It wasn't a game for the claustrophobic. Nor one for those scared of the dark. And to make it work, you needed some kind of incentive. At this party, there was a great incentive.
It was the end of university, a large group from the English Literature course at Cardiff were about to graduate and head off into the wide world, fresh youngsters with high hopes in their hearts to change the world and make something for own ends. It would be sad to leave the beautiful Welsh capital, which had been their homes for the last three years, but it would also be pretty exciting, going out and getting real jobs for a change. Everyone there was more than a little nervous about that, and these nerves seemed to liven up the whole party.
There must have been about twenty or thirty of them there, having a great time since there was plenty of punch, the fridge was full of beers and tables around the room held bowls full of various Mexican foods that they had all filled themselves with earlier. Various eighties tunes came out from the stereo – the girls always liked these cheesy songs, so the boys always humoured them at this kind of get together.
It was a large party – but then, it was a large house. They'd all been invited weeks before over to Simon's house, which was probably the biggest private residence any of them had been to saving only the kind of stately homes some of them had been dragged round by their mothers in summers gone by. Simon was, to put it mildy, a very wealthy lad. His uncle was supposed to be the Earl of Littham or some such place, and Simon had gone to Eton naturally enough.
When Daniel had arrived, his eyes nearly popped out of his skull. It was massive – especially for somewhere in the exclusive side of Pontcanna, where house prices were not cheap. They had all known about Simon's wealth, of course, since he had never tried to hide it, but still, he didn't quite expect this kind of thing.
"Cloakroom's over there," Simon had said as he'd come in through the large front door, and Daniel had gone there to hang up his coat, in a kind of daze. Most – well, all – of the other parties he'd been to, you'd be lucky to hang your coat up on a peg in the hall, never mind a cloakroom.
Then it was through into the huge, high-ceilinged sitting room to join the other partygoers.
For the occasion, it was a smart party – black tie all round. Daniel had borrowed his brother's dinner jacket and thankfully it had fit fine, and he did look quite good in it if he admitted it to himself. Everyone else there was dressed well for the occasion, the guys all like smart penguins, the girls all in nice dresses. The atmosphere wasn't so formal, however, since this was a party for them to enjoy, to do whatever it was that they wanted to do.
And so Daniel had a good time, chatting and joking around with his friends, attempting to flirt with the girls but with his usual lack of success due to the fact that a lot of them already had boyfriends and the rest weren't looking for anything to happen since it was almost graduation time and all of these people would be heading off in different directions. It was a shame really, because two years after an extremely messy break-up, Daniel was beginning to get confidence back again.
"Excuse me!" the game began close to eleven o'clock, when everyone was well on the road to inebriation. The music was silenced and Simon, the host, tapped a spoon against a champagne glass. "People, if you'll just listen for a moment." The hubbub of the crowd simmered down. "Thank you. We're going to play a game now," he said. "I think we're all drunk enough."
There was a cheer at that, indicating that what Simon said was true. Daniel felt his ears burn. They weren't going to do something they'd all regret the next day, would they? It was the kind of thing Simon liked to organise, that was true enough. But then, it was the end of university.
"We're going to play a game called 'Coloured Circle'," Simon went on. "It's for single people only, I'm afraid," he said, "so unless you are single or value a cruise more than your relationship, you can't take part. I'm going to take a hat round and everyone taking part has to draw out a piece of paper. When you pull it out, whatever you do don't it to anyone else. And I'm warning you guys, my father's given me a rather nice prize to give away tonight."
Simon grinned as everyone went 'Oooooo!' at that.
"Whoever wins this one…" Simon said, revelling in the suspense, "…will be going on a Mediterranean cruise."
A cheer went up. Daniel, like many around him, widened his eyes in surprise. A cruise? Simon certainly didn't do things by half, that was for sure.
"Okay, I'll tell you the rules of the game later, when it's time."
So the party went back to relative normality for a while, though along with the questions about what everyone was planning to do with their lives, conversation centred round wondering just what it was that Simon was up to. Since it was for single people only, various theories were floating around from the tedious to the downright outrageous, but no one could tell what was going to happen: their host had kept all his plans very much to himself.
Simon came around holding two bowler hats, from which everyone was taking out little folded-up pieces of paper.
"Boys take from this one, girls from the other," Simon said as he reached the little cluster of students to which Daniel currently belonged.
Daniel pulled one out to find that his paper had a small red circle drawn on it. What did that mean? Before anyone could see, he folded the paper back up and tucked it away in his jacket pocket, but after that moment, everyone's eyes had the glint of secrecy in them. All no doubt wondering what everyone else's paper revealed.
Whatever happened, Daniel made sure he went to the bathroom and took care of business before it did: he didn't want a call of nature getting in the way of the chance to win a cruise. With thirty or so people there, there would be no more than twenty people single, he thought, so the chances of winning a cruise were essentially one in ten. That was pretty good odds on the scale of things. But what would they all have to do for the prize?
"Okay, people," Simon tapped on his glass again, and there was instant silence: people had motivation to listen now. "Here is what is going to happen. The game is like a kind of Blind Date –"
"But without Cilla!" someone in the crowd shouted, referring to the host of the quiz show of that same name.
" – yeah," Simon grinned, "I just couldn't afford her sadly," he said, to humorous shouts of 'shame!' from the partygoers. "When the lights go out," he continued, "I want everyone who has a piece of paper with a coloured circle drawn on it to go through into the dining room just over there." He pointed towards some double doors made of sturdy oak. There was a little disturbance in the crowd as the people who did have coloured circles tried to keep the fact to themselves and those without attempted to find out who did have them.
"If anyone utters a word, they'll be disqualified because it would identify them, so keep quiet all you coloured circles! Then what happens is that you'll all be blind-folded, and taken up to a cupboard, one random couple to each cupboard, where you can get up to…well…whatever you like, really." The crowd cheered, whooped and hollered at such a risqué notion. "The thing is, though," he said trying to be heard over the noise, "that the couple that stays in the closet the longest wins the cruise." The crowd gasped and went quiet. "So you see: if you guys want that cruise, you have to ask yourself how much does everyone else want that cruise, and that is the trick. Some of you might end up being there for a long time – you're going to have to find something to fill those minutes, people!"
The crowd cheered again. It was true: if two people were shut inside a cupboard for long enough to guarantee a win, conversation would only go so far. Daniel's heart began to thump like a heavyweight boxer as he desperately tried to conceal his scarlet circle. What was a cruise really worth? It wasn't the kind of thing the likes of him could afford. Who would he be shut in with?
People were looking around the room, trying to guess who had coloured circles and who did not. Daniel's eyes flicked from female to female. There were some attractive girls here and some not-so-attractive. It was all down to luck, and if things went badly, he would be out of that closet before you could say Jiminy Cricket. If things went right, though, well, it could be a very good experience for a singleton like him.
