It's a warm summer night. A young man sits on the corner of Broadway and 12th Street in downtown Oakland sipping from a bottle of Hennessey. Bored and looking for a sexual fling with no strings attached, the young man dials up The Biosphere, a popular social networking tool that anyone with access to a phone can use to meet people in their area. It's basically a party line for random hookups and one-time sexual encounters.

As soon as he gets through, he hears the disclaimer that The Biosphere is not responsible for any actions or consequences that may result from meeting someone online. An hour later, the young man finds himself in the company of a complete stranger -- names don't matter since they're probably all made up. Besides, the odds are against the two of them making a love connection. Ten minutes in, they're engaged in some extremely risky behavior.

The young man is only 17, a senior in high school, from a good home, and curious about exploring his sexuality.

The stranger, an older gentleman with a major sex addiction, is HIV-positive and currently on a methamphetamine binge. He hasn't slept for days, yet the two find a mutual connection, and within minutes, they are engaging in unprotected sex.

This particular evening, about three guys have been to the stranger's house, making the 17-year-old the fourth guy that night. At the older man's suggestion, condoms are not used and, conveniently, he fails to disclose to his HIV status. The young man has been drinking, so he's in no position to make a rational decision about protecting himself.

A year down the road, that night of hooking up, no matter how fun it may have seemed at the time, will come back to haunt the young man when he tests positive for HIV. One night of risky behavior will finally catch up with him, and there will be life-altering consequences.

There's nothing wrong with getting your "mack on" and exploring one's sexuality, but when drugs, alcohol or any other mind-altering substances are added to the mix, things are not always what they seem.

According to the National Library of Medicine Gateway, a service of the National Institute of Health, consumption of drugs and alcohol is a widespread phenomenon among adolescents. The link between HIV, which causes AIDS, and intravenous drug use is well known. The connections between ingestible substances, such as alcohol and marijuana, and unsafe sexual activity also have become glaringly evident. Recently, the "Healthy Behavior in School-Aged Children" survey was conducted with a random sampling of 2,582 boys and 2,557 girls, aged 11, 13 and 15. According to this survey, a large number of children are consuming "two or more drinks in a row" usually on weekends. Participating in high-risk behaviors could pose deadly consequences for young people in the era of AIDS.

No one can say for sure whether the young man would have ended up at the older man's house had he not been drinking, but the truth of the matter is that when he showed up, he was feeling the alcohol. He thought to himself as soon as the man opened the door, "He looks nothing like he mentioned in his recorded message on the biosphere." A quick second later, he thought about leaving, but because he wasn't in the right state of mind, he decided to stay and finish what was left of the bottle of Hennessy. "Go with the flow, just stay cool," he told himself. That night, he gambled and changed his life forever.

One swig led to another, and before you know it, the young man was engaged in unprotected sex with another man who happened to be HIV-positive. They end up spending no more than 30 minutes together, and later, the young man was diagnosed with HIV.

For Beyond the Odds, I'm Sergio Mendoza.

Sergio Mendoza is an optimistic 25-year-old from Oakland, Calif., and a staff writer for Beyond the Odds. He was diagnosed with HIV in December of 2008.

Beyond the Odds is a multimedia arts project created to illuminate the impact of HIV and AIDS on low-income and minority youth through www.beyondtheodds.org. This project is made possible by the Association of Independents in Radio and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. For more information, visit www.mq2.org.