by Misty Malone
"Yes, you could, Alana, both of you. And if I can't get her in the car pretty quickly I'm going to have to radio in what I'm doing. I'd really rather not do that."
Alana realized how much trouble she and Kelli were going to be in with their men, and quickly went to Kelli. "Come on, Kelli, John's right. We've got to get in here quick."
"But Cal's going to think I drank too much and he's going to be mad."
"That's because you did drink too much, Kelli," John said. "But if you don't get in here and let me take you to his house, I'm going to have to take you to the station with me to drop off this car and get mine, and then someone could ask questions about you being her licensed driver while you're drunk. You could both get a ticket. Do you think that would make Cal any happier?"
John had to fight a smile at the look on her face. He thought she was starting to sober rather quickly now. Alana quickly said, "Come on, Kelli, get in the car." Kelli allowed Alana to help her in the back of the cruiser, and Alana quickly followed her in.
John told Alana, "You two stay right here. I'm going to move your car further off the road so it's safe."
After moving it, he got in the cruiser and took them to Cal's house.
Cal was standing on the porch waiting for them when they pulled in. He was at the cruiser by the time John shut it off, and seeing the two girls in the back, asked, "What the heck is going on?"
"Come over here on this side and help Kelli out, and you'll see. When I stopped them Alana was driving Kelli's car."
"Yeah, so what's the problem?" About that time Cal pulled Kelli up beside him and when she said, "Hi, Cal," his eyes about popped out of his head. "Kelli, you've been drinking!"
"And now you see the problem," John said. "Alana about pulled out in front of a car and is too shook up to drive them home. Once I saw what condition Kelli was in, I knew she couldn't drive, so here we are. My shift's over and I've got to take the cruiser back to the station. Let me do that and I'll be right back. Then we can go pick up Kelli's car. I moved it off the road far enough that it should be okay until we get there."
"Okay, sure. Thanks, John."
"No problem. Just keep them both here until I get back, okay?"
"Sure," Cal agreed.
Alana had moved to stand beside John now. She looked up at him and said, "John, I'm really sorry."
"We'll talk about it later, honey. I need to take my car back." He gave her a small kiss on her cheek and left.
Cal saw the look of rejection on her face as John left. "Come on, girls, let's go inside to wait for John. I'm anxious to hear what happened today."
Kelli giggled, though Cal had no idea why, or what she found amusing about the situation. Alana just stood there staring at John's car as it drove out of sight. Cal went to her and said, "Come on inside, Alana."
"But he's really mad at me," she said more to herself than him. "I never thought about it being illegal for me to drive if she was drunk. I thought I was doing the right thing by driving instead of letting her."
Cal knew she was being honest, and had a feeling his brother knew that, too. He had a feeling John was more upset about what could have happened than about her being illegal. He put his arm around her and steered her toward the house. "I think he'll understand that, Alana. But he's still a police officer, and he knows what can happen because he's seen it. Once he calms down a bit I'm sure he'll talk to you about it."
"That's what I'm afraid of," she said as she absentmindedly reached back to her bottom, as if to protect it.
Cal got them both in the house and took them to the kitchen, where he could keep an eye on them. He wasn't too worried about Alana, but he wasn't sure what Kelli would do and he wanted to keep her in sight. He put some coffee on. He asked Alana, "Does John know the story here, how Kelli ended up drunk and you driving her car?"
"No, not yet."
"That's what I figured. I'll wait until he gets here then to ask. We may as well both hear it at the same time." She nodded and continued to look down at her hands.
Meanwhile, Kelli came over to him and wrapped her arms around his neck. "Why's everyone so upset? Nothing happened."
He gently removed her arms from his neck and steered her to a stool at his counter. Once she was seated, he poured a cup of coffee and set it in front of her. "Drink some coffee, Kelli," he suggested. She looked like she was pouting, but he was glad when she picked up her coffee and took a few sips.
