"Hey Ricky, what's up?" my roommate Don, a 27 year old skunk said.
"Not much bro, just playing some Call of Duty, want to join me in a game?" I asked.
"Not right now, I've got to go to the airport and pick up Tammy," he said.
"Tammy? Who's that?"
"You remember Tammy, my cousin. You knew her way back when we were kids."
"Oh shit...that Tammy?"
"Yeah...that Tammy...why, is there going to be a problem?"
"I hope not. It's just, back then, I used to be merciless, teasing her. I set one of her Barbie dolls on fire, pulled her hair, threw her in the lake," I said.
"Dude, relax, I'm sure she's over it. Sometimes you humans worry too damn much," he said. He brushed away a lock of blonde hair which covered his eyes.
"Yeah, you're right, it's been like twenty years since I've seen her."
"She asked about you, you know," Don said.
"Really?"
"Yeah, she wanted to know if you'd still be pulling her hair and setting her toys on fire," he said with a wink.
"Dick wad," I replied.
"Later bro, we'll be back by five, maybe five-thirty," he said. I waved my hand without breaking my concentration on the screen, but my mind was on Tammy. She was a nerdy, pigtailed skunkette back in the day, and a little bit chubby. I was a douche back then and picked on a lot of kids. I'd like to think I mellowed out some, and I hope she forgave and forgot.
I played video games until I heard the car pull up on the driveway. I turned off the game and just sat on the couch. The door opened and I heard the two skunks reminiscing and laughing as they walked in.
"Or that time you threw the rock in the beehive," I heard Tammy say with a chuckle.
"Yeah, I still have a fear of bees to this day," he admitted and added "hey Rick, we're back."
I stood up and looked at them. My jaw dropped. Gone was the pigtailed, chubby girl from two decades ago, and there stood a sexy skunkette with long, blonde hair, deep green eyes, Daisy Duke shorts, pink flip-flops, and a bright, red tube-top.
"Dude, quit eyeballing my cousin!" Don said.
"Right, right, uh...hey Tammy, how's it going?" I managed to blurt out somehow.
"Ricky Rawlings, my, my, my. It's been a long time, hasn't it?" she said with her arms open wide. She hugged me tightly, and I felt her warm breasts push against my chest.
"You're looking good, Tammy, really good," I said.
"You're not looking too bad yourself, killer," she said with a warm smile. "Just try not to pull my hair, sweetie," she said.
"Yeah, about that, look, I was a total dickhead when I was a kid," I said.
"You still are!" Don shouted from the kitchen, he was fetching us some beers.
"You're still setting dolls on fire?" she teased.
"No, I grew out of that phase in college," I quipped. Don handed me a bottle of beer. I sucked a quarter of it down right away.
"Hey, easy does it, it's not a race," Tammy said with a giggle.
"Sorry, I was just thirsty," I admitted. Don's phone rang.
"Yeah. What? Are you fucking kidding me? What, right now? I'm supposed to be off for the next two weeks! Yeah whatever, I'll be there tonight. Yeah, bye," I heard Don say.
"Trouble?" Tammy asked.
"Yeah, the office said some jackass sent the wrong shipment to Berlin. They booked me on a flight tonight. I'm so sorry," he said.
"Well how long do you expect to be there?" she asked.
"Hopefully only three or four days," Don replied.
"Plenty of time left on my two weeks here," she said. "You've got to do what you've got to do," she said with a sigh.
"Yeah, hey Rick, you're off for the next two weeks too, aren't you?"
"Yeah, I can be," I said.
"Well, if you don't mind, just try to show Tammy a good time, take her to the beach or something," he said. "And no funny business, this is my cousin, bro!"
"Yeah, of course not! It's all good man," I said.
"Right," he said, eyeing me suspiciously. "I need to pack."
"Won't you at least have dinner with us?" Tammy asked.
"I can't, but Rick is excellent at ordering pizza," he said.
"Oh, sounds very romantic," she said sarcastically.
"And no funny stuff from you either, Cuz," he said.
"Don, I'm 27 years old, I think I can make my own decisions," she said.
"Yeah, well...decide not to mess around with Rick," he said. She tacitly agreed to shut him up. He went to pack up his things and Tammy sat on the couch next to me. I couldn't stop staring at her beautiful, black legs, and her cute feet with bubbly, adorable toes peeking through the flip-flops. Tammy caught me staring and smiled, but gracefully decided to bring up another subject.
"So, I see you're a gamer," she said, looking at the Xbox controller on the table.