#Leah'sHouse – September 30, 2017

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The party has reached its end, and the guests have started to make their way home. Vasquez actually seemed to enjoy the rest of the evening well enough. To a degree, at least, she found herself able to relax and just... appreciate some bad movies and good kebab. Of course, there was little outward sign of this, aside from an occasional, small smile permitted to slip out when it seemed as if no one was watching. She called in Jasper

to provide a ride home for herself, Halisi, Ilyna and anyone else that would take the offer, the prospect of walking home in a midwinter night seeming both unappealing and unsafe. Especially since the latter two had consumed a not inconsiderable amount of wine while enjoying the movies. Cynthia yet lingers on Leah's couch, soundly asleep despite efforts to wake her. She dismissed the offer for a ride home with a mumbled sentence, and

has shown no desire to move since.

Leah has provided Cynthia with a blanket and pillow, leaving them near the armrest in case she gets cold and wakes up in the night. After seeing the guests off, she's been slowly cleaning up the clutter left behind by the night's festivities, careful to not disturb Cynthia despite her seemingly being out like a light.

Tara has not been assisting with the cleanup as one might expect. In fact, as Leah starts to go through things after the last of the (mobile) guests depart, it becomes increasingly apparent that she's nowhere to be seen in the kitchen or living room.

Leah looks over the living room, hands on her hips as she assesses the situation. Good enough! She scrunches up her nose as she notices the lack of Tara now that the mess has been dealt with. She takes a step back, craning her neck to look into the kitchen. Nope. She opens her mouth to call out for Tara, but silences herself as her attention fixes on Cynthia once again. Not like the house is very big, so she instead decides to

simply pay a visit to Tara's room and give a knock on the door.

There is no reply.

Leah leans her head against the door. "Hey. Are you in there, Tara...?" she asks, making sure to keep her voice low to avoid disturbing Cynthia's sleep.

There is no sound aside from a sudden snore from Cynthia.

Leah waits a moment. A sudden slight pang of worry enters her mind as she recalls the previous situation with the broken glass. When there's no reply, she follows up. "Heads up, I'm coming in." she says before opening the door.

There is no sign of Tara in her room.

Leah takes a brief glance around the room, but sets off down the hall to continue her search when it's clear Tara isn't inside. She glances into her father's room and the walk-in closet as she continues down the hall and looks to see if the bathroom door is closed.

The door to the bathroom is closed but not locked.

Leah gives a roll of her eyes at herself as she sees the closed bathroom door, suddenly feeling silly for being worried. She leans against the wall just outside of the door. "Everything okay, Tara?" she asks.

There is no response.

Leah furrows her brow and reaches over, rapping her knuckles against the bathroom door. "Tara?" she asks. "Are you in there...?"

There is a muffled, uninterpretable noise, but nothing else.

Leah's worry returns once again and she shifts in place uncomfortably. "Okay, sweetie. I'm coming in, alright...?" she says aloud. She silently begins to count to ten in her head to give Tara time to prepare before opening the door if she gets no response.

Tara is curled into a ball in a corner of the bathroom, head leaned against the wall. She looks miserable. Her eyes are red from crying and both her shirt and the toilet seat are stained with vomit. She lets out a half-groan, half-sob, not taking notice of Leah right away.

Leah hurries to Tara's side the moment she spots her and drops to her knees beside her. "Tara! What happened!? What's-... what's wrong!?" she asks frantically as she looks the girl over. Given the fact that she was fine just hours ago, it's a worrying sight.

Tara sobs quietly, rubbing her eye and pulling her legs closer to her. "I'm sorry..." she mumbles. "Just tried... I'm sorry..." She doesn't look at Leah, her gaze aimed somewhere past the toilet bowl, distant and unfocused.

Leah furrows her brow, shaking her head a number of times. "I don't understand, Tara..." she says as she scoots up right next to Tara and puts an arm around her without hesitation despite the mess on her shirt. She gains a small bit of relief, assuming Tara simply got sick at some point throughout the night. "What's wrong?" she repeats, her tone much less frantic, "You seemed fine a little while ago. Was it something you ate...?"