John got back with his own car and went to the kitchen. He had to smile a bit when he saw Cal had Kelli drinking coffee. He went to Alana, who was looking very upset and nervous. He took her in his arms and gave her a quick kiss. Then looking at his brother he asked, "Did you find out what happened today?"
"No, I waited for you. This way they can explain it once instead of twice."
"Thanks," John said. "I appreciate that. We need to go get Kelli's car, but I really want to hear how they got to that point."
"Me, too," Cal agreed. Looking over at Kelli, he said, "But I'm not sure she's able to tell us right now."
"Let me try," Alana offered. "I got off early today and Kelli always gets off earlier than me, so we went over to my favorite department store, Newjangles, to look for a wedding present for my cousin. After we were done shopping, we went next door to that little restaurant to get some iced tea. They were giving free samples of a new kind of wine they started carrying. I didn't care much for it, but Kelli did."
"I can see that," Cal said.
Kelli, who had been drinking her coffee this whole time, was starting to sober. "It was really good," she said.
"How much of it did you have?" Cal asked her.
"I don't know," she said. When he look at her with his eyebrow raised, she explained, "I really don't know. I know I drank my sample and finished Alana's when she said she didn't care for it. Then a different waitress came around and gave us each another sample and I drank both of them. Then I bought a glass of it because I really liked it."
"So you had four samples and a glass of it?"
"Yes, for sure, but things start getting a little fuzzy then. I think I may have gotten another glass of it."
John turned to Alana. "How much did she have, Alana, and why did you let her drink that much, especially knowing she's your licensed driver?"
Alana was nervous, knowing she was in trouble and now understanding why, but she was also hurt by his question, and a little angry. Unfortunately, the anger came through when she answered, "I don't know how much she drank."
John's eyebrows shot up and he said, "Alana, this is not a good time for an attitude."
Realizing he was right, she took a deep breath and tried to calm down. "I'm sorry, you're right," she admitted. "Let me try to explain. When I bought my gift I asked them to wrap it. They were busy and short-handed and said it would be about 30 minutes, so we went next door to have some tea. Half an hour later we were still drinking our tea, so I went back to retrieve my wrapped gift, while she stayed at the restaurant. When I left all she'd had were the four samples. I ran into an old friend I hadn't seen in a long time, and I was gone about 30 minutes. When I got back she was finishing a glass of wine. I thought it was her first one until she stumbled when she stood up."
Chapter 5
John and Cal both turned to look at Kelli, who was avoiding their eyes. Alana went on, "She had driven there, but I knew she couldn't drive home. I never thought about it being illegal for me to drive us home, so that's what I was doing." She looked straight into John's eyes as she said, "I'm sorry." She turned to Cal and said, "And I'm sorry to you, too, Cal. I never thought of her drinking that much. I shouldn't have left her there alone."
Cal quickly said, "Her drinking too much isn't your fault, Alana. I do have a question I want to ask you, though, and I'd appreciate an honest answer."
"What's that?"
"Does she do this often? Is alcohol a problem?"
Kelli jumped in and said, "Hey, I'm right here, you know. You can ask me."
; "Oh, I plan to," Cal assured her. "But at the moment I'm not sure how sober you are, so I would like to hear Alana's opinion." Seeing the worried look on Alana's face, he said, "I'm not going to run the other direction if it is a problem for you, Kelli, but I can't help you if I don't know you need help."
"I'm not an alcoholic," Kelli insisted. "Every now and then I find a kind of wine I really like and I drink too much too quickly. I feel fine, until all of a sudden it hits me. That's what happened today."
Cal looked at Alana, and she could easily see the question in his eyes. She assured him, "She's right. I've seen her drink too much three different times now, counting today. The other two times were at parties and she wasn't driving. That's why I was so surprised today. I didn't see it coming at all."
"So the only time you've seen her drink too much is exactly as she said, when she found some wine she liked real well?"
