THE PARTY’S NOT OVER YET

Suzanne Riley went to the party at the Serlins with Joe Farrar. She had been dating him for two months, and she knew he had broken up with some woman not long before that, after being very serious with her for a long time. Suzanne took that for a good sign, because at 26 she was looking for somebody to be serious with. She didn’t expect that his old girlfriend would be there with her new man, and spit insults at him at every turn.

She certainly didn’t expect that Joe would start drinking and get too fried to drive only an hour after they got there. He got packed off with some people whose baby-sitter had a curfew; his car was safe there overnight. She began to look for a ride home, but she didn’t have to look far.

Nick Perry, whom she had known slightly for a couple of years, had brought a new girlfriend, Sharon something, who got physically ill early in the evening. She lay down for a while, but it didn’t pass off and she left with a married couple who lived near her, telling Nick to stay and enjoy himself.

Both Suzanne and Nick therefore felt pretty down, and they talked to console each other, and ended up being about the last people to go. When Nick took her home, she invited him in to talk some more. It was still early, and the wine that she had drunk made her feel a little giddy but not at all sleepy. If Nick had drank anything, it wasn’t very much.

It may be that her subconscious was working on her, too. She had been working her way around to deciding to sleep with Joe Farrar that night. She was not at all virginal, but it had been a while since she had a man, and she’d been masturbating every night for a week thinking about Joe. Now he was out of the picture for tonight, maybe forever from the way he had acted, and she may have wanted a substitute of some kind.

It certainly didn’t mean she planned to take Nick into her bed, but she wanted a man around a little longer if it could be worked easily. It was maybe a bit after eleven when she came home with Nick, and they sat and talked and listened to music until almost one. He put an arm around her after a while, and they kissed some.

When he got up to go, she gave him a stronger kiss than they had shared before, maybe stronger than she intended, and he said, “That makes me want to stay.”

And Suzanne replied, “I almost want you to…”

“Anything I can do to tip the balance?” he asked playfully.

She shook her head and gave him a mock slap on both cheeks. He took her hand as she finished and kissed the palm. It was a tiny thing, but it thrilled her and she leaned forward to kiss him again. This time the kiss lasted and got her very stirred up, and she could feel that he felt the same way. And she could see it; that didn’t help.

Seeing that bulge made Suzanne feel pretty basic, or maybe primal is the word. She kissed him again to press up and feel that hardness against her. He read her feelings pretty well and stroked her shoulder blades with his hands, then kneaded her lower back. She was trying to think and decide if she wanted to do what she really wanted so much to do, and her mind was getting swallowed up in a delicious fog.

When he bent down slightly, then came back up and slid that hardness upward against the dress where her legs joined, it decided her. Suzanne reached her hand down and caressed him. They left the living room holding hands.

Beside the bed, he lifted her off her feet and up until he pressed his head against her stomach and between her breasts as she came back down.