Tara slowly shifts to lean against Leah, quiet sobs sounding even as she attempts to make sense of the question and respond. She shakes her head faintly, a groan escaping her.

Leah runs her hand back and forth across Tara's shoulder. "Why didn't you say something if you weren't feeling good?" she asks, "We have medicine, you goofball." she teases, trying to calm Tara down.

Tara sniffles. A choking sound follows and she scrambles to the toilet bowl. Unpleasant sounds follow as the last of the day's foods are expelled, followed by unhappy whimpering. "...sorry..." she manages, just barely, her voice strained and hoarse.

Leah scoots closer to the toilet, placing a hand on Tara's upper back with a few gentle pats. "Just-... let it all out." she says, wincing slightly at the sounds. "What do you think it was? Everyone ate the food and-... well I feel fine." she ponders. Despite her size, Leah has the appetite of a bull. Probably a side effect of her biotics. She definitely put down more than her own share of food during the party.

Tara stares in silence at the bowl for a time before crawling back into a ball, half of her in Leah's lap. "Beer..." she admits in a whine, her eyes closing as she tries to shut out the unstable sight of the room.

Leah blinks a couple of times as she processes this new information. "Beer?" she repeats in disbelief, followed by a deep sigh. Yep. That might explain the puking. "Wha-.. Why?" she asks simply as she continues to gently rub her hand back and forth across Tara's upper back. There's no hint of anger in her voice. Just confusion.

Tara offers no immediate response aside from more quiet groaning. Eventually she speaks up, sounding rather unhappy still. "She... said it was good. Thought... hnnghn... I'm sorry..." she says, before adding a plea of "Make it stop..." and burying her face against her arm.

Leah leans her head back against the wall, suddenly feeling a pang of guilt for having not noticed. Despite her own failure, however, there's a small amount of comfort that comes with the situation. It's a very normal teenage situation. She snuck off to try beer. Leah allows a short chuckle to slip out. Given everything Tara has been through, it's easy for her to forget how young she actually is and how little life experience

she has. "Unfortunately there's not a whole lot we can do but let it run its course, kiddo. How much did you have to drink, anyway?" she asks.

Tara shifts slightly, remaining in Leah's lap. As she speaks its little more than a murmur amid groans of discomfort. "MnnhIdon'tknow..." she whines. "Why is-... mwgh... want it to stop."

Leah shifts ever so slightly to try and get comfortable- well, as comfortable as one can be on a bathroom floor- knowing full well that they're probably not going to be moving anytime soon. "You're drunk. Kind of what happens when you have too much beer." she explains, unable to suppress a small smile. "You just need to get some rest and you'll feel better in the morning." she continues, giving a slight tilt of her head,

"...Well... Mostly. But hey, you learned a valuable lesson, right? No more beer! Okay?"

Tara nods in agreement, quite intent never to touch the stuff again. "Vmmhnomorebeer..." she repeats. She's unable to hold back another series of sobs, whether caused by her discomfort or some hazy fear that she's letting Leah down. Likely both. "I'm sorry..."

Leah allows herself to slip a little further down the wall as she settles in. "Nothing to be sorry for. Just don't make this a habit." she teases. "I remember the first time I got drunk. Dad got soooooooo mad at me. Grounded me for a month." she continues to gently caress Tara's back as she tells her story, "Not mom, though. To be honest, I think she was just happy that I had made some friends." she snickers. She sucks in a deep

breath, leaving out how poorly that 'friendship' ended. "You're gonna be fine, though... Just close your eyes and try to get some rest. I'm right here."

Tara seems to calm a little as she listens. She remains lying on the floor, partly in Leah's lap, without any effort or thought to leave. It's not the most pleasant place to be, especially with the smell, but it is what it is. A choked up sob is followed by a whispered "...thank you..."

Leah watches Tara for a few moments before she presses her head back against the wall silently, thinking back to that night when her mother held her hair while she puked her guts out. She always handled herself with such grace, no matter the situation. A bit of sadness creeps in as she finds herself wishing her mother was around to dispense some much needed advice, but she pushes those thoughts aside as she continues to comfort

Tara on the cold bathroom floor.