AN EXTENDED INVITATION
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Contents:
1.
Summary
2.
Author's Introduction
3.
Volume I:
The Affair
--
Chapter One:
An Aversion to Small Talk
--
Chapter Two:
Susan's Loophole
--
Chapter Three:
A Cork Floating in a Puddle
4.
Author's Afterword
5.
Volume II:
The Dinner
--
Chapter Four:
On Susan's Plate
[Preview]
6.
Uncensored Story Tags
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Summary:
A young man's affair with a middle-aged hairdresser is quickly complicated, after her husband learns of his wife's betrayal.
Expect a story with a strong sense of acceleration and consequence, sustained across multiple instalments.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Author's Note:
Considering that this first instalment alone exceeds four-thousand words, it's fair to say that if you intend to read 'An Extended Invitation' to its completion, then this will be the first step on a long journey, one which we'll be taking together;
so why not stop a while now, linger and talk? Just you and I, dear reader.
The idea of writing long-form, serialized fiction has always been a compelling one to me, albeit a little terrifying; it's like the literally equivalent of tightrope walking, with all the risks and rewards that are associated with that. But there's a larger reason why I chose to write this story as an episodic series, one which goes beyond mere thrill-seeking.
All stories are one-way conversations. Serialized tales are no different in this regard, except for one aspect: the format demands that there are pauses in the conversation, which allows readers ample opportunity to participate in real time. In the age of comment sections, writing serialized fiction seems like an inherently social endeavour; well, that's what has motivated me in this instance, anyway.
So, of course, any and all feedback is greatly appreciated, including even the most nit-picky of comments. I can take it all in stride, dear reader.
(Also, I ought to mention now that I need to find myself an editor. If the material here interests you, feel free to reach out to me. I'd love to hear from you.)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
| ONE:
An Aversion to Small Talk
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
A couple of years back, I had an affair with this older woman: a hairdresser, named Susan.
(This one's a long story, so buckle-up.)
It started online -- as most extramarital affairs do now-a-days, I suppose. After a few weeks of exchanging messages back and forth, Susan finally found the courage to send a photo of herself to my inbox. Even now, I can still remember the lump I had in my throat when I saw the attachment icon next to her email. I clicked on the file -- titled:
as_requested.jpg
-- then a few seconds later, the image of a blond, middle-aged woman appeared on my screen.
This is Susan
, I realized.
And she's gorgeous...
That was also the moment when I realized that her and I already knew each other; or, at least, we'd met before. Susan was my hairdresser
(surprise, surprise)
and had been for nearly a year, ever since I'd moved to the city and become a freshman.
This may be unnecessary for me to note right now, but I feel compelled to share this piece of context with you: never before in my life have I ever asked for a hairdresser by name, or even bothered to make an appointment for myself before showing up; that is,
not until Susan
. The experience of having my hair cut was always a gruelling one for me to endure; painful like a visit to the dentist, but twice as exhausting. This aversion of mine to hairdressers is ninety-nine percent due to the ceaseless small talk they inevitably force upon me; all that stilted conversation:
about family, about travel plans, about approaching holidays
. I'd rather have a tooth removed
any
day of the week.
But Susan was unlike any hairdresser that I'd ever had before. She didn't ask me directionless questions and she always seemed more than comfortable to share silence with a stranger. When Susan leaned forward to run her fingers through my hair -- which she did often -- her heavy breasts would rest on-top of my shoulders, sending shivers up my spine. More than once, she caught my eyes attempting to wander in the mirror, but said nothing about it.
I took Susan's business card and kept it tucked in my wallet. I know it may seem like a perfectly innocuous thing for one to keep in their wallet, but it felt like a dirty secret. Every time I opened my wallet to pay for coffee or for gas, I'd glimpse her face printed onto the card and then I would have the same recurring thoughts,
over and over
: filthy ones.
I returned to the salon a month and a half later, asking for Susan by name. She greeted me with a playful smile, so I guess Susan remembered me, too.
During my second haircut, something unprecedented occurred:
I enjoyed small talk
. And consequently, I learnt a lot about Susan. She was forty-three and living a comfortable lifestyle with her husband, who was a pharmacist. Susan told me that every Summer, they went on a road-trip together to las Vegas, where her husband gambled and drank and watched pay-preview movies, while she attended some annual seminar -- the name was something
New Age
sounding, I forget.
Anyway. After spending a few minutes staring at Susan's picture on my computer screen, with my eyes wide and my jaw unhinged, I noticed there was a message included, too: "How does Thursday after 4PM sound?" The lump in my throat started to swell.
Should I even reply to her?
I wrote Susan a long reply that night, but eventually decided not to send it. My plan had been to make an excuse regarding Thursday, then simply
ghost
her.
But the following morning, I reconsidered my plan. It was a shitty thing to do, anyway. Instead, I wrote a much shorter response, telling Susan the truth: "We've already got an appointment for Wednesday, at half past noon."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
| TWO:
Susan's Loophole
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Susan and I began meeting with each other two or three times a week, depending on her schedule. It was everything I had ever daydreamed about as a teenager: a series of clandestine rendezvous with a blond bombshell twice my age; meeting in cafes just before their closing time, or in vacant parking lots, after the street lights had all been turned off.
It really was the stuff of fantasy.
But, there was a hitch
(of course)
. Susan had this one rule and she was deadly stubborn about it: there was going to be absolutely
no
fucking. Of course, this prevented the two of us from
actually
having an affair. Her reasoning for this rule was, and I quote, that she didn't want me "stretching her out."
(I'm larger than her husband and he would have noticed, she claimed. I was skeptical about this and didn't realize until much later how true it was.)