Vanessa met us at the sidewalk, clearly drunk off her ass. “Welcome, friends. I trust you’re ready for the grand tour. Poker in the front, liquor in the back,” Vanessa said, leading us past a group playing strip poker on the front porch.

Gotta love the depravity that sets in when the ‘rents go out of town.

“I thought it was liquor in the front, poke her in the ass,” Skyler said.

Vanessa tuned him out. We ransacked the liquor cabinet and headed out back. I lit a clove and watched Skyler search for weed as usual.

“What’s that?” Lisa, attached-at-the-hip to her friend Val, asked. “It smells like Christmas.”

Lisa had never spoken to me before. I was frozen in time, a profound amount of saliva racing to my mouth. To say she was hot would be an understatement. Before I had a chance to make a witty reply, Skyler returned.

“Do you mind?” Skyler said, rudely pushing the girls away. “I scored, bro. We are gonna get high.”

I always wondered what would have happened if Skyler hadn’t rained on my parade.