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Amelia Benjamin was smart. She was the type of girl who did her homework the second she got it. She was not the type of girl to go to a bar the next town over with her friends and get absolutely shitfaced. Amelia’s mother owned a bar, she knew better than anyone the dangers of drinking.
But it was her best friend Jane’s sixteenth birthday, and Jane’s older sister had already gotten them all fake IDs, so how could she say no? Besides, her stepdad, Maverick, always said that you had to try everything once.
That was how Amelia ended up smushed in the middle seat of Jane’s older sister’s car, singing along to the music on the radio as they drove on the highway to the next town. They had to go far because, in a small town like theirs, the teenagers would quickly be recognised and sent home to their parents if they went to either of the bars in town.
The drive didn’t take too long, luckily, and the group of four teenagers—Amelia, Jane, Paige and Olivia—plus Sophia, Jane’s sister, climbed out of the car in the bar’s parking lot. Sophia, being ten years older than Jane, had been to this bar lots of times—both before and after turning twenty one—and promised that it would be a fun first experience without being dangerous. Amelia didn’t see how she could promise that, but she pushed aside those worries, focusing instead on the more immediate one.
“Alright, the guy I got your IDs from is pretty good, no one should flag you unless you act weird or something. I’m gonna go visit a friend who lives near here, since I still have to drive us back, call me when you want to go home. Janey said she gave you all my number just in case.” Sophia told the group of them. Amelia was a little concerned that she wasn’t staying with them, but at least they could all contact her if they got separated, and she was staying sober enough to drive, so Amelia really couldn’t complain.
With that, Sophia turned and climbed back into her car and drove off, leaving them all staring after her before Jane looped her arm through Amelia’s and steered them inside, the other two girls following nervously behind them.
Surprisingly, the bartender served them without a second glance. Amelia honestly hadn’t expected the IDs to work—none of them normally looked like they were over twenty one—but perhaps it was the dim lighting and the makeup, hair and outfits they had spent forever on back at Jane’s house that helped them blend in with the rest of the crowd. Whatever it was, the four girls found themselves laughing as they played pool together, drinks in hand. Amelia’s anxiety quieted as the night went by, and she found she was enjoying herself more than she had expected to.
“Amelia! It’s your turn!” Olivia said, pointing to the pool table. Amelia went to line up her shot, laughing a little. Everything was just a tiny bit funnier while tipsy. It felt kind of like when Amelia was overtired at a sleepover, and it was 2am and they couldn’t stop giggling at things that had no right to be so funny, all of that made funnier by the fact that they had to be quiet or they would wake up the parents. Perhaps it was the knowledge that they were breaking the rules that made it funnier, or maybe just heightened emotions. Whatever it was, Amelia loved it.
She took her shot, knocking the wrong ball into the hole. They all laughed.
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A couple hours passed, and the girls were drunk. They had played some more rounds of pool, and a few rounds of darts, and they were having the time of their lives. Jane had gone to the bar to get them another round of drinks, and Amelia, Paige and Olivia were sitting in a booth, talking about the boy Olivia had had to turn down multiple times before he finally gave up on asking. They were all laughing when a man, obviously a bartender, came up to their table.
“Can I see your IDs, please?” He asked. The three girls shared a nervous glance before handing them over. The bartender looked them over for a moment before looking back at the girls. “Yeah, alright. Come with me. Bring your stuff.”
They gathered up their things and followed him, and Amelia’s anxiety crept back up in full force. He led them through the building, to a small office in the back. Jane was there already, looking like she was about to cry.
“Alright, look.” The man said. “I figure you girls are, what, sixteen? Definitely not old enough to be drinking. But I also figure this is your first time drinking, and that you would rather not have this go on your permanent record. So I’m gonna be nice, and I’m gonna make you a deal. If you each call an adult to come pick you up, I won’t call the police. Got it?”
Amelia nodded, as did her friends. There was an obvious better choice, even if it meant them getting in trouble.
Jane went first, calling her older sister. Then Olivia, then Paige, both calling their moms. Finally, it was Amelia’s turn. She didn’t want to call her mom and have to face the disappointment in Penny Benjamin’s face, and if she called Maverick he would just tell Penny and Amelia would be in the exact same situation. That only left one other person she could call—Bradley Bradshaw.
It still wasn’t a guarantee that her mom wouldn’t find out, but Amelia trusted Bradley to at least hear her out before deciding whether or not to snitch.
The line rang a few times before he picked up. Each sent Amelia spiraling further, worrying that he wouldn’t pick up, but then Bradley’s voice sounded on the end of the line, and Amelia sagged in relief. Unfortunately, she wasn’t out of the woods yet.
