I have written elsewhere about my first encounters with another man. In fact I have had experiences with two men, albeit one was very fleeting. That is until this weekend just gone. This is the story of my Saturday night. Some of the names and details have been changed just to maintain the required discretion.
It was the wedding of an old friend of mine. The sort of wedding you feel obliged to go to. I would not really know that many people at the wedding, if any. Our lives had gone along different paths, we lived nearly 200 miles apart. I had not even met the bride. To cap it all, my wife was unable to attend due to another commitment.
So I was a little reluctant travelling to London and booking into the hotel which was hosting the reception. The wedding was in the afternoon and the dress code was black tie. I slipped into the back of the church and realised I really did not know anyone. The groom's family I had met before, but they were going to be busy with each other all day. I was flying solo.
At the drinks reception I chatted to one or two people and decided to help myself to as much fizz as the passing staff could fit into my glass. By the time we were called into dinner I was as sociable as a man alone at a wedding can be.
I took my seat at the table and my fellow guests all introduced themselves. It was obvious that this was the table of random guests who did not fit elsewhere. Next to me was a friend of the bride. Claudia, a beautiful Australian and I guess aged late twenties. Her boyfriend was in the Army and unable to get to the wedding. His loss was my gain. She was beautiful and charming. And did not seem to mind chatting to a 43 year old married guy like me.
Next to her was a guy called Mike. Probably early thirties. He said he worked at something in the City. Knew the bride through work. He had only recently started to see his girlfriend, hence she was not invited to the wedding. Next to him was Sophie. She was newly divorced and a university lecturer. Hence we were a little quartet of single (even if only for the night) guests, thrown together with some cousins on this table.
As the evening wore on I was able to convince myself that, if we were properly single, I might even have a shot at getting more acquainted with the lovely Claudia. After the main course was cleared away the gorgeous Aussie said she wanted to chat to Sophie about her divorce a little. Some girly chat. She promised she was not abandoning me and asked Mike if he would mind swapping places with her so she could be next to her friend.
Whilst the view was not quite the same, the conversation still flowed freely. Mike was one of the good guys. We talked about sport, a little bit of politics and about the delights and downsides of living in London. He was funny, with a dry sense of humour. He told me about his new girlfriend and the perils of internet dating. We drank plenty of wine.
Then came the time for speeches. During the best man's cliched ride through his "funny" material I noticed that Mike's leg had come into contact with the outside of my thigh. It was barely perceptible. I bet he had not noticed. It remained there for, perhaps, a minute before he shifted in his seat and the contact was broken.
After speeches the band started playing. Claudia dragged me on to the dance floor and I danced far more than I would have done had I been sober and there with my wife. Mike and Sophie joined us and we used our table from dinner as our base, to which we returned for drinks and respite from dancing.
As the evening wore on I was sitting back at the table, nursing a cold beer. Claudia was now opposite me, surrounded by three men. Mike pulled out the chair next to me and sat down. As he did, Claudia flashed us the most amazing smile.
"Do you know what Mike," I confided, talking slightly under my breath, "If I were a single man, I would probably make a fool of myself with Claudia. She is so gorgeous."
Mike leaned in to speak to me. Suddenly he was so close to my ear I could feel him exhale as he spoke.
"She's attractive alright," he whispered, "but Claudia is not the one who I could make a fool of myself with, girlfriend or no girlfriend."
With that he sat back in his seat just as Sophie brought another round of drinks over. Instantly he joined her into our conversation and they talked about restaurants in London. Now his conversation with her seemed a lot more like flirting. Yet as they spoke I felt it again. His thigh against my thigh under the table. Perhaps a bit stronger this time, a bit more noticeable and for a bit longer. Then it was gone again.
Soon the band played their last number and the reception began to break up. Claudia was full of charm and "we must keep in touch" as we air kissed. She and Sophie were sharing a taxi so Mike and I walked them to the front of the hotel and off they disappeared in a cab. I had only a tinge of regret at what a younger, single me might have been able to achieve.
"If you are a resident, you can treat me to a night cap in the hotel bar," Mike interrupted my thoughts.
It seemed fair enough. One for the road as they say. In the bar a Mike was every bit as good company has he had been all evening. He had that knack of seeming genuinely interested in you. We had more than one drink. I was feeling really quite drunk. The barmaid came round and said they were closing the bar but that if we sat in the lobby the night porter would still be able to serve us. I looked round. We were the last people in the tables.
"Shame to go, the night is still young," laughed Mike.
"The hotel room came with a complimentary bottle of cheap champagne. It is still in the ice bucket upstairs in my room, it is otherwise going to go to waste. Come upstairs and have a glass," I suggested.
"I thought you'd never ask. But don't think just because you have got me in your room that I am going to be easy!" Mike laughed again.
And suddenly I began to wonder. Suddenly I began to think about Mike differently. My two previous encounters had been arranged over the internet. Anonymous connections with men for sex. I had never found myself attracted to a man. Suddenly the thought of being alone with this man, in a hotel room, made me have a tingle in my groin as we shared the lift. A shared lift that seemed to have an air of tension in it.
We got into my room. The ice bucket was on the table and I immediately went over to it and began to hurriedly remove the foil. I heard Mike flop himself down on to the bed. I could feel my heartbeat faster.
Mike spoke.
