John stared at the huge mansion from across the street, the place was lit up like a christmas tree and he could see dozen of cars parked in the driveway. This far away he could only see that huge curtains had been drawn across the tall windows. The bright welcoming lights contrasting with the dark windows.
John knew why and it was that knowledge that was making his guts tie themselves in knots. It was what was making him take so long to get out of his car and walk up to the door. His fingers played with the small black card he had been given to get him in.
He had received the invitation from his boss after they had gone on a business trip together. Some expo in a huge convention centre filled with bored businessman staring at the latest advances in pipe cleaning technology. As is true of most of these kinds of thing they spent more time in the traveling than the actual event itself. So it was that they found themselves sitting on a train talking about contraceptives.
When his boss had offhandedly mentioned that he and his wives sex life had improved tenfold when she went through the menopause, John had said he was jealous. He hated wearing condoms, but with all the disease around you had to play it safe. His boss had asked him if he wanted kids and he told him that he like the idea but didn't want to have to raise them, at least, not right now. At that his boss had gone quiet and he didn't think anymore of it, nor did he think it strange when a week later he was asked to provide a urine sample for a random drugs test. So when his boss had came into his office a week after that and put forward the invitation to this "get together" he had been taken aback.
So now here he was, taking a deep breath he pulled open the car door and headed up the driveway, the invitation held tightly in hand. The imposing doors of the house loomed over him and he again felt the urge to just run away. Instead he pressed the call button on a intercom beside the door.
"Yes! Who is it" Came the curt male voice from the intercom
John swallowed before replying, "I'm here for the Exhibition. The names John West."
There was a short moment of silence before a he heard a buzzing sound and was told by the voice to step inside. Heart in his throat John stepped inside.
There was a Doorman waiting for him,although he looked more like a bouncer to John's eyes. He took John's name and his invitation, checking it against a clipboard he held. Satisfied he turned and led John deeper inside. The place was huge, instead of the usual design of a single large staircase in the centre there were two off to either side. Both of them curved the main atrium, leaving a wide open space that went up to a high white ceiling.
Looking straight ahead, John could see straight through what looked like the kitchen and out to the garden. He could make out maybe a dozen people milling around in the garden, even from here he could tell they were all naked and he found his eye drawn to what he realised with surprise where two men sat beside the pool. One of them was sat on a sun lounger with his legs spread a the other was bent over his lap. his head rhythmically bobbing up and down. A few feet away there was an elderly woman talking animatedly to a younger woman, seemingly unaware of the scene going on a few feet from her. There was something so surreal about it all that John felt the urge to laugh out loud, it was only his nerves that kept him silent.
"This is your first event isn't it sir?" Asked the Doorman.
John snapped back to the now, "Eh, yeah." He stammered in reply.
The door man nodded solemnly.
"Then allow me to explain the layout." He said, gesturing to the two doors that led off from the atrium on either side.
"The downstairs is mostly for conversation, it is split by the two kind of sexual relations you may seek." He pointed to the left doorway, beyond which he could see a crowd of people, all in varying degrees of undress. "The left of the house is for those who seek to practice "safe" sex," He added, pointing to the large bowl of brightly colour foil packets by the door. "We provide prophylactics to meet your needs free of charge."