“Lieutenant Bradshaw speaking.” Bradley stated, his voice sounding slightly groggy, making Amelia realise that it was past midnight already.
“...Hey, Bradley.” She began tentatively.
“Mels? Are you okay? It’s like 1am, why are you calling?”
“I, uh—can you come pick me up? Please?”
“Of course, I’ll be there right away. Where are you?” Amelia could hear the sounds of him moving around on the other line, probably shoving a t-shirt and sweatpants on before rushing to grab the keys to his old Bronco. Amelia immediately felt bad, knowing she was interrupting his sleep and that he had work tomorrow.
“I’matabarpleasedon’tbemad!” She blurted out. “I can send you the location.”
There was a small moment of silence.
“Amelia Benjamin please tell me I heard you wrong and that you’re not at a fucking bar!” Amelia cringed.
“I can send you the location.” She repeated meekly, pulling her phone from her ear for a moment to do just that. Once it sent, Bradley sighed, long and loud.
“I’ll be there soon. Stay where you are, Amelia. I mean it.” With that, he hung up, and Amelia looked up to her friends. They were all in so much trouble. Well, maybe Jane wasn’t, but only because it was Jane’s sister who had brought them there in the first place.
“I guess we just wait here, then,” Paige said glumly, sending a small glare in the young bartender’s direction.
“I could still call the police, you know.” He told her, though Amelia could tell he didn’t mean it. “I’m Jake by the way.”
He was met with silence until Jane finally sighed and introduced herself and the others.
“I’m Jane, that’s Amelia, this is Paige, and this is Olivia.” She pointed to each of them in turn.
“Nice to meet you all.” Jake smiled, and his cheeriness made Amelia scowl. He noticed the look on her face and laughed. “The circumstances could be better, of course.”
Sophia was the first to arrive, by nature of still being in the same town, and she smiled apologetically at the girls when she was shown to the office to pick up Jane.
“Ugh, I wish I could call my older siblings to pick me up.” Paige complained after they had left. “My mom’s gonna kill me for this.”
“Yeah, me too.” Olivia agreed. “You and Jane are so lucky, Amelia.”
Amelia scoffed.
“Bradley is not like Sophia. Even if he doesn’t tell my mom, which there’s like a 50/50 chance of, he’s gonna kill me anyway. I only called him because he’s my best chance at my mom not finding out, but it’s still not a very good chance.”
“Better than no chance.” Olivia argued, and Amelia tilted her head in agreement. “And at least he can’t ground you. I’m not going to be able to leave the house until I’m thirty!”
Amelia closed her eyes, rubbing her temples. A headache had been developing ever since they had been told to call an adult to pick them up. She figured she was slowly sobering up, and it made her regret every decision she had ever made that had brought her to this point.
It was about fifteen minutes later when Bradley showed up. In that time, Amelia’s headache had only worsened. The lights were hurting her eyes now, and the sound of knocking on the office door felt like a hammer to her skull.
Jake got up from where he had been sitting on the desk to open the door, and Amelia looked up only to receive a glare from her older brother. “You’re Bradley, I’m guessing?” Jake asked, continuing when Bradley nodded. “I’m Jake, I work here. Your sister and her friends were using fake IDs to buy alcohol. Unfortunately, my coworker didn’t realise they were fake, so they were here for a while until I saw them. But I figured they’re all smart enough to not do this again, so I said that if they called an adult to come pick them up, I wouldn’t call the cops.”
Throughout the explanation, Bradley smiled politely, as if they were talking about the weather.
“Thank you, Jake. Really. I appreciate it.” Bradley said sincerely. For a moment, she was almost hopeful that maybe Bradley wasn’t that mad. Then he turned to her, and his expression darkened. “Come on, Amelia. Let’s go.”
She stood and followed him out the door, sending her friends one last glance. Paige looked like she was almost asleep on Olivia’s shoulder, and Olivia looked like she would rather be anywhere else in the world. Amelia agreed with that sentiment.
When they got to Bradley’s blue 1975 Bronco, Bradley was silent, simply opening the passenger door for her to climb in. Amelia did, flinching slightly when it was slammed behind her.
As soon as Bradley had gotten into the car and the driver’s side door had closed behind him, though, the silence was broken.
“A bar!?” He exclaimed, aggressively turning the key and starting the engine. “Seriously, Amelia? I thought you were smarter than that.”
Something in the way he said it struck a nerve in Amelia.
“Oh fuck off, Bradley, it’s not like you weren’t drinking at my age.” Amelia grumbles. She knew it wasn’t a good thing to say to the person who had just picked her up from a bar a town over, but it seemed she still had some alcohol in her system.
