Tyler and I met on a Friday in his backyard. My and his family just came to a massive agreement to pool their resources more closely than before, so everyone had gathered in their massive Beverly Hills backyard to celebrate. I, as always, was sitting on the edge doing nothing.

“Hey can I sit here?” Tyler asked. I hadn’t met him before.

“Sure.”

“My name is Tyler,” he said as he sat down.

“I’m Anthony.”

There was this really cool bartender who could make a bunch of cool nonalcoholic drinks. I really liked mine and was curious what his was.

“What is that drink?”

“It’s carbonated lemonade and grapefruit juice, yours?”

“Strawberry juice with dill. Want some?”

“Sure,” he shrugged. He took a small sip before handing it back to me.

“That’s really good.” he smiled, “want some of mine?”

I had some of his drink. It was slightly better than mine, even with its bitterness. I told him that.

“So you’re going to be a freshmen?” he asked.

“Yep, same school, right?”

My parents told me a couple days ago to make friends with Tyler since we’re in the same grade and would be going to the same school.

“Yeah, it’s downtown.”

Tyler and I discussed our ages. He was a few months younger than me.

“Well, Anthony,” Tyler stood up, “I hope our new alliance will work out. See you later.”

I didn’t talk to him the rest of that day, but I saw him again a few days later; also at his house. We went up to his room while our parents talked. Tyler and I weren’t friends and didn’t have anything in common. My parents have dropped me next to someone I don’t know well several distinct times as per my memory.

He had an XBox360 and we played Portal 2 for a while. We got through the first couple stages. We laughed a bit at Glados’s lines.

I caught glimpses of his room. His bed was obviously made just because I would be in there and he didn’t have much hung up; just a poster of a video game I didn’t recognize and a couple paintings that he likely made. I didn’t either, so I tried not to judge. He did have his own bathroom, which I didn’t. His desk was a mess of art materials and stationary, so the paintings were definitely his. He also had his own TV in his room.

“You really haven’t played portal before?” he asked.

“Never heard of it.”

“You’re missing out.”

“That good, huh?”

He glanced a look at me, “Do you like this?” presumably talking about the co-op mode.

“Yes.”

“The singleplayer campaign is way better. You should come play it sometime.”

“Sure.”

I never actually did come play it.