Douglas and his wife Ann had been married for almost 5 years, and had been together for nearly 12. They met in college. Douglas had been involved in a play at the university despite having no official affiliation with it. He and three of his friends had decided that they wanted to put on a show...so they did. They spent long nights in the basement of their house on campus rehearsing. When they felt ready they invited a few of the professors to come and watch the first act so that they could help decide if it was worth putting on.
The first act went well, and they decided to push forward. That meant finding a space and getting more people involved. Ann was brought on to be the prop mistress. Douglas could still remember exactly what she looked like the first time that he saw her. She came in the back door of the theater and emerged onto the stage with a few of the stage lights on forcing her to squint and shade her eyes. She had on faded blue jeans and a tight knit sweater that did it's best to hide her athletic figure. Her hair was pulled back into a sort of loose bun held in place with a pair of chopsticks. He would have been lying to say that her figure wasn't the first thing to catch his attention. He had always liked slight, athletic women. He tried to imagine what her breasts looked like under that sweater. Introductions were made and she went to sit in the empty rows of seats to watch some of the rehearsal. Throughout the performance, Douglas had trouble keeping his mind on the script as images of this newcomer danced in his head. Most of his memory of the night had been lost over time, but he could still remember her, and what caught his eye.
His next memory is of a party that he and his friends Jonas and Anthony attended. They were invited by another friend, and the director of their play, Shawn. Shawn was dating Ann's roommate at the time so Douglas knew that it was a possibility that Ann might be there. Not that he had any plans, but hers was the image that danced in his head when he masturbated. It might be an opportunity to capture a few more images to use. Besides, in his experience, women at these parties always dressed to impress and hopefully Ann would be trying to impress.
It was your traditional college party, though an attempt was made to class up the place with a few bottles of wine, some stale cheese and crackers on a paper plate, and many attempts at high brow, sudo intellectual conversation; The men mostly trying to impress the women, and the women trying not to seem like horny college sluts. This kind of thing had always bothered Douglas. Pretenses...Why try to hide who you REALLY are and what you REALLY want? He hated bullshit and had many conversations with Jonas and Anthony on that very subject.
Jonas was currently sitting in a worn couch pressed awkwardly into the corner of the tiny living room, smoking a cigarette and flipping through a small notebook that he usually carried to parties like these. Douglas had just filled his cup from the keg in the kitchen and decided to join Jonas on the couch. As he approached, a young girl that he didn't know plopped down drunkenly onto the couch next to Jonas. Not wanting to cock-block his boy, Douglas stopped just inside the room and leaned against the wall, digging in his pocket for his smokes, to just watch the room. He did this often, especially in unfamiliar places filled with unfamiliar people. He felt it necessary to figure out who the important people were. He hated being unprepared. This gave him a chance to learn who was interested in who, who was the angry guy that would most likely start a fight, where the exits were, who the hottest women were and who they were friends with etc.
He listened to conversations, often muffled by the stereo unceremoniously posted on the floor in the corner with speaker wire draped across the walls and ceiling leading to speakers placed haphazardly around the room, to gauge the mood, and to find out what was acceptable and what wasn't. He had learned a few things about Ann since their first meeting, first and foremost, that her voice was AMAZINGLY sexy. It was rough and gravely, speaking of countless cigarettes and late nights. It was the voice, he imagined, of a sexually experienced and adventurous woman. He knew that she had some history with a guy in the theater department. Other than that she was a mystery. He liked it that way. He had recently come to the conclusion that women in his imagination were far superior to the reality of most women.
Just then, he heard a female voice call out "COLIN!" He glanced to his left to see who had spoken. It was a girl that he didn't know wearing a long black dress that left her back, neck and shoulders exposed. He also noted that she had a slight silver ring pierced through her right nostril. Damn, he thought. She was hot. He followed her expectant gaze across to the room to find who he presumed to be Colin squeezing between bodies, moving toward her. Colin was the name of the guy that Ann had been involved with. He gave him a quick appraisal. Taller than me, kinda skinny like me, fairly good looking, and he moved with a familiar confidence that Douglas knew well. He was sure of himself, and more importantly, as he moved through the crowd, it was obvious that he knew most of the people here and was extremely comfortable. This was HIS arena, Douglas was the visitor. Who cares, She probably won't even be here and I don't really have an "in" anyway. Douglas lit his cigarette and moved to the opposite side of the doorway so that he could listen to their conversation.
"Hey Sexy! I'm glad you're here! Did Todd come with you?" She fidgeted with the amber stone that hang on a long chain around her neck gazing up at him with a broad smile and bright blue eyes.
"Naaa, he's fuckin hung over from last night. You look beautiful..."
"Whatever..." She said with what appeared to be honest embarrassment. "Let's get drunk!" With that she hooked her arm through his and they made their way past Douglas into the kitchen. As they past, Douglas caught the scent of patculli. He also noted that she was not wearing a bra and, to his disappointment, her breasts did not appear to be the firm athletic type that should have accompanied her slender frame. Douglas lit the cigarette that he had been idly flipping through his fingers. He did that to impress. He thought it was cool. He wished he didn't feel so much like a bull-shitter for doing it. The room was getting increasingly hot as more bodies poured into the tiny apartment. From what Douglas had seen it was a three bedroom with 1 bathroom, a living room, kitchen, and small concrete patio outside accessed through a set of sliding doors from the kitchen. Save for the bedrooms, who's doors were closed, every other space was packed with college age men and women doing their best to pretend that the main reason they were here was NOT, ultimately, sex. Who lived here, he still didn't know but he felt a momentary pang of sympathy for the cleanup that would follow this night. He and his roommates had parties much like this every week, except that at their parties, there were no pretenses. The floors were covered with tarps, all the furniture was moved into the bedrooms which were locked. Their parties were all about Music, Laughter, Sex, and Alcohol...needless to say there were no plates of cheese and crackers.
The next hour or so Douglas spent mostly outside. The air was getting cooler at night and he relished being able to wear his thick layers of clothing. This time of year made him feel somehow more powerful, more confident. He had a few fun little conversations. A pair of young girls, both dressed to impress and tanned a deep bronze in October, came out to the patio to smoke. They had been talking about another friend of theirs that had apparently already left the party with a guy neither of them cared for too much.
"He's not even that good looking." Said the Taller of the two.
"I know! He's totally creepy if you ask me..."
"Mmm hmm" She nodded while taking a long drag of her cigarette. Douglas chuckled to himself. They both glanced expectantly at him with skeptical eyes. They obviously thought that he was laughing at them. He decided to end his observations of this party and to get involved.
"But was he funny?"
"Huh?"
"I asked if the guy was funny...the creepy guy that took your friend home." He said then took a long drag.
"Not really...I dunno, I didn't even talk to him much. Why? Do you know him?"
"No, no, not at all. I just think that most women underestimate the power of being funny. I'm just saying, if he made her laugh..." The short one now chimed in.
"So you get girls to go home with you by making them laugh?"
"Well, so far it's an unproven theory..." As expected they both laughed.
"Excuse me ladies, I'm empty." He held his cup upside down while stamping out his cigarette on the concrete. He gave them both a quick wink as he slipped in between them, as he did so he felt the taller girls breasts press softly into his chest, and into the kitchen. Smoke hung near the ceiling and the floor had become soaked in beer. He Found Anthony and Jonas both filling cups at the keg. Douglas smiled and took a deep breath. When the three of them were together, NOTHING could stop them. Jonas looked up from filling his cup
"BROTHER DOOGIN!" Jonas was obviously enjoying the beer, and was "getting loud" as they liked to say.