“Maybe I had a drink or two when I was your age, sure, but I wasn’t going out to bars and getting drunk! You could have been arrested, or fucking roofied or something, and no one would know where you are!” Bradley pulled out of the parking lot. It was going to be a long twenty minutes. “And the worst part is that I know you thought about that, because you always think ahead, and you ignored the part of your brain that told you that this was a bad idea!”
Amelia stayed quiet. Everything he was saying was true, but Amelia hated it. Yes, she knew it was a bad idea. Yes, she knew it was dangerous. Yes, she did it anyway. But what was so wrong with that? She was nowhere near the first to make a bad call or two. Any bad idea she could think of, Bradley and Maverick had probably done worse and been commended for it.
A minute passed in silence before Bradley started back up again.
“You’re right, I did get drunk once or twice at your age. But look how I turned out. I didn’t talk to anyone in my family for over fifteen years and I get shot at for a living. It’s not exactly the dream life.” He sighed. “You’re smarter than I ever was, Amelia, and you have big dreams. Don’t waste that.”
It was a struggle to keep her mouth shut. On the one hand, Amelia wanted to cry. She was exhausted, and being scolded like this always made her tear up. But she hated crying. She knew that if she did, Bradley would take pity on Amelia and not tell her mom, but he would also never take her seriously. Even if he was like her brother, Bradley was an adult. And adults seemed to be under the impression that if you cried, or if you were tired at all, or if you were on your period, then anything you had to say could be ignored.
On the other hand, Amelia wanted to scream. Just because I’m smart doesn’t mean I can’t make mistakes! But that wouldn’t help anything, either. So Amelia shut her mouth, and she let Bradley go on and on forever about how drinking was dangerous and how you know better, Amelia.
After about a minute, Amelia couldn’t keep her mouth shut any longer. She had a very pressing question to ask.
“Are you gonna tell my mom?” She interrupted Bradley’s lecturing.
“...I don’t know yet.” He admitted, sighing. “Are you gonna do this again?”
“...I don’t know.” Amelia answered honestly. She figured she owed him that, at least. Getting caught had sucked, and her head was starting to hurt, but for a while it had been fun. The alcohol mixed with the feeling that they were breaking the rules had left Amelia feeling invincible, and her anxieties had been pushed to the back of her mind for a short time.
“You shouldn’t.” Bradley said quietly. “I know you didn’t do this because of me, but don’t follow in my footsteps, Mels. Go to school, do your homework, stay away from the parties and the alcohol and the drugs. You’re gonna change the world one day. I know you will.”
“I know. I know I’m smart. And I wasn’t trying to throw that away. But I’m just so sick of it.”
“Of what?”
“All of it.” Amelia admitted. “I’m sick of being smart. I’m sick of being nervous about everything I do. I’m sick of being self-conscious about doing things that are totally normal. I’m sick of following the rules all the time and being this perfect fucking kid that doesn’t need anything ever because I’m so mature and I’m so smart. Just once I’d like someone to describe me as brave, or funny, or reckless, or anything other than smart. I’m so fucking sick of being smart, Bradley.” Amelia brought her knees to her chest. There was no stopping the tears after that, no matter how much Amelia hated crying.
“Shhh, hey. It’s alright, Mels. It’s okay.” Bradley reached over and caressed her hair, as much as he could while driving. “Why don’t we stop and get some food, okay? It’ll help.”
“Okay.” Amelia whispered weakly.
Bradley brought them to an all-day diner near his house. They went inside and sat in a booth, a woman coming up to take their order. Bradley ordered for both of them, getting a burger and fries for Amelia and a chocolate milkshake for himself.
“I’m not very hungry.” Amelia muttered once the food came, but Bradley pushed the food towards her anyway.
“It’ll help, I promise. Carbs will soak up some of the alcohol left in your system.” He explained. Begrudgingly, Amelia picked up a fry, knowing he was right. They sat in silence as they ate. The diner was almost empty save for them and a woman in scrubs eating at a table on the other side of the room. Finally, Amelia spoke up.
“What I said earlier…it’s not just because I’m drunk, you know.” She paused, taking a small bite of a fry. “It’s all true. I’m not feeling like that because I’m drunk, it’s just that I only said it because I’m drunk.”
Bradley nodded.
“I know. I believe you.”
For the second time that night, Amelia couldn’t stop herself from crying. But her big brother was there, and he sat on the bench next to her and wrapped her in his arms, and for once, Amelia didn’t mind crying, because Bradley was there, and that meant everything would be okay.