• It was his 21st birthday. She was happy for him, now he could drink legally. She knew he was waiting for this birthday. She hates it when he drinks, she doesn't see the point in drinking. Maybe she will change her mind in six months when she turns 21, but that's unlikely. They spent the day with their families. First at his then at hers, even though their kids are engaged the two families rarely talked to each other. That bothers her, but that was a fight for another time. His mom and dad wished him a happy birthday and gave him his gift. His brother and sister both gave him little trinket gifts. She stood in the background smiling. She is still unsure if his family likes her. His sister comes up to her and shows her the bracelet she made. She loves his sister like she was hers, his sister is cute in a few years she is going to be beating the boys back with a stick. His brother and him start playing video games and she snuggles as close as she can with his family around and him playing video games. she missed him when he was gone. Back when they first started dating everybody warned her that he was joining the army, but she knew she could survive a long distance relationship. The year he was gone and couldn't talk to her often was the hardest in her life. She was constantly sick with worry that he wouldn't come back or that he wouldn't want her any more, but when he did she was so overjoyed and when he asked her to marry him that was the best day of her life. He took her out to dinner got down on one knee and asked her to be his wife. She started crying and said yes. Now they are celebrating his 21st birthday together. He finished the game with his brother said good bye to his family and they went to her parent's house so they could wish him a happy birthday. She insisted that they do this. She wants him to be accepted into her family. When they have kids she wants the kids to know their grandparents aunts and uncle. Her mom and dad wished him a happy birthday, her mom also gave him the safe drinking lecture. She told her mom not to worry she would be driving. Her sisters hugged him and gave him the cake they baked. They all ate the cake while they watched a movie together. She sat comfortably on his lap. Her mom use to have a problem with that kind of affection but she had gotten use to that. When the movie was over they said good bye to her family and left to go meet up with some friends. For the drinking portion of his 21st birthday they went to one of their friends who was already 21. She sat in the living room reading while he was in another room drinking. She doesn't drink, its not just because it is illegal at her age but she doesn't like the smell of alcohol. As the night goes on and he finishes drinking they go home. She drives. She could smell the alcohol on his breath as he tries to make a conversation with her. Every time she smells his breath she just cant tolerate it. She asks him to stop talking and she rolls down the windows. He looks a little hurt. When they get home he jumps into the shower and she grabs her pillows and a blanket and sets them up on the couch. She wouldn't be able to tolerate that smell all night, she would lose it. When he gets out of the shower he notices her on the couch. He asked her why she is going to sleep out here. She told him she would not be able to tolerate that smell all night. What smell he asks. The alcohol she replies. She tells him she doesn't like the smell. If it bothers her that much why didn't she tell him, he asks, why didn't she tell him not to drink. She tells him it was his 21st birthday she just couldn't tell him not to drink. She will not control him like that. He was clearly getting mad at her. That worried her, she started to scooch away and she reached for her phone just in case. He tells her that she is about to be his wife she can tell him things like this. She can control his life. She would feel guilty, she tells him, if she stopped him from doing something that he clearly wanted to do. Now she is just going to sleep out here away from him tonight. He stands up and yells that she thinks he is going to hurt her. That struck a nerve. She looks at him, she is about to cry. Her Father was a violent drunk. Some nights when he would come home trashed he would beat her mom. Now every time she smells alcohol she is five years old again watching her Father knock the life out of her mom and she would see her mom unconscious in the yard covered with blood. Every time she smells alcohol she is terrified. She doesn't want to relive those horrible memories. She tells him to go to their room and just let her sleep out for here, as she dissolves into tears. There now he knows, she thinks to herself, she wasn't sure he knew, sure her mom told him a little and he had seen her crying when her mom and dad fought but this was different. He walks to their room and she falls asleep. She wonders how he will react tomorrow.