"I know it sounds odd, but that really is it. Neither one of us are too big into alcohol because we don't like the taste of it much. Every now and then she finds a wine she likes, and I like the fuzzy navel wine coolers, so I won't drink more than one or two of them, either."
"Thank you for telling me that, Alana." He turned to Kelli and took her hand in his. "We'll talk about this more in private, Kelli, but thank you for telling me about you and wine. Now that I know about it, I'll be watching you when you have wine. For now, I'm glad you're both okay."
He asked John, "So did you want to take me to Kelli's car and I'll drive it and her home, then you can bring me back here on your way home tonight after taking Alana home?"
"That will work. What do you think about dinner, though, do we still want to try the new restaurant tonight?"
"I'm thinking it might be a long wait to get in there tonight, as late as it's getting," Cal answered. "Maybe we better go there another night." He turned to the girls and asked, "What do you two think?"
Kelli reached up and rubbed her head. "I think I'd enjoy it more if we went another day. My head's not feeling real good."
Looking at Alana, John asked, "Is it okay with you if we hold off on that? Maybe we can order some Chinese food delivered to your apartment and we can all eat there tonight."
"That's fine," she agreed.
"Okay, good. Let's go get Kelli's car. I don't like leaving it sit along the side of the road," John said.
Fifteen minutes later they were at Kelli's car. Cal helped Kelli into the front seat, and he drove it back to her place. John and Alana followed behind them. On the way there John asked, "Honey, what's wrong?"
"Oh, nothing," Alana answered.
"Alana, I thought we talked about what I think of lying when we talked about what types of things I would spank you for." Her head snapped up to look at him. "I can tell something's bothering you," he said, "You've been too quiet. Why don't you tell me what it is while we're alone?
She considered his words a moment before admitting, "Okay, maybe that would be a good idea. Um, I know you're upset with me. Are you going to, are you thinking of— what are you—"
"Are you trying to ask if I'm going to spank you?"
Her face was red as she nodded her head.
"Do you think I should?"
"No," she quickly said. She tried to explain, "John, I really didn't know it was illegal."
"I believe you, honey." She relaxed until he said, "But you should have known. I'm sure it was in the book you studied to get your permit." He held his hand up to stop the argument she was about to make. "But we'll talk about it later tonight, after we have dinner with them."
She nodded, but still seemed upset. He tried changing the subject. "We'll have to remember to get your gift out of her car before we go home."
"Oh, yeah, I forgot about that. I'll have to get it."
"There were four or five bags in the back seat. How many of those are yours?"
He saw her stiffen, and she didn't answer. He had a bad feeling more than just the wedding gift she bought was hers. He asked again, "Alana, how many of the packages are yours?"
"Um, the wedding gift, of course."
"Of course. And how many of the others?"
"Oh, let me see."
He gave her plenty of time to answer. When she didn't, he asked, "Alana, are any of the packages Kelli's?"
She looked up at him and could practically see him losing his patience. She admitted, "No."
"What are in the packages, Alana?" She was stalling, and he said, "We'll talk about this after dinner tonight."
"Does that mean you're going to spank me?"
"Well, that depends. You know what your budget is, you agreed to it. Did anything in those packages go against your budget?"
She lowered her head as she quietly answered, "Yes."
"Then the answer to your question is yes, you will be getting spanked tonight."
To his surprise, she didn't argue. Instead, after a couple moments of silence she asked, "Do we have to wait until after dinner? Can't we get it over with beforehand? I'll be so nervous I won't be able to eat dinner."
"Maybe anticipating what's going to happen will help deter you from doing it again."
She looked almost in a panic as she said, "John, please don't make me wait that long. I'm starting to feel sick to my stomach already, just thinking about it, and having to wait. There's no way I'll be able to eat anything and keep it down." She literally did look pale as she pleaded one last time, "Please?"
