Marcie, my wife of nearly one whole year was standing in front of me, and leaning against my chest, facing away. I could smell her long straight auburn hair that reached to the middle of her back, the scent of honeysuckle. She was five inches shorter that my six feet. She was a lean one hundred and fifteen pounds. I'm Phil, by the way.
She was wearing her LBD (little black dress) that was showing a lot of beautiful tanned leg above her knees. It was a spaghetti strapped number with a very low-cut back, tight around her small waist with a pleated skirt. The design somehow created the appearance of more cleavage than her small breasts were really capable of. To me, and most everyone else I guess, she was the most beautiful girl in the world I had known since our junior year in high school, which was when we first met.
It was around ten in the evening and it was Saturday night at our condo pool. I was standing at the end of the Tiki bar looking over Marcie's shoulder at the crowd growing more intoxicated and louder as the night progressed. There were a few people swimming or trying to have a water volleyball game but most everyone else was dressed in street clothes and milling around, drinking and just hanging out.
Everyone there was a resident, which consisted of two building, both ten stories high and with eight units per floor. It looked like half of the residents were around to pool.
I am a self-described introvert; when offered a choice, I always prefer to be at home and certainly not in the type of crowd I was in right now. Marcie on the other hand has never met a stranger and can make friends with anyone. And she always has something to say about any topic being discussed. Marcie understands about me and is fine with it, but I realized a long time ago that I had to give a little sometimes too. So here I was at a crowded pool on a Saturday night, just for Marcie.
"I'm going to take a stroll around the pool, want to come with me?" she asked
'I'm good right here." I said, "Someone has to hold up this end of the bar."
"I thought so." She kissed my cheek, twice. "Get me another drink, will you? I'll be right back." I watched her walk away to the far side of the pool deck. When she disappeared into the crowd I turned and ordered two more Jack black and sodas.
I had been crowd watching for some time and realized my second drink was empty. I picked up Marcie's, still untouched, took a long gulp and started walking the route she had taken earlier.
I hate trying to fight through a limited space, overcrowded with drunken people. I had managed to reach the far end of the pool and found an unoccupied spot against the security fence. I took up a post and tried to find my wife in the throng of loud talking, arm waving drunks.
Every once in a while someone would move in front of me just a little and I could get a glimpse of a pair of long legs in what looked like a black dress. I worked my way to the pools edge and about fifteen feet away; Marcie was sitting on the fixed end of the diving board. Her legs were certainly crossed and she was unknowingly showing a lot more lean tanned leg than I had ever known her to do. She was holding another drink she had managed to obtain from somewhere.
She appeared to be talking to a very tall, well built black man. She was smiling up at him. I managed to make my way toward them. As I approached, Marcie looked up and immediately stood as her dress settled back into place.
She held out her arm and hooked it around mine when I got close. "Phil, this is Darren. Darren, my husband, Phil." We exchanged greetings. "Darren has a unit on our floor. 7-B across from the elevators." Marcie was acting a bit uneasy and she seemed flustered.
Even though there was a semblance of conversation between the three of us, felt like Darren and I had spent a good number of minutes sizing each other up. But then Marcie said. " I bet you're ready to call it a night, right?"
I shrugged my shoulders toward Darren. "She knows me better than anyone." We said our good nights and fought our way to the pool gate. Once in the clean fresh night air Marcie weaved her arm into mine, leaned her head on my shoulder and we walked back to our building that way without a word.
