exactly. Follow me.”

Maple followed Carter into the family room, where Walker sat on the couch, watching some football game on TV. Carter sat down next to him, and pointed to the armchair adjacent to the couch. “Sit.”

Maple sat, and waited for a lecture. Or more orders. Or something. But her brothers had their eyes on the TV.

“Why am I here?” Maple finally asked.

“So we can keep an eye on you,” Walker said. “I don’t trust you not to sneak out to see that boy.”

Maple scoffed. “So I’m just supposed to sit here all day?”

“And night,” Carter said.

“Seriously?!” As if being unable to see Jake on his birthday wasn’t bad enough.

 

~~~~~

 

Jake had received a text from Maple’s secret phone that said, “Never contact Maple again.” He guessed her brothers had discovered her secret phone. It probably also meant Maple wouldn’t be part of any of his birthday plans. It would be just him, Axel, and Sebastian.

“It’s probably a good thing she’s not coming,” Axel said to Jake over the phone. “This way we can go out and get drunk as fuck.”

“I’ve never gotten drunk,” Jake admitted. Nor had he ever been interested in doing so. Alcohol was so unhealthy, and made people act ridiculous.

“You’ve never been drunk?”

“I’m underage.”

“So?”

Was underage drinking considered normal here? Then again, Jake wasn't surprised. What else were teens supposed to do in Gilran? “We don't drink in the ES. At least not where I lived. We had funner things to do than sit around making asses of ourselves.”

“Yeah, we’re getting you drunk. Consider it my gift to you.”

That was how Jake found himself at a bar that Saturday night, instead of a small get-together at his house, like originally planned. One night of drinking (hopefully) wouldn't kill him. And he'd be lying if he said he'd never wondered what being drunk felt like. He sat on a bar stool next to Axel. Sebastian sat on Axel’s other side.

Jake read the menu, not knowing a thing about alcohol. “All I know is beer.” He’d tried a sip of his dad’s beer once, and he hated it. “I don’t really want one.”

“That’s fine,” Axel said. “One beer isn’t gonna get you drunk.”

“It could. He’s never drank before,” Sebastian said.

“I doubt it. Maybe buzzed. But we’re here to get drunk.” Axel looked over the menu. “You’d probably hate the sugar in some of these drinks.”

“Yeah, no sugar please,” Jake said.

“We can have him try different shots,” Sebastian said. “He can learn what he likes that way.”

Axel nodded, and looked to Jake. “That’ll get you drunk easily.”

“Sounds good.” Jake had heard plenty about people getting drunk off shots.

Axel waved the bartender over, and ordered a round of whiskey shots with a side order of fries.

They didn’t have to wait long. The bartender returned with a basket of fries, and three shot glasses of a clear liquid. Jake eyed the tiny glass. That was supposed to get him drunk?

Axel held his glass out. “Cheers!”

The three clinked their glasses together. Sebastian tilted his head back as he downed his shot. Axel did the same. Jake copied them, and flinched at the burn in his throat. “Ugh!” He fumbled for his glass of water to soothe it.

Sebastian laughed. “You’ll get used to it.”

Jake scrunched his nose as he grabbed a fry. Not that those tasted any better. Why couldn't Axel have ordered food that wasn't covered in grease?

“We’ll get something less burn-y,” Axel said. He glanced at Sebastian. “Should we go for a Ginger Squirt?”

"Sure."

“A what?” Jake asked.

Axel ordered it. It was a reddish color, and smelled like lime. They all took it. Like the whiskey, it burned, but nowhere near as bad. It even had a slight raspberry flavor to it that Jake surprisingly liked.

“What next?” Axel asked Sebastian. “A Banana Slammer? Or a Doctor's Death?”

“Maybe a Stanford Pearl Harbor. Doesn’t that one use zero sugar Hendi?”

“What is up with these names?” Jake asked, while Axel ordered just that.

It was black, fizzy, and burned more than the whiskey. Yet Jake found himself laughing this time. Why was he laughing?

Axel and Sebastian laughed along with him. Something about his surroundings had become slightly hazy. Almost like how he'd seen it in movies, but less dramatized “I think it’s starting to hit.”

Sebastian smirked at him. “Such a lightweight.”

Axel patted Sebastian’s shoulder. “Come on, Sebbie. Jake’s new to this. And it’s his birthday. We need to be nice to him!”

“I feel like I need another,” Sebastian said to the menu . “How about a Draft Dodger.”

A Draft Dodger? Jake guffawed. “That name's great! I want one too.”

Sebastian grinned. Axel slapped the table. “I’m on it! But this’ll be our last. We've clearly accomplished our mission here.” He nodded towards Jake’s mostly-full glass of water. “You need to drink that, unless you want to feel miserable tomorrow.”

“Right.” Jake fumbled for the water glass, and gulped it down, spilling some on his shirt. But he didn’t care. He found he didn’t care about anything. Was this why people enjoyed drinking?

After their Draft Dodgers, Sebastian ordered a Doctor's Death for himself, responding to Axel's motherly protest with a question. "Any plans after this?"

"Sleepover at Jake's, of course." Axel reached out to clasp Jake's shoulder, but somehow hit his inner elbow instead. "It's gonna be a blast."

Jake hadn't extended the invitation to Sebastian. He had no plans of telling him, and assumed Axel would be smart enough not to either. Or did Axel actually think Jake would go as far as to invite Sebastian to his house?

"We are?" Sebastian frowned at Jake. "You never mentioned that."

Jake opened his mouth as he tried to formulate an excuse, but Axel interrupted.

"Oh shit, did you only invite me? I'm sorry."

"It's fine, I wouldn't expect to be." Sebastian focused his attention on eating a few fries.

Should Jake be nice and invite Sebastian along? It wasn't like he still hated him. He'd actually grown to like him. (Not that he'd ever admit it.) Regardless, Sebastian would probably say no anyway, and Axel would be happy that Jake made an effort to be nice. "No, you can sleep over too, if you want. It's no big deal."

Axel pumped his fist. "Hell yeah! What do you say, Sebbie? It'll be fun!"

Sebastian returned Axel's smile. "Fun as it sounds, I don't have any spare clothes or... anything."

"So? We're not going anywhere tomorrow. We'd be leaving in the morning. Jake has to be at work around noon."

Now would be the part where Jake would offer up his pajamas, since Sebastian was likely too prudish to sleep in his underwear with them around. A shame, because Jake certainly wouldn't mind seeing Sebastian undressed... Jake squeezed his eyes shut. Christ! Where the hell did that thought come from?! He'd must've had far too much to drink. Face turned away, Jake grabbed a few fries of his own, and shoved them into his mouth. They actually didn't taste that bad now. "I have pajamas you can borrow."

"Guess I don't have an excuse." Sebastian gazed at Axel with a look that should make Jake jealous, but really just amused him. "I'm in."

"Awesome!" Axel rubbed the top of Sebastian's head, messing up his hair. "God, I get to have a sleepover with my two favorite people. It feels like it's my birthday we're celebrating!"