This is my entry for the
Nude Day Story Contest 2022
. It was written quite some time ago, but has never been published or shared anywhere. It's a little long, so if you're looking for a quick hitter, it might not be for you. The story is purely fictional. Any similarities to any actual events or people are purely coincidental. If you like it, please consider voting for it.
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He scanned the club, disinterestedly people watching. It being the height of college spring break season in a popular destination city on the Gulf coast, there was plenty for him to watch. Scantily clad young ladies in a party mood were everywhere. Despite that fact, Brian wasn't purposely scoping out women. If he had any purpose at all, it was mostly just to waste some time.
A student in his fifth year at a large university in the Midwest, he was just a couple of months away from graduating with a hard-earned civil engineering degree. Study fatigue and persistent cajoling from friends had convinced him to set aside concerns about his tight budget and road trip south for one last spring break experience. Now, two days into the week-long trip, he found himself largely regretting that choice.
Despite being some of his best friends at school, his three travel companions, Nick, Eric, and Matt, had been at odds with him from the start. Funding differences were where the friction began, but not at all where it ended.
His family being of modest means, Brian had managed his way through school on loans, scholarships, and part-time jobs with little help from his parents. He was limping to the finish line financially and couldn't afford to let this excursion break the bank. The others all had deeper pockets and little sympathy. Since their arrival, pre-trip assurances that Brian's budget would be respected had not been honored. His friends seemed determined not to let
his
poverty limit
their
plans in any way.
Nick, who came from family money and had his dad's credit card for support, was the worst offender, repeatedly choosing the most expensive activities possible. Brian had begun derisively referring to him as 'Daddy Warbucks' in reference to his big-spending ways. The other two, oblivious to their own (albeit somewhat lesser) worthiness for similar derision, found that sobriquet hilarious. They busted guts laughing at the title, all the while doing nothing to discourage Nick from deserving it.
Attitudes about the opposite sex were another point of disagreement among the young men. Notorious for his selectiveness regarding female companions, Brian hadn't enjoyed playing group pickup games using a targeting system guided by his buddies' low standards. To him, the old joke about a girl only needing "a hole and a heartbeat" seemed alive and well with his friends, who were hyper-focused on trying to get laid by whatever means (and with whatever partner) necessary. Spending the first two days of his vacation watching the boys chase and pander to cheap, trashy girls with the expectation that he play along had worn on his patience.
They couldn't even agree on party settings. Brian had hoped to spend most of the trip drinking beer on the beach or going to laid back parties where he could mingle and socialize. He preferred relaxed settings that weren't a wall-to-wall crush of noise and bodies. In stark contrast, his friends seemed maddeningly hooked on loud, expensive bars offering manufactured fun such as wet t-shirt contests and beer boat races. That night's chosen watering hole was just such a place.
It was a popular dance club -- a large, two-story venue. The upper floor formed sort of a gallery wrapped around and looking down upon the huge dance floor below. There were bars on two different sides and dozens of high-top cocktail tables scattered about. Though the night was still young, the place was already filled with people and there was very little unoccupied space. The railing running the circuit of the ledge overlooking the dance floor had a shelf built onto it and was lined with stools. It was on one of those that Brian sat, looking out over the crowd and sipping his overpriced and watered-down bourbon and seven.
The whereabouts of his compatriots were unknown to him at that moment. Immediately after paying the cover charge at the front door, he had sneaked away to the upper floor while the others were getting drinks. Now, enjoying a few minutes without their company, he sat and surveyed and pondered, trying to will himself into a better mood.
A planned meet up later that night with a different set of friends -- three of his best buddies from high school -- beckoned. The four of them had been inseparable during their teens, but had been relegated to summer and holiday drinking buddy status since their paths diverged after high school graduation. Now, they found themselves in the same town for spring break on the cusp of their respective college graduations and they couldn't miss the opportunity to get together, at least for one night. Brian was looking forward to seeing his old friends and hoping their company might help salvage the trip for him.
A series of texts between them earlier that day had sealed their plans. One of the guys had a line on a house party outside of town. Each of them was to make his own way there and meet the others. Nick -- firmly in charge of the rental car -- had agreed to drop Brian at the party, but insisted on hitting that club first in search of an acquaintance of his. One hour there was what he had demanded. All Brian had to do was kill a little more time and he would be on his way.
Gazing out over the throng of dancers and drinkers, he immersed himself in people watching, as was his habit. Unsurprisingly, that environment provided plenty of characters worthy of his gaze. He settled on an interesting spectacle almost immediately.
At the time, skinny jeans were just beginning to make their appearance among twenty-something fashion. One tall, burly guy standing near the edge of the dance floor stood out for his choice to wear some that night. Brian gave him points for originality, bucking the trend of khaki shorts and polos among the majority of males in the place. Beyond that, though, the choice seemed laughably unwise and provided some welcome entertainment.
Barrel chested and thick in his upper body, the guy was top-heavy to begin with. A loose shirt added to his girthy appearance up top, while those painted-on jeans made his legs look like toothpicks, leaving him with a ridiculously unbalanced profile. Brian was reminded of the weightlifters from the old Looney Tunes cartoons with outrageously muscled upper bodies and dainty little legs. Not a fan of the style to begin with, he thought even men with slight builds looked foolish in skinny jeans. Paul Bunyan, as Brian mentally dubbed him, took it even further, being the absolute poster boy for why that fashion trend should be boycotted.
On top of the goofy appearance they provided, the jeans were obviously too warm for the setting. It was 80 degrees outside and probably not much cooler in the packed club -- less than ideal for wearing tight denim pants. As a result, Paul looked to be more than a little uncomfortable. While he chatted with a chunky gal, his bloated torso looming ominously over her, his legs looking unfit for the challenge of supporting it, beads of sweat streamed down his temples from his soggy mop of curly hair. Wearing something like a grimace on his flushed face, the poor young man almost looked like he was in pain.
Brian smiled to himself as he watched the living caricature, his mood brightening a bit with the perverse satisfaction that sometimes comes from recognizing someone as worse off than you. He might not have been having a great vacation, but at least he wasn't
that guy
.