It was New Year's Eve, he was getting ready to go to a party, and he didn't want to go.
For the past few months, he'd been a veritable hermit. When his last girlfriend left, he'd realized how much he liked being alone, how much he could get out of solitude. But he still had friends, and they still required his attention every now and then, so he agreed to join them when they invited him to a party near his apartment at the home of a mutual friend.
It was a cold night, but a clear one, and as he walked the few blocks to the party, he thought that tonight might be fun after all. Going out once in a while, getting to know some new faces and names, might not be the dull chore he'd lately been viewing it to be.
Then he got to the party.
He was greeted at the door by Ryan and his girlfriend, Sarah.
Oh boy
, he thought. Sarah had had somewhat of an infatuation with him a few months previous, and while he hoped it wouldn't be awkward, he suspected it would be.
"Hey, how's it going? Long time, no see!"
"Yeah, I feel like we haven't seen you in forever," said Ryan.
Forever is what the awkward silence that followed felt like, as Ryan and Sarah stood there, fidgeting, obviously unsure of what to say. Luckily, he was rescued by the sudden appearance in the vestibule of the friends who had invited him.
"Sarah, where do you keep the extra cups?" Denise, his savior friend, gave him a knowing look as Sarah bustled out to the kitchen, followed by Ryan, of course. They really were an adorable, and very loving, couple. He just wished they were less awkward around him.
He hung up his coat in the overstuffed closet next to the front door and joined Denise and her sister, Cathy in the main living room. There was a karaoke machine set up on a tall table in the corner of the room unattended for the moment, and the room was largely empty except for a small group of women gathered around the tv, where the announcers were getting ready for the New Year's ball drop in a few hours' time. Most of the people were in the dining room where drinks and snacks had been set up.
He made the rounds, getting to know everyone a little bit. Most of the people there were new to him, but they quickly blended into each other. Jake, the administrative assistant, Heather, the advertising company worker, Brett, the paralegal, some other young professionals doing other young professional things. All nice people, he thought, albeit a bit cookie cutter.
After a couple of ciders, he started to feel a bit warm and stood next to the open window to the side of the room to cool off and get a moment to himself. In the other room, someone was singing "I'm Gonna Be," by The Proclaimers on the karaoke machine. Whoever it was, she was doing a really good job of it. He loved the song, and the singer added a certain lilt to her singing that really made it come alive. He walked into the other room and saw that the singer was a slender brunette woman. She was really into the song, clutching the microphone in both hands, eyes tightly shut, not even looking at the words on the machine's screen. She was young, probably about 21 or so, with long hair. Her face was freckled. She was thin, with long and graceful legs and a figure accentuated by the tight, medium length blue dress that she wore.
As she finished off the song, a few people clapped, and she blushed slightly before, smiling, passing the microphone to Denise, who started up a hearty rendition of Sisqo's "The Thong Song." The girl walked off into the other room to get another drink. He watched her walking away, noticing as she left the room that, for such a slender girl, she had a rounded, firm ass. He may have been a hermit, but he was still a man, after all.
After a few more beers, he had to go to the bathroom, but there was a line of people waiting. He got in line, hoping it would move quickly. The hallway leading to the bathroom was dark, which felt good. His head was spinning from the beer, and he could sense the beginnings of a headache on the edges of his mind. He moved up as the line progressed and rubbed the bridge of his nose to keep the headache at bay.
"Could this line move any slower?" said a melodic, heavily accented voice right next to him, causing him to jump. "Sorry, didn't mean to scare you!" she laughed.
"It's fine. I just didn't see you there," he said, looking up. He stood up straight, surprised again. It was the girl from karaoke earlier. Though it was hard to see in the hallway, he saw that she had a nose piercing and dark eyes, hazel or green, he couldn't tell. "You're the girl from earlier, singing the Proclaimers' song, right? That's one of my favorite songs," he said. "You did a really good job, better than the original, even."
She smiled and blushed slightly. "Thanks! I try, I guess."
"I'm not just saying that to be nice. It was really good. Better than I could do," he laughed. "Though I think I'd need quite a few more drinks to ask for the mic."
"Aww, you shouldn't be too shy. You never know where a little boldness will get you..." He smiled at the mischievous look in her eyes. He knew she didn't mean anything towards him, but he felt his cock stir in his pants anyway. "I'm Molly, by the way."
"Thomas," he said. He still couldn't place her accent. It sounded British, maybe English, but not quite. "Where are you from?"
"I'll give you three guesses. Nobody ever gets it."
"England?"
"Nope."
"Scotland?"
"Wrong again! You're close, I'll give you that, but you won't get it."
"And if I do?" He figured that, if she wasn't Scottish or English, she might be Welsh, so he wondered if he could make this little game a bit more interesting.
"Like a prize or something?" He nodded. "Ha! Let's see, how about I give you a kiss if you get it right?"
"Well," he said, laughing, "I guess I'll take that, though I was kind of hoping for something a bit more."
She playfully slapped his shoulder. "Ah! You're a cheeky one then! All you're getting is a kiss right now!"
