This isn't a political story. Nothing political happened on the night the story took place. Politics are not mentioned at any point in the story, but the story changed the way I vote. What happened that night changed me. Since I was old enough to vote, I've gone into the booth and ticked the same box my parents did. Since that night, I've gone into the booth and ticked the opposite box. Nobody threatened me, nobody coerced me, nobody even told me to. It just changed me, and in a world of dogmatic, pick a side and stick to it for life politics, it changed my side. It changed me.
I was 22, a little over six feet tall and while only about 160 pounds, I had the body fat of a cheetah from regular kick boxing training. I didn't even want to compete, I just wanted to look ripped and know I could beat people up if the occasion/opportunity presented itself. I could impress girls and intimidate guys, what's not to love?
My relationship with girls was a little odd, not gonna lie. On the one hand, I wasn't the guy you wanted dating your daughter. I'd lie, cheat and generally treat them badly, but if I saw a female in danger? You better believe I'd want to be the one to swoop in and save them. I guess it was an attitude of, "hey, nobody's treating her like shit...except for me!" A double edged sword of misogyny where I saw them as pathetic enough to need me constantly looking out for them, and worthless enough to not deserve respect or empathy. I'm not excusing it, that's just the way I was.
The club was dry as fuck that night, not worth the effort to pick the right pair of shoes and I didn't even hang about at kicking-out time to see if anything was happening later on. I walked right out, and round the corner saw the unmistakable silhouette of a drunk woman walking in heels. I was kinda jealous, I'd barely got a buzz on, she'd got her money's worth. Even from her silhouette I could tell she was a bit older than me; the mom jeans stretched taut as skinny fits by the fat of her thighs, belt tightened around her waist to create the illusion of an hour glass figure. It wasn't fooling anyone. As soon as that belt came off her gut would drop like a sack of jello. I felt bad for her, the way she teetered around on those black heeled boots like bambi on ice, she needed a cab.
"Hey, you ok?" I called out to her, but she barely looked over her shoulder as she gestured for me to go away. If I'd just done as I was told everything would be different, but it was the middle of town at that time of night, and I wanted to see her in a taxi before I went away.
"Hey, slow down honey. You're gonna fall!" She stopped in her tracks and turned to face me.
"Who the fuck are you calling honey?" It made me smile. In the shadows she couldn't see she was talking to a good looking man a little younger than herself. She'd no doubt be more gracious for my attention if she could see my jawline and the way my beard faded into the side of my hair.
"You," I said, "You need to get in a cab before you break a heel, honey."
She mumbled under her breath in annoyance and I didn't break stride as I caught up to her and overtook her so that she'd have to walk alongside me, not the other way around, and she did. We found our way onto the side of a main road with more light available.
"Come on, let's put you in a taxi so I can get home," I smirked. There was something so much more hapless about drunk women compared to men. Their stupor seemed so much more brainless than mine.
Instead of doing as she was told she sat down on one of the benches bolted to the floor. I sighed and sat on the opposite end.
"Don't fuck with me, alright? I'll hurt you," she said with a slur in her voice. I could barely contain my laughter that this woman thought she could hurt me. I looked her up and down as she slouched on the bench, with more light I could see I was right about how she looked. Her jeans could've been a loose fit and they were about to burst from the stress of keeping her thighs inside. God, she must've felt like shit amongst all the other girls in the club, whose ages ranged from 21 (or less with a fake ID) to late twenties and rarely anything above. All those slim young women with flat stomachs and thigh gaps and there she was, crushing her stomach with her belt just to get in the door. Who finds big thighs attractive, really?
"How old are you?" I asked bluntly.
"44," she replied equally bluntly. "My name's Angela."
"Marty. What are you doing here?"
"My fucking..." she took a breath to compose herself and I prayed she wouldn't cry like they usually do. "I was supposed to go out with work, but my kid, my daughter, she needed picking up from some festival. So I went driving for two fucking hours to get her and then she just wanted dropping off at her fucking dad's, the prick. I lost my whole evening just to do that prick a favour so I just went out because fuck it, who cares?"
I wasn't really listening, just analysing her looks in the light of new information. Honestly, fair play to her, I would've guessed 40 at the most. Obviously big in the thighs and a little loose skin on her neck. Definite hint of love handles pooling around the bottom of her torso. Narrow shoulders in her shoulder style polka dot top helped her figure and she was probably wearing a pushup bra but I can't blame her. It was a strange one, she might've been really hot when she was younger. More importantly, I could hear groups of people who'd taken their time getting kicked out of the club yelling and laughing as they turned onto the shadowy streets we'd been on a few minutes ago. People around here knew me and I didn't want to be seen with a 44 year old woman so I hopped up and flagged a cab.
"That sucks, that stuff with your kid," I said as a taxi pulled over for us, "do you need any money?"
She slowly got up. "I don't need to take money off a kid."
"Hey, I'm not a kid, I'm 22."
She gave a wry laugh as she opened the door to the cab.
She grabbed my wrist. I told you she wouldn't resist once she got a better look at me. "C'mon, get in, I've got some drinks at home." I pulled my wrist away, very conscious of the approaching noise, the death of my reputation.
In her state, she elected to get into the cab head first and crawl on all fours to the seat on the other side, so for a moment her big, denim-stretching ass cheeks filled my view of the door to the taxi. The noise got closer, moments from rounding the corner and seeing me. I hadn't got any bang for my buck when it came to getting drunk. The full-fat, mature ass shuffling into the cab, the people coming round the corner, free drinks, death of reputation, ready-to-burst-denim, I jumped into the taxi, right into the seat she'd free'd up br crawling to the other side.
* * *
I was nervous. I'd never gone into a woman's house at night without the intention to have sex with her. Scratch that, I'd never gone into a woman's house at night. Girls? Sure, plenty, but as I watched Angela's ass test the strength of denim to new limits as she walked up the steps to her door, I couldn't refer to her as a mere "girl".
Once we were sat on her sofa I yearned for the cold uncomfortable bench in the middle of town. I missed feeling like I was the one judging her as her dark brown eyes scanned me from head to toe while she sipped her whisky and licked her lips. What was she looking at? What was she looking for? I didn't have any wrinkles or fat deposits for her to judge. Every human imperfection in this house was on her body so why did she get to look so relaxed and confident!? My jeans were tight because they're skinny jeans, they're meant to be, so why did she get to think about me? Sure hers were much bigger, but its all subcutaneous fat, she's not stronger than me. Her wandering eyes and silent confidence made me feel like the drunk one, and she suddenly seemed oh so sober. I hadn't touched my whisky yet and it seemed to have settled her down, as she sipped away half the glass, never without a slow lick of the lips afterwards. I could take my drink, the amount of coors I could get through in a night was legendary. I took a cautious sip of the whisky because I'd never had it before and my mouth burned, my eyes watered, what had she done to it? Had she poisoned me? It had come from the same bottle as hers...
She sensed my predicament and gave the sort of warm smile that makes one's eyes narrow and crow's feet appear. In the light of her living room I got my first real look at her face. She was a little more tanned than I'd realised, and her bob of brunette hair looked more natural than I'd presumed, not a root off colour, framing her love-heart shaped face