text: 11:09 pm I exited the house ready to make a quick getaway but I noticed something strange; there was no car. I was staring at an empty driveway; my plan had fallen apart already. I should’ve turned back at that point but I was persistent. I decided to go for a walk while I devised a new plan. I crept down the driveway and on to the sidewalk; I didn’t get far before I noticed another strange site, it was my moms van parked in an unusual spot. I felt relieved but uneasy, why was it there? It was parked along the street beside my house, almost 4 or 5 houses down from mine. Before jumping to wild conclusions like I usually do, I reasoned that my mom probably parked there to leave space for my brother. We’ve got a lot of cars in our driveway so sometimes this happens, but this was still pretty weird. To put my superstitious mind at ease I quickly inspected the outside of the van for booby traps; it seemed to be in good condition. All I had to do was clear the inside and I could get back to my plan. I hesitantly took the car keys out of my pocket and unlocked the car. I took a deep breath, readied the flashlight on my phone and stepped inside. Before I even got a chance to sit down, a familiar voice grabbed my attention. "Yo Tristan", I heard from off in the distance. My heart stopped. I was so close, but of course with my luck Ide get caught at the last second. Too afraid to answer I slowly poked my head out of the van to see who it was. As the voice got closer I noticed two figures appearing from out of the darkness. Sure that it was my mom and dad there to bust me, I shamefully got out of the van ready for punishment. As they got closer I noticed something was different though. My dad looked a bit taller and my moms shape was off too. They weren’t my parents, they couldn’t be. I breathed a sigh of relief as they got closer, and squinted my eyes again to see whom they really were. Seconds later Jessie and Altheas faces lit up under the flickering orange streetlight. They were my ex-coworkers. “Why are they here?” I thought to myself. They didn’t live in my area. It felt like nothing was making sense, but in any case, I was happy to see them. I was happy to see anyone besides my parents at that point. We exchanged greetings than broke into conversation. It turned out that they were headed to a party that wasn’t too far from me so I offered to give them a ride. Throughout the entire trip they persisted that I come into the party with them. I refused though, I just wanted to practice parallel parking, not steal my moms van. By the time we got to the house Althea had given up on me, but Jessie had not. “Just 5 minutes man. C’mon!” Jessie pleaded with me as he handed me a beer through the driver-seat window. I knew that I should’ve turned him down, went home, and dove into bed, but Jessie was just so damn hard to say no to. “Alright, just 5 minutes man” I said to him as I got out of the van. At that point I knew I couldn’t drive home so I mentally prepared myself to walk home later, than come back for the van in the morning. Thankfully the party was close by- and I mean really close by. We'd only driven for about 2 or 3 minutes; we should’ve just walked. It was too late though, I was already there with an open beer in my hand; there was no turning back. The music was loud as we walked up to the house stepping over empty cans and cigarette butts. When we got to the door two familiar women came out to greet us and directed us inside. I knew it was going to be a good night. 12:30 am After an hour or so I felt the drinks taking their toll; my inhibition was gone and so were Jessie and Althea. I didn’t mind though, I was feeling good- too good to have any minor concerns. Jumping from conversation to conversation I eventually found myself in the basement. I sobered up a bit as my foot touched the cold concrete floor at the bottom of the steps. The basement was unfinished but massive; I passed at least 2 or 3 rooms as I walked down the hallway. I heard faint talking in the furthest room, so I followed the voices. When I got there I could see that the lights were dim from the outside of the room, but knew people were definitely in there. I casually opened the door and walked in. The room was cozy: 2 leather couches, a futon, a large red carpet, and huge flat screen TV displaying the infomercial channel. At a first glance I noticed: a few pretty girls, well-dressed guys, some familiar faces, some new faces, but all were drunk. “This was going to be interesting,” I thought to myself. I sat down on the couch by the futon and tried to smoothly join the conversation. It worked; they welcomed me like one of their own. 2:00 am The party was dying down, at least in the basement. At that point the ratio of guys to girls was clearly in my favor. Unconsciously I took advantage of that. I had the attention of two ladies; one of them seemed really into me. As I moved couches to fill in the gaps between her and I, a semi- sarcastic voice blurted out "hey why don't you sit next to me?” I turned my gaze to the corner of the room where a lady I hadn't seen all night laid comfortably on the futon. I was intrigued. After she said that everyone took the hint and gave us our space. Some people paired up and ran into a room, some went home, but all left the basement. It was just she and I. I asked her her name. She said it was "Clarisa". She had pretty eyes, a beautiful smile and was petite- maybe 5'2" with long black hair, and a nice athletic figure. She looked like a mix of Chinese and Spanish or something like that. I just knew I was in love. We laid on the futon for a while getting lost in conversation. Eventually words weren’t needed; we had an understanding deeper than that. Once we knew no one was coming back, things escalated. Before I knew it, it was morning. 5:00 am We heard people coming down the stairs. I quickly grabbed a white sheet and threw it over our exposed bodies. We joked about pretending to be asleep or acting like we weren’t there, but time ran out. People soon flooded the room to see our half naked bodies. I was too hung-over to care and I sensed the same from everyone else. They said hi, made their clever remarks and gave us our space again. After they left reality hit me. I needed to be home to return moms van and Clarisa had her own obligations. I gave her my number and she promised to call. The next morning we talked but she had to baby sit so our conversation was short. She said she would call back at 6:00 pm that day. I lost my phone around 5:30 pm so I never got a chance to talk to her again. That was probably my karma for taking moms van. I seem to have luck when it comes to finding people, but Clarisa was the one that got away. Time went by and I eventually moved on, however every time I go for a late night drive I cant help but think that I might see her again.