The Summer Affair

Chapter One *Edited*

              "Alec, that's your fourth bottle.  Don't you think we should call it a night and go home?" I asked my brother for the fifth time in ten minutes.  He made his way over to me through the small crowd.  The bottle was in the hand of the arm he threw around my shoulders.

              "Anna Lea Collins, I think you need to loosen up.   Here, take mine," he slurred, trying to shove the bottle into my hand.  I took it and rolled my eyes.  Alec was the worse drunk ever.  He started fights and was more than a little violent. 

                "Okay, mister.  That's it.  Go get in the car."  He started to protest, but I cut him off.  "We'll go see Emma on the way home," I said quickly, knowing that he would full out be asleep once I started the car.  He didn't last long once I got him away from his friends and into somewhere quiet.

               "Why, gents, I do believe I have the greatest little sis ever!"  The cheering of drunken teens erupted and I rolled my eyes again and shoved him lightly towards the car.

               "Come on, you're going to be so hungover tomorrow, and I need more tomato juice for your special wake-up blend.  We're going to have to stop at the store on the way home."  Having to maneuver around headstones in the graveyard as Alec drunkenly staggered next to me, I wondered whose bright idea it was to have a kegger in a cemetery. Finally, we made it to the car and I struggled to unlock the doors while Alec used my shoulders to support his full weight.

              "Anna Lea, I declare you to be the best sister in the world, even if you are a brat at times."  I grinned at his remark as I opened the back seat and shoved him in. I knew he would be mad that I even let him get to three bottles tomorrow, but what was he going to do, tell Mom?  I don't think so, not with the shit storm he'd be caught up in.

               We were driving along the small highway to the supermarket when the snoring started.  I hate it when he snores.  It sounded like the loggers who used to cut down the trees in the woods next to our farmhouse before Dad complained enough to the neighbors that they stopped.  Thankfully, the drive from the cemetery to the store was short.  I pulled into the parking lot of the local market and went straight to the front.  I locked the car doors, not because I was worried about Alec trying to get out, but rather somebody else trying to get in.  The sliding doors opened and I didn't see anyone in sight.  I went straight back and got the mixture of ingredients I would need for the following morning and, more than likely, for weekends to come.  I quickly walked to the checkout aisle, but the only girl that was there was talking on her cell phone.

               "Excuse me," I said.  "I'm kind of in a rush here."  She gave me an annoyed glance and went back to her conversation.  "Excuse me," I said again, through my teeth this time.  "I need to check out."

              "And I need a new car.  We all have things in life we have to wait for, sweet pea.  So wait while I finish talking."  She turned away from me and I closed my eyes, telling myself that no, it wasn't okay to knock out the checkout clerk and that it wouldn't get me out of the store any faster.

                "I can take you over here," a guy's voice said a couple lanes over.  I stood up on my tiptoes and saw a guy I recognized from school.  I gratefully walked over and shot the girl a death glare.  She rolled her eyes at me, still talking about how rude people were.

               "I'm sorry about Amber.  She's just, well, she's Amber.  There isn't much more to say."  I smiled knowing the feeling.  I snuck a peek down at the name badge on the front of his shirt.  Mitch.  I knew from school that he was in the same grade as Alec, a senior this year.