The party was on a Saturday night; we had about 20-30 people over that night. Some were smokers and others were not. I found myself watching the oth...r guys smoking and learned that Michael was not the only hot smoker that I knew. Michaels’ friend Brad was at the party that night. Now Brad is just a bit younger than Michael is. Brad was 19 years old the same age as me, he has blonde surfer hair and hazel eyes nice tan and build from working out and surfing all the time. Now Brad was the. I struggle to feign interest in people whom I find uninteresting, and just cannot carry off that easy laugh that seems so effortless for other people when somebody else cracks a lame joke. If it’s funny, I’ll laugh along like everyone else, if it’s not then I just think I sound fake. Looking round I can see a good deal of fakery going on, there’s the pretend voices of civil discourse, and the very English ‘weather’ conversation. People telling one another how nice they look when quite clearly. We finally talked Dad into letting me get some girlclothes." That's cool," he said, meeting my eyes again briefly. "What all, um,kinds of things did you get?" Well, Dad said no skirts or dresses yet, and Mom said no sleeveless orcold shoulder tops, but I got some casual pants and tops for school anda couple of pant suits like this for church. I hope Dad will relenton the dresses before next Sunday, but I'm not holding my breath --he's already being more reasonable than I expected."I wasn't. The one redeeming factor was that she only made him wear this outlandish get up when they rode their bikes. Had she suggested he wear the skin tight outfit when they drove or walked to their destination he may have gotten the nerve to complain. True the business was Jens idea but Trina was given complete control over how to run it. And run it she did!“Sorry honey.” he replied as he headed toward the front door held open by the impatient, enterprising nine year old. Her flashing blue eyes.