"Did you have fun?" Eighteen year old Colton James asked his best friend, Denver Taylor. Both were childhood friends and had enrolled together into the undergraduate program in Business Management from the University of Houston, Texas.

"Nah, she puked and slept like a log. I didn't get anything, man, " sulked Denver. They had gone to a frat party last night to get Denver's first s*x experience but his bad luck prevailed as always and the girl he was with, puked and puked and then fell flat on the bed and slept like a log. So much for a first night! "What about ya?" He asked gulping half a bottle of water.

"Ask me about it. I had the best night of my life. I feel like I've died and gone to heaven, " said Colton with a glorified look on his face.

"That good, huh? Lucky you," said Denver, feeling jealous of his best friend. Last time they had gone for a similar experience, Denver had slept like a log after puking the whole night while Colton had the best s*x experience of his life. This time too it was a repeat. So Denver sulked all the more at his bad luck. "Why am I so unlucky, God?" He mumbled going over to his motorcycle.

Then realization struck both of them. They hadn't informed  at their homes last night. Today the whole family would be there to ask about their whereabouts. Colton's dad was a no-nonsense lawyer and would stop his pocket money for a week but he had his savings so he was pretty cool about it. And Denver? He was dead. His dad, Henry Taylor would ground him for a week, confiscating his mobile phone which was his life.

"What do I tell dad?" Groaned Denver, sitting slumped over his motorbike.

"What dude! Don't tell me you're short on excuses?" Laughed Colton.

" I'm not but dad won't buy a single excuse that I give him. And ma can sniff the frat party stink on me!" He said, rolling his eyes. "They'll take away my mobile."

"Chill, use my spare one till they give back yours. Here," said Colton, handing him his spare phone. Denver grinned and fist bumped with him.

"See ya then, " he said and they both rode off to their respective homes. In five minutes, he rode into the garage of a beautiful white three storeyed house with a manicured lawn and a cute white water fountain in front of it. Just as he parked his motorbike, a fat, lazy golden retriever emerged out of the house, proudly walking out to the house diagonally opposite theirs. 

"Hey Timmy, is ma and dad mad at me?" He whispered. Timmy licked his hand and whispered "woof".

"I wish I could be like you and walk into the house quietly through the dog entrance," he groaned. But he wasn't and had to go and ring the doorbell now. He just hoped that his dad had gone to his restaurant.

The Taylor family owned three restaurants and a four-star hotel in Houston which Henry Taylor and his brothers Nolan Taylor and Benjamin Taylor handled together. Denver's dad Henry Taylor was the oldest of the three and handled their their largest and main multi-cuisine restaurant, The Grub Club. Nolan came next and lived on the same street, three houses away with his wife Pauline and twenty-year old twin boys, Nick and Nelson and looked after their fast food restaurant, Quick Bite. Benjamin lived opposite to Henry's house with his wife Patricia and his two boys, eighteen year old, Ryan and thirteen year old Nate and handled their hotel Sterling Plaza. The other restaurant which was a steak-house and bar was at the construction stage.

Denver's mom, Hannah was the most harrassed of the lot though. When she gave birth to two boys, Stuart and Sean, she wanted a little daughter and again got pregnant with the hope of a girl child. But to her horror she produced another set of twin boys, Denver and Daxton. Then accidentally their condom burst and she got pregnant with Drake. So now she was stuck with five boys and a male dog in her house not to mention their male cousins and male best friends who always stayed over. Whenever, she, Pauline and Patricia met all they discussed was how wonderful it would have been if they had produced daughters instead of these rowdy boys. 

Then one day, God was merciful and Sean brought home a pretty girl, Vienna Russell whom he had saved on a camping trip. Since she had no one to call her, she started staying with them. She was the ideal daughter and Hannah Taylor was happy.

Denver sucked in a deep breath and rang the doorbell, praying in his head but his bad luck prevailed as usual and his dad opened the door and glared at him. "Where are you coming from may I know?" He asked in his no-nonsense tone.

"Colton's house, dad," he told his dad.

"Really? Then why did his dad call your ma to ask about Colton's whereabouts?" Asked his dad sternly. Uh oh! He hadn't thought of that before.

"Den, you're stinking " said his ma and Denver knew he was caught.

"Okay, I was at a frat house party. I'm eighteen already, why can't I do what I want to?" said Denver with frustration.

"Frat house parties are bad. They're all about s*x, drugs and drinking. What fun can they be? This is my last warning to you son. I don't want you to waste time at such places. Do something productive with your life, " said his dad.

"Okay, I'll think about it. Can I please go and sleep?" Asked Denver, bored out of his mind. Who wanted a lecture early in the morning.

"Nope. You're grounded for a week. Give me your phone, " said his dad.

"God, dad! Don't you get bored grounding me every alternate week?" He sighed handing his phone to his dad. But his life wasn't that bleak. He had Colton's spare phone with all his contacts saved into it.

"Then why don't you stop?" Asked his dad walking to his car to leave for work. Denver walked into the house. His ma had gone to do the laundry and he walked to the dining room. Vienna was at the dining table serving breakfast while a dreamy Sean watched her with hooded eyes. Denver grinned at her. "Hi Vivi, what have you made?" He asked, checking the interesting food.

"She has cooked only for me. Don't touch anything, Den," said his brother, twenty- three years old Sean Taylor. He stuck out his tongue at him.

"She'd never do that. She'll cook for all of us, she loves us," said Denver knowing well that Sean was crazy about Vienna and was getting slowly green with jealousy.

"I miss Stuart at the breakfast table, " said their ma, walking into the room. Stuart was Sean's twin and had left for a few days to live with his girl, Allison Green in order to woo her.

"Yeah, bro's the luckiest," said Daxton who was Denver's twin who was studying finance from the same university as him. His love life was in a soup since the girl he liked, Aurora Miller who worked at the library was impossible to approach with her brothers protecting her always.

The door opened and in rushed an excited Drake, their youngest brother who was just twelve, yet was the funniest of them all. "We're going to have new neighbors. A cop family is moving into the house opposite to ours. I watched them, unload their stuff from Nate's window," he said excitedly.

Denver and Daxton exchanged looks. "Cop's family? That's the worst thing that could happen," said Denver.

"Yeah, bro. I can feel you," said Daxton.

Drake grinned at them. "Are you two upto illegal stuff?" He asked with a laugh.

"Shut up Drake, " said Denver with a glare. His ma chuckled.

"Isn't it exciting to have new neighbors? I can't wait to meet them," said their ma. No one answered. Of course they didn't like a cop family living opposite to them. All their pranks would have to be scaled down. Denver went up to his room to sleep. He loved his old room which he had to give up to Vienna. It opened onto their backyard and was peaceful. He could sleep in peace but now with his window facing the new neighbors on the opposite side of the road, sleep wasn't at all possible. He closed his windows. There was too much noise and he needed to catch up on his sleep to keep sane. That girl snored in her sleep and he couldn't sleep a wink.

It was a Saturday and Daxton rode his motorcycle to the library to see Aurora while Drake and Timmy sat at the window of the living room watching a hot sixteen year old girl helping her parents shift into the house opposite to theirs.

"Hi," she said upon seeing him and Timmy. Timmy wasted no time and waved his paw.

"Hi," said Drake. 

"I'm Sapphire, what's your name?" She asked from over their low flower-pot lined boundary wall.

"I'm Drake and this is Timmy, " said Drake. She waved and disappeared inside while Drake had a brainwave. Stuart had Allison, Sean had Vienna, Dax had Aurora and he was just twelve. So who could he fit Sapphire with? He grinned mischievously and so did Timmy.