She had come to his house alone for the party, knowing that although it was a small get together there would be enough people around to give her a distraction without needing a wing-woman for the night. Even though their relationship had only extended to friendship within the last few months, they had been acquaintances for years and she'd craved his body the entire time. But the same story was ever told, either she was attached or he was, the timing was never right and for the first time since middle school this usually confident woman was now second guessing her level of attraction. Sure, there was lighthearted flirting among the banter of friends but the sidelong glances she occasionally caught from him she was never sure were actually directed at her and she grew increasingly nervous around him.
When she arrived he was still in his kitchen, completing the final touches on dinner they would be served in a few moments. She poured herself a glass of wine and began mingling, greeting friends and quickly relaxing in the familiar company. That was until she approached a group of women, one of whom had waved her over, and she found herself being enveloped in their tight circle to hear the latest gossip.
"Did you hear?" She was asked and a look of confusion passed across her face as she shook her head, the long tresses of her dark blond hair brushing against her shoulder blades at the movement. "Hear what?" She responded, sipping her wine as she waited for the woman to finally reveal whatever golden nugget of information she possessed.
"He's single again."
It took everything she had in her not to choke at those words, tactfully swallowing her wine and forcing a interested but detached expression to grace her features. Somehow, she managed to not immediately search out his face across the room and before she knew it she was sitting at his table and passing bowls and platters around as she filled her own plate. She refilled her wine glass no less than four times during the meal, concentrating hard on actually tasting the food and being involved in the conversation but not actually looking his direction. The food was fantastic, the conversation entertaining and after dessert (during which she passed on the coffee and opted instead of another glass of wine), she left the table and entered the living room for a viewing of the latest camp horror release.
She situated herself between two girlfriends and the three of them shared yet another bottle of wine. Alternately laughing and shrieking at the movie was exactly the medicine that she needed and before the bottle was gone so were her nerves. At the end of the film, the movie was switched and this time the screen was filled with the walking undead and screaming college girls. What she didn't notice was that the room was slowly emptying and soon there were only a handful of people in the room. She managed to ask for a bottle of water, realizing she was going to have to drive home soon and decided to stay long enough for one more movie, which was sure to sober her up.
But the flick that played next was nothing short of a tear-jerker drama and within 10 minutes she felt herself dozing off. Sudden silence brought her back to reality and she realized that she was still sitting in his living room but that the movie had ended, the room was dark and she was snuggled up against a warm body. Looking around herself and suddenly feeling very, very sober, she realized that besides the host of the party, whose arm was wrapped around her quite nicely, they were alone in the room.
