Low Key Holidays

 By October, everybody we hung out with assumed Lori and I were dating. We were just friends, but we did everything together so it was like we were dating. We kind of came as a set. The thing was we weren’t a ‘couple’.

 Lori had gotten a car loan and bought herself a Saturn because she wasn’t comfortable driving the huge Impala. Our lease specifically stated we were allowed only one car per tenant so we were in violation of the rule. This wouldn’t be the first time for me. I still had the Oldsmobile, ‘Snout’, parked in the lot as well. It barely worked, but I didn’t have the money to fix it. Occasionally, if it sat for too long, they would put an orange sticker announcing it would be towed and I would jump the battery and move it to another part of the lot giving it a stay of execution. After a while, I conceded that I would never get it fixed and when I went on a vacation to NY, “Snout’ was towed, never to be seen again. I always joked to Matt that ‘Snout’ was now part of John Elway’s Auto Nation now. Now we did that with Lori’s Impala.
 Occasionally, Lori would go on dates. Nothing serious with anybody and I would still do my own thing. Friends would get confused because they thought we were a couple and then Lori would mention a date. They started to suspect we were ‘swingers’. In actuality, Jennifer, Bill, Lori and I had conversations speculating that Eric and Lucinda were ‘swingers’. We may have even had that conversation when we all hung out on Friday the 13th.
 Because Jenn wanted to and liked to be scared, she wanted us to go out and do something scary on Friday the 13th. She claimed that because it was in October, it was ‘double scary’. On Lori’s suggestion, we all jumped into her 1969 Chevy Impala and drove up to a nearby cemetery that Lori used to go for walks in when she was younger. It was creepy walking through the cemetery late at night regardless of the date, but it was also funny how scared Jenn got herself. I think a fox might have run by because at one point she had grabbed my arm so tight it went numb due to lack of circulation.
 That was really the first night I got a chance to get to know Jenn’s husband Bill. He was really a difficult person to read. He found the oddest things amusing. He seemed to enjoy asking odd questions just to get a reaction or to rile someone up. He believed in conspiracy theories. He also loved smoking pot. A lot. By the time we got back to the car we were tossing around the idea of driving through the night to Las Vegas on a lark. Thankfully, we thought better of it before we did leave.
 Eric and Lucinda hosted a Halloween Party later that month. I recycled my Austin Powers costume because no one in Colorado had seen me use it the year before.
 When Thanksgiving came around, We had two events to go to. We went to Lori’s parent’s place for an early dinner and then to Jenn & Bill’s for dessert. Jenn’s brother Tom was currently staying with them for a few months and Jenn wanted us to come by. She fondly remembers it as the party were everyone fell asleep. I don’t know if her brownies had pot in them or if it was the food coma but the truth is, we all did fall asleep.
 This was the second Christmas I was going to be in Colorado and away from family. Again, I spent the holiday with Lori’s family.