Part One
I was in the middle of performing a leg hold, posing, while my friend Ami took a picture, or should I say a few hundred pictures in the hope that one of them would be suitable for all of my different social media accounts, when I saw him for the first time, he was around six foot tall, white but sporting a summer holiday tan, fairly broad, tempting deep brown eyes and a (in a not sure this is a compliment for a man way) really cute, almost innocent, look about him.
It was one of those moments that seemed to take a lot longer than it actually lasted for, maybe because I replayed it in my mind so many times since, or maybe because it took so long to develop that this starting point seemed so significant to me.
"I've got the perfect picture now Charlotte," I was snapped out of my trance by Ami.
The mystery man had appeared behind Ami, seen me, looked a bit embarrassed and then continued left, away from my personal photographer. Except he wasn't quite such a mystery, he had a Staff lanyard on, which told me he obviously worked at the university, although he looked young enough to have just graduated and could even have passed as a student himself.
I (Charlotte) was an undergraduate student at Manchester University studying Biology but I had joined a dance class with my friend Ami who was studying Economics. She lived in student halls, in the flat opposite me. We had met in Fresher's Week and got on really well as we shared a number of interests. One of these was dancing and we had been doing rehearsals for the first term in preparation for our Christmas show. I was wearing festive red tights, a short pleated green tennis skirt and a red tank top that revealed my bare mid riff, flat stomach and pierced navel, with tinsel in my pig-tailed hair since this was a Christmas dance show.
I have been described as having a model physique with long slender legs, a perfect little arse, tiny waist, small breasts with perky nipples, high cheek bones and striking blue eyes. I have long, straight brunette hair that I usually wear down, apart from occasions such as this when I'm dancing. Unfortunately, despite people telling me this description of myself, I don't have the self-confidence to go with it, certainly not with people I don't know and it takes me a while to be comfortable with anyone.
One consequence of this was that I hadn't made a big group of friends at university, I had a boyfriend from my hometown so I wasn't interested in the approaches of pissed up rugby boys and I'd been making trips home nearly every other weekend.
Ami was my best friend at university and dancing was the only real interest I had outside of my studying at university. I was really looking forward to the performance tonight and I wanted to capture a picture of the moment so that at least on my social media it might look as though I'd achieved something in my first term at university. It was during this that I'd seen my mystery man.
Even though I had a boyfriend at the time, seeing him, as I was posing, stirred something inside of me. I could feel a fluttering, even though my glance had been so fleeting.
"There's some good ones here," said Ami as she ran through the camera roll.
I composed myself and asked her, "did you see that man as you were taking my photo? He was so cute."
She hadn't.
But I found myself feeling a way about someone that sparked something inside of me. Obviously I didn't have a lot to go on with reference to who he actually was. I was in a big city, in a big university and a member of staff at the university where I was a student inadvertently crashed my photoshoot and made his way into my head.
The show went well and afterwards us dancers had arranged to go for a meal in a Thai restaurant. I wasn't all that comfortable in a big groups such as this, there were about fifteen of us, and I'd find myself fading in the background and getting myself worked up about not seeming to be able to enter the conversation at the right time.
When we'd finished eating, one of the girls suggested we go to a nearby cocktail bar but I wanted to head back to my halls.
Ami tried to persuade me not to, "it's nearly Christmas Charlotte, just come for one."
"I don't know," I replied, "I'm getting the train home tomorrow morning."
Then Ami convinced me, "you never know, Charlotte, your mystery man might be out as well."
That was enough for me and with a glint in my eye, I agreed, "Okay, just the one though."
Well, one drink soon became five and I was certainly feeling the effects. I was really starting to let myself go and I was getting on really well with the other girls.
As we made our way to the dance floor, we inevitably attracted the eyes of some men on their office Christmas party.
By this stage, there were ten girls aged between nineteen and twenty-one, drunk and members of a dance class on a night out. To most people, this wouldn't have come as much of a surprise but as I said earlier I hadn't convinced myself of this at this stage.
