Drive-bys

So, when I was in high school and college, it was a favorite pastime of ours (Queenie and me) to drive by people's houses.

Friends, boyfriends, ex-boyfriends, wannabe boyfriends, friends' boyfriends...you get the picture.

This is pretty much how Queenie and I spent a lot of evenings:
I'd drive to Queenie's parents' house. Chat with the fam for a bit before telling them we were headed out for ice cream. We'd hop into the better car option for the evening (Had I scored Mom's Buick? Had she snagged the Queen Mother's Volvo? Or were we stuck with the 1989 Camry wagon or the 1986 Pontiac? We later had the options of Nissan Sentra, Honda Accord and Jeep Cherokees...but still) and drive off.

First stop: D'Lites Emporium. The pioneering healthy "ice cream" shop. They served sugar-free, fat-free and low-carb ice cream before that was en vogue. They always had chocolate and vanilla, then would rotate in other flavors. Queenie would try the weird flavors...I'd stick with vanilla soft-serve with Oreo crumbs. We'd hang around and flirt with the guys who worked there, then we would hang around the parking lot with whichever friend we ran into (because we always ran into someone). THEN the real fun would begin!

We'd jump into the vehicle of the evening and head out to ride by houses. We'd usually start with SW's house. SW was a guy who went to our high school, but we didn't really know during high school. And we didn't really know where he lived until college, when SW and I interned together and had an ongoing flirtation. We went on some dates once, nothing serious. But he was cute and I was perpetually interested in what he was up to.

From there we would head to Queenie's former neighborhood, where AR, KB and others lived. We'd assess the cars in front of AR's home to determine if she was home, if her mother was home and if either AR or AR's mother was entertaining a "guest".

KB was near AR and almost always home, but so were her parents and her 86 brothers and sisters, so we'd keep driving. Then depending on the mood, we'd either drive my MM, CW, KC and/or others, just for fun.

We'd always conclude the night by going back to Queenie's parents' house and watching crap late night TV. Like, "Fifth Wheel" or "Elimi-Date" or "Mad About You" re-runs.

We'd discuss the drive-bys of the evening, what we'd seen, what we'd experienced and when we'd do it again.

Then I'd go home.

It was awesome.

I want to do it again. REAL SOON.