Читать книгу Groomed: Part 2 of 3: Danger lies closer than you think - Casey Watson, Casey Watson - Страница 6

As it turned out, the whole débâcle had, thankfully, been something of an anti-climax.

Mike had intercepted Keeley not ten minutes into his drive to the skate park, already weaving her unsteady way home.

Neither of us had the appetite for an interrogation then, either. For one thing it was a school night and way past Tyler’s bedtime. And for another, with Keeley squiffy, if not paralytic (thankfully), there was no point in trying to get any sense out of her anyway. It was sufficient that she was glum-faced and contrite rather than defiant, and only too happy to be sent straight to bed.

And – well, well, well – here she was this morning, up at the crack of dawn, all ready for college, and chock-full of heartfelt apologies. She was clearly anxious to break down the wall of distrust Mike had now assembled – as he’d already made clear to me, very grumpily, the night before.

And, give her credit, she was doing her level best to make a highly dubious-sounding story work, all about some supposed-alcohol-free-but-wasn’t cider.

‘We really didn’t realise, honestly!’ she entreated, for about the third time since she’d surprised us in the kitchen with a virtual dawn chorus of appeasement gestures, including busily clearing away the plates Mike and I had left on the table, like a supercharged Snow White.

I knew Mike was a great deal less inclined than me to even listen, but he at least gave her benefit of appearing to. Which he could afford to. He’d soon be off to work, and able to leave me to it, wouldn’t he?

‘Please say you believe me,’ she said, turning her eyes on him particularly. ‘Why wouldn’t we believe her?’ The ‘her’ in question being some new mate from the course she had ‘mistakenly’ trusted to tell the truth. ‘I mean, it looked completely legit. And it was fruit cider. You know the kind. With a picture of a bunch of cranberries on it and everything. Why wouldn’t we believe her?’

‘Because you didn’t come down in the last shower of rain, perhaps?’ I suggested.

‘But it was dark,’ she threw in, causing Mike to roll his eyes. ‘I couldn’t read the back of the can even if I wanted to.’

‘Even more reason not to drink it,’ I pointed out.

‘But she told us it was fine,’ she persisted. ‘So why wouldn’t we believe her? It was only when I’d drank two cans of the stuff that it dawned on me. So, I mean, it’s not like I was drinking booze on purpose, is it? I didn’t even know. It’s like … it’s like … it’s like I was almost violated!’

Quite apart from the ridiculous picture she was painting – of this random girl, running a mobile branch of the local booze shop, dispensing dubious cans of strong cider – her choice of word made me laugh out loud. Violated? Where had she dredged that one up? Violated, by fruity cider? She really was quite the drama queen. I had to give her that. Even if she was trying to take us for utter mugs.

‘Okay,’ I said, having already decided to keep a cool head and run with it. ‘So then what? How did you go from, um, being forced to consume alcohol, to wandering the streets at ten o’clock at night, when you were meant to be home?’

Keeley shook her head as if in disbelief. ‘Well, duh!’ she said, shaking her head in apparent astonishment. ‘We were drunk by then, weren’t we? We didn’t know what we were doing.’ She glanced at Mike, then looked at me. ‘Casey, honestly, you mean you’ve never been drunk?’

Thankfully, Tyler appeared in the kitchen just as the question had been asked. Which both saved me from having to engage further in such a silly discussion and provided a timely pause, before Mike left for work.

‘Well, Keeley,’ he said, adopting her own style. ‘As you might say, whatever. Whatever the reason, I told you last night that your actions have consequences, and, guess what – they’re here. You come straight home from college tonight. No hanging around with friends. You can have a night at home for once, about which I don’t expect you to argue. And if you do – either to me now, or to Casey later on, tonight’s night in will be extended to a week in. You understand.’

‘What?’ Keeley gasped. ‘You mean I’m grounded? But I apologised!’

Mike nodded. ‘Yes, you have. And we’ve accepted your apology.’ He reached for his coat and began putting it on. ‘And just as I and Casey have done that, so you should accept the result of your actions graciously. Think on it. Chalk it up to experience. If you then learn from your mistakes – that’s the point, here – and make a different choice next time, then you will have actually proved that you’re sorry, won’t you? It won’t just be empty words. So let’s see,’ he said sternly. ‘A night at home won’t kill you, anyway.’

Mike kissed me and Tyler goodbye and left, leaving Keeley with her mouth open and a bit of an atmosphere, which Tyler was quick to try and lighten. ‘Porridge and syrup, anyone?’ he asked, smiling as he held out a bunch of sachets. ‘Lots of syrup. Though I reckon it’s a bit late to try and sweeten Dad up.’

He then smiled, clearly pleased to see Keeley’s frown turn to a grin.

‘You should go on the stage, you,’ she said, batting him on the arm. ‘And go on, then, O King of the Microwave. I’ll join you. But don’t blame your dad. I know I’m pretty high maintenance.’

Hmm, I thought. Spoken like a woman of the world. ‘Glad you’ve noticed,’ I said, deciding there was no point in being off with her. As Mike had made clear, the ball was in her court now. To follow up her words with appropriate action. Which she either would or wouldn’t do. I hoped she would.

‘And like Mike said,’ I went on, ‘a night at home won’t kill you. So when you see your friends today make sure they know that, okay? In fact, it wouldn’t hurt if you showed willing by staying in a bit more anyway, love. If you want to do your best at college you are going to need your sleep.’