Then my heart stopped, I caught a glimpse of my mystery man from earlier, I suddenly felt that same urge in my body from earlier. I had a boyfriend at home but he didn't make me feel like this. I composed myself, full of Dutch courage I thought this might be my chance so I made my way to the bar he was facing, I thought I could get a drink and maybe catch his eye and I didn't really know what would happen from there.
With a deep breath, I left the dance floor and approached the part of the bar he was standing at, heart in mouth, but then he turned his head. It wasn't him, my face dropped and he must have wondered what was going on as my pre-prepared smile dropped to the floor. I re-directed myself to the ladies where I ran into Ami and explained to her what had happened.
"Never mind," she said, "it's great to see you out and you never know about the next place we go to after this."
We re-joined our girls on the dance floor, Ceri, a tall girl from Wales with an amazing set of legs herself was dancing with two men in suits and she was teasing one of them by pulling him towards her by his tie, then pushing him back and doing the same with the other.
My friend Ami, who is shorter than me, blonde with blue eyes and amazing breasts joined her and it wasn't long before they were both grinding up against the two men and kissing them. They all seemed to be getting really into it and I must admit I was a bit turned on by it myself just watching them.
As I've found to be the case anywhere with alcohol, men and dancing, it isn't long before a woman on her own is approached by a drunk man and sure enough a young black man started dancing behind me and was gradually getting closer to me. I've never kissed a black man before and the sight of the other two girls engaged in passionate kissing resulted in a wicked thought running through my mind and I leaned back into him, his hands on my waist, making their way to my arse, he kissed me on my neck.
"What's your name beautiful?" said the black man.
I love being kissed on my neck, the thought ran through my mind of turning round and kissing him then my boyfriend popped into my head.
I said to the black man, "Charlotte," I replied with a soft groan, but then added, "sorry, I've got a boyfriend."
He replied "I don't care," and placed his strong hands on my arse cheek feeling the full curve as he ran his hand over it.
I then said "I need the to use the ladies," as I broke away from him and made my way there.
Once I've had a drink I do actually need to piss quite regularly, so this wasn't a lie. When I came back though I was sure that I would seek him out again.
Was I really about to cheat on my boyfriend? Kissing isn't cheating I told myself. That was all I was going to do when I got back on the dance floor. I was going to enjoy myself like the other girls and have a snog with someone who wasn't my boyfriend.
That was all.
No sex.
I checked my phone and saw I had a message from my boyfriend.
"Work has been awful this week. Can't wait to see u x Sam x"
That jolted me back to reality. I sent Ami a message to let her know I was leaving and got a taxi to take me back to my halls of residence.
As I got into bed, on my own, I reflected on what a night it had been: new friends, mystery man, so many possibilities for the new year but for now it was back to my hometown and back to my boyfriend. That last bit didn't excite me much anymore. It was the thought of the mystery man that helped me get myself off as I slid my fingers down my body, touching my neck where it had been kissed, squeezing my hardened nipples before slipping my fingers into my wet cunt.
I was constantly being told I was attractive and had even been scouted to be a model. I'd done a test shoot for a photographer and everyone said how great I looked, my long legs would "really take me places in this industry" but I was far from convinced. I lacked self belief and despite being told I would be "fighting off the boys" I really wasn't.
When people talked to me, I knew what I wanted to say but it just wouldn't come out. My first term at university hadn't been great but I'd built a really good friendship with Ami and my last night of term hinted at what I hoped would be a better future.
I'd met my boyfriend Sam a year before I went to university. He was older than me and really clever. He'd got into university on a scholarship for Maths but he couldn't handle being away from home and he never really fitted in with his peers so he left after the first term - the equivalent time for me at the moment .
Sam came back to his hometown and got a job in the kitchen of the restaurant where I had a part-time job as a waitress. It wasn't really a suitable job for someone as clever as him but as he was in the background it meant that at least he didn't have to interact with customers and he was able to earn some money. I got to know him and as he was so very quiet, in a way this suited me because I didn't have to worry about being tongue tied with him.
He read a lot in his breaks and I asked him about what he was reading and eventually we ended up as a couple.