"Does 7 pm sound good?" I asked Roger.

"Sounds good. I really appreciate you inviting me to sleepover at your…well, house would be an understatement. But I guess saying palace would make me feel silly. No offense."

I laughed. "Don't worry. None taken. So it's all settled. You'll ask your parents for permission, right?"

"Sure. Though I doubt it will be necessary. But just to be a good son."

"Sounds good. So we'll talk tomorrow, right?"

"Sure, man. Thanks again. Bye."

"Bye." I hung up and yelled a silent cry of victory. Well, I'd accomplished the first part of the mission with flying colors. Now I just needed to wait and see how Lilia was going to turn out with her half of Part One.

While I waited for her to call, I went in to change into my pajamas and brush and floss my teeth. Just as I was finishing on the bicuspid molar, the phone rang. "Yeah?" I said, not even realizing that I still had a 7-inch string of dental floss hanging from my mouth.

"Well, I'm all set," she said.

"Really? She accepted to sleepover at your house?"

"Yeah, she's going to come at seven."

¬Uh-oh I guess Lilia noticed something in the silence because she said, "What's wrong?"

"Well…Roger's coming over at the same time. We can't have that."

"Why not?"

"Because if they see each other getting into our houses at the same time, they might get suspicious. And if they find out what we're up to, the whole plan goes down the guzzle."

"Hmm. You're right. I'll see if I can get her to come a little bit later. You think 7:30 is safe?"

"Yeah, I think so. Then it's all set."

"Okay, then. All set. By the way, Spiny, you don't happen to have dental floss hanging from your mouth, do you?"

HUH?! I went back to the bathroom to look at myself in the mirror. "How did you know?" I pulled the string out and threw it away.

"Remember, I've got two brothers."

That figures. "Well, let's wait and see what tomorrow brings."

"Okay. Goodnight, then. Love you!"

"Goodnight and l love you too."

I turned out the lights and got under the covers, confident in that our plan would be a complete….success…or failure? Well, I didn't want to dwell too much on those thoughts. I was determined to make this whole plan a success.

Larry had arrived about a half hour earlier. He came up at that moment from the kitchen and probably finishing about two-thirds of everything we had in the fridge. He must've been reading my thoughts (literally) because he mentioned, "How's the plot coming along?"

"Larry, it's hardly a plot. It's not like there's going to be victims or anything."

"Oh, no? You and Lilia are going to each invite Darla and Roger over to your respective places of residence under the pretense of a sleepover so you can teach both of them lessons in courtship so that they'll be together permanently. That way Darla will no longer be enamored with you and Roger won't be interrupting another well-planned and carefully-made nocturnal date, right?"

I stared at him, eye blinking. I tried to see if there was truly any life behind those empty eyes of his. After a careful and thorough analysis I came to the well-based conclusion that in deed, Larry may be the only living thing on this Earth that doesn't require a brain in order to survive.

Ignoring his previous lengthy—and quite frankly stupid—statement, I turned over to turn off the lamp and got under the covers ready to slip into blissful sleep and journey to Dreamland. And of course, send up a long line of Z's. Just kidding! I don't really snore.

Really. I don't snore.

If you don't believe me…well, then that's your problem, not mine. I'm going to force you to believe something, even if it's the truth. After all, you're the only one who can do that, right?

Now let me ask you something…what the heck were we talking about?!

You get me really confused, you know that?

Wait! Now I remember.

I'd turned out the lights and closed my eyes to rest up for the night. You could hear the soft summer nocturnal breeze blowing past. I'd left the doors to the balcony open to let the air in. And to save energy. Not money. We don't have to pay for any of our services.

Anyways, I was about to drift into REM sleep when the tranquility of the night was shattered by the most annoying voice in the universe. "And what are you going to do if things go…you know…backwards?"

I groaned. Loud enough so as to hint that I wanted him to shut up and go to sleep. But do you think he took the hint? No, of course not! That would not be Larry being Larry. And it's not that he doesn't know how to understand hints. He purposely ignores them and uses it as an excuse to be a pain in the neck.

"You do know that I'm going to keep annoying you until you answer me, right?"

I turned over face-up. "Larry, even if I gave you an answer to everything in the universe, you'd still be annoying."

