"Okay" I grumbled to my wife as the valet opened the door and handed me a ticket. "Tell me again how long we have to stay."
She rolled her eyes and glared at me. "At least until the end of the auction" she said in a clipped tone. "That means a couple of hours. Surely you can find enough people to talk to or things to do for such a brief period. I can't leave earlier than that."
We walked into the party together and I took our coats to the checkroom. When I came back, my wife was surrounded by six people and was chatting away. I caught her eye and raised a hand to my mouth and made a tilting motion, asking her if she wanted a drink. She gave her nose a little scrunch and shook her head. I shrugged my shoulders and sidled off to find a bar and something to nibble on.
I generally dislike big parties but I particularly despise them when I am there because I have to be instead of because I want to be. This night I had to go because my wife was on the gala committee and it just wouldn't be right if I didn't show up. That I barely knew the other people associated with the event or that we would spend the entire night apart as she worked the crowd didn't enter into the equation. I understood but that didn't make it any better.
Trying to not feel too sorry for myself, I began to observe the crowd as I made my way across the expansive ballroom to the martini bar. I had to admit that there were a lot of attractive and well-dressed people there. Thankfully, it was not a formal event so the outfits worn displayed both lots of creativity and, in some cases, plenty of skin.
"Are you lost?" I heard a voice say.
I stopped and turned to see a very cute, raven haired, petite lady standing next to me. She was dressed in a loose off-white shirt and a knee length black skirt that had a provocative slit along one side.
"Um, no" I replied. "Why would you think that?"
"Well" she said with a gleaming smile "Your head is turning back and forth like you are looking for something."
"Ah" I said slightly embarrassed but understanding. "I'm just going to the bar and was taking in the surroundings."
"I was just headed there myself" she said. "Care to buy me a drink?"
"My pleasure" I said, though it was an open bar.
As we arrived to the bar she turned and asked me what I was going to have to drink.
"A very dirty, no a filthy dirty, vodka martini" I replied. "And how about you?"
"Oh, I'll be boring and just have a Cosmo."
I ordered the drinks and when they were ready handed over the conical glass filled with pink liquid to her while I took a quick slurp of the slightly muddy fluid in mine.