"Let me give it some thought, Alana, and talk to Cal." She nodded and was quiet during the rest of the trip. John pulled up beside Cal. He said, "You can wait here while I get your packages and talk to Cal. I'll be back shortly."
He came back a few minutes later and put four packages in the back seat. He got back in and went to the next building down, where Alana's apartment was. Once they were inside her apartment he put her packages down on her kitchen table, then closed and locked the door. He led her to the couch in the living room. "Cal and I are wondering how often you two together are going to give us sore hands."
"What do you mean?"
"The two of you together seem to find a way to get yourselves into trouble. Then you both end up with a sore bottom, while we have a sore hand. Is this becoming a trend, the two of you getting into trouble together?"
"I don't know. I hope not."
"Well, it seems you're not the only one anxious to get it over with before we eat, so they're going to come over for dinner in roughly an hour. They're going to call before they come over, though, to be sure you're ready for company. Then we'll order Chinese."
He watched as she sighed in relief. He was going to have to talk to her about that later to see why the thought of waiting for a punishment would upset her so much. For right now, though, she was still very new to this whole spanking idea, so he was glad she wasn't going to have to wait.
"Okay, let's get to it then," he said, looking at her again. "Come over here and stand in front of me, young lady." Just that quick, the relief she'd felt a minute ago was gone and he watched her tense. To her credit, though, she paused only momentarily before slowly making her way over to stand in front of him.
He looked up at her and caught her eyes and held them. "Okay, Alana, tell me why you're about to get spanked."
She looked at him with pleading eyes, obviously not wanting to have to put voice to her misdeeds. He looked at her sternly and asked, "Am I going to have to take you over my knee first, to get you to answer me, young lady?"
"No," she quickly answered. "I let Kelli drink too much wine, and then I was driving us home when she was drunk. I didn't pull close enough to the stop sign and almost pulled out in front of someone, and I bought things that weren't on my budget."
"Alana, it's true, all those things happened, but I want you to understand that the only one of those things you're actually getting spanked for is not staying on your budget. The way I understand it, you had no idea when you left Kelli that she planned to buy a glass or more of the wine, so since you weren't there when she
bought and drank it, you're not responsible for her getting drunk."
Alana smiled just a bit, knowing he wasn't blaming her for that. He continued, "Let's talk a bit about you stopping too far back from the stop sign. We've talked about that before. As a matter of fact, that's why I haven't let you take the test again yet. To be honest, there's a good chance you'd pass the test now. Depending on the route the examiner takes you on, you may not even come to a stop sign. Even if you do and he counts you down for that, as long as you don't stop so far back that you can't see at all, he would count you down, but not enough to fail the test."
"Really?"
"Yes. I haven't wanted you to take the test yet, though, because I don't feel you're ready until you've mastered that one problem you're having. I'm hoping that today scared you enough that you'll see how vital it is that you stop close enough to the intersection that you can clearly see oncoming traffic. Until I feel confident that you can handle yourself safely at stop signs I won't feel comfortable with you driving alone. But I realize you're still learning, and I wouldn't spank you for not doing it quite right while you're in the learning phase. Do you understand what I'm saying?"
"Yes, I think so."
"Once I know you've mastered stop signs and you have your license, if you do a repeat of what you did today, I'll probably spank you for it because that would mean you were being careless. But you're still in the learning stage now."
"Okay, I understand. Thank you for understanding."
"As far as you driving while Kelli, your licensed driver, was drunk, that's borderline. I believe you when you say you didn't know it was illegal, so this time I had certainly planned on talking to you about it, making sure you know better for in the future, but I hadn't planned on spanking you for it. If it happens again, I can assure you you'll be over my knee."
"I understand."
"So the only thing I'm going to be spanking you for is not following your budget." Alana seemed relieved until he said, "But this is the second time we've had this type of discussion about spending money you had put aside for a down payment. Since the first discussion obviously didn't have much of an impression on you, you will be receiving this spanking on your bare bottom."