"Probably. Now, to repeat the question, 'what are you going to do if things go backwards?'"

"How can things possibly go backwards?"

"Well, I don't know. What if for some reason you and Lilia suddenly have a big fight then stop talking to each other. Then Roger and Darla end up together. In that case, they'll be the ones trying to get you together again. Mostly because they're going to feel guilty, even if they're not."

I turned my head to face Larry. He was sitting up on his bed. "Would you stop saying stupidities for once in your life?"

"I'm serious, Spiny. This is a very delicate matter."

"Would you please stop worrying and try to be optimistic?"

"I try to be realistic, Spiny. That forces me to not be optimistic."

Ugh! I wasn't going to contend with this all night. It might be bad for my health. "Listen, dad" I said, with enough sarcasm, "I can handle this on my own. I have plenty of experience and I don't need your advice on it. Now can you please shut your mouth and let me sleep?"

I guess he finally took the hint because he didn't say anything and went under his covers.

Phew!

Arguing with Larry is…exhausting. That's the simplest way I can put it.

Well, the next day when I came home from work I parked TIV up in front of the Palace then ran back to the Palace Gates. Lilia wasn't outside, so I guessed that Darla wasn't anywhere close. I looked at my watch. 7:19

Hmm. None of them seemed to be near. It would be just ridiculous if they both suddenly showed up at nearly the same time and Lilia and I would have to quickly push them inside the come up with some lame excuse for that.

Well, this is where I should go ahead and face-palm myself. You'll never guess what happened two seconds after I had those thoughts.

At that moment, a green-yellow SUV came up in front of the Palace Gates. The guards quickly ran over to check them over. Once they saw it was safe, the opened the gates and let the vehicle enter. After stopping in front of where I was, the window rolled down on the driver's seat.

Roger's mom said, "Good evening, Spiny. How are you today?"

"I'm fine, ma'am. Thanks for asking. How is the family?"

"We're all doing great, thank goodness."

"That's good." I lowered my head and saw Roger. "Hey, man. How you doing?"

"Doing great. Well, I guess you can leave now, Mom."

"Oh, sweetie," she said as Roger stepped out the car. "Remember to brush your teeth, Roger."

"Yes, Mom."

"And wash your face and have good manners."

"Yes, Mom," he said in an annoyed tone.

"Do you want me to give you your dolphin so you can sleep with it?"

Roger's eyes got huge. He clenched his jaw and his face went from pale white to deep crimson. "MOM!"

"You don't want it then?"

"No, I don't want it! Goodnight, Mom." He grabbed his stuff and marched inside.

Well, this is certainly a great way to start. My guest was just embarrassed by his own mother in front of me and made him get in a bad mood.

Nobody said being a good friend was easy.

I tried to uplift my mind into something a little bit more optimistic and went in behind Roger.

When I stepped inside the Palace, I saw he'd gone into the living room. He was standing next to the coffee table near the TV. Patty had come in with a tray of some of her homemade peach ice cream and was offering him some.

After he'd taken a spoonful of it, he grinned and said, "Wow! That's really sweet! How much sugar do you use when you make it?"

"No more than 9 grams."

"No kidding!? Just nine grams and it's this sweet? Wow."

While he was admiring her ice cream I grabbed his duffel bag and tapped him on the shoulder. "Why don't we take your stuff up to my room? We can go to the Game Room afterwards?"

"What you got in there?"

"I got the Wii, a pool table, some mini-basketball hoops, arcade games, and lots of other stuff. Come on."

After thanking Patty for the ice cream he followed me up the stairs. We got to our room and found Larry playing with a yo-yo…hanging from the bedpost by his tail. Naturally he wasn't watching where he was looking so when we came in, he let go of the yo-yo.

"Ye-ow! Larry, why did you hit me in the face with a yo-yo?"

"Because I don't know how to handle a bowling ball yet."

"What?!"

"Nothing, nothing." He uncurled his tail from the bedpost and walked up to Roger. "How you doing Roger boy?"

"Fine thanks. Looking forward to have a good time."

Larry grinned. "Well, I'm sure you will. Especially when you find out the evil plans Spiny has in store for you."

Well, there goes the whole plan right down the toilet. I sure am glad that Lilia doesn't an annoying, sarcastic, and stupid friend like Larry to ruin things with Darla.