About a month into the fall semester my roommates and I (by that time I was renting a house off campus with three other guys) threw a party one Friday night. We ordered a keg and invited every good-looking girl we knew between the four of us. Some of them actually showed up, too. Marie came and she brought her friend Holly. Holly was about as different from Marie as different can be. Whereas Marie was voluptuous, easy going, open, and funny, Holly was thin, uptight, serious, and, I thought, a little bit snobby. We had a class together my first semester and she would barely give me the time of day. So I was pretty surprised to see her there.
"Hey Marie, hey Holly," I greeted them as they came in. "Glad you could make it! Grab a beer and make yourselves at home. Mi casa es su casa."
"Hey big boy!" Marie replied playfully. "Glad to see you're finally getting a social life. Looks like a pretty good crowd."
"My fame is finally catching up with my achievements," I shot back. "Doesn't surprise me in the least."
We bantered on like this for a few minutes, Holly all the while looking on silently, her eyes darting back and forth following the exchange of verbal volleys. I was truly mystified why she was there. I didn't think she would have known anyone in that crowd apart from Marie and myself, and based on prior experience, she wasn't likely to have come on my account.
My silent speculations on Holly's presence were interrupted by one of my roommates who urgently needed me to fix some malfunction with the tap in our keg. I excused myself from Marie and Holly to attend to this emergency.
By the time I was able to get back to the party Marie and Holly had drifted off into the crowd. I briefly caught sight of Marie across our crowded living room, now filled with swaying bodies dancing to music with a heavy back beat. The party was really starting to warm up.
Like a good host, I made sure my guests' glasses remained full, that the chips and dip were replenished, and that music was always playing. Hours went by before the swell of partiers began to ebb and I could take a breath. I couldn't see any sign of Marie or Holly and thought they might have left already. I plunked myself down on the couch and extracted a bent but still usable joint from my jeans and lit up. There were just a few people left in the living room, although I could hear voices coming from other parts of the house and the back yard. Someone had turned the music down to a comfortable background volume and the lights were low. The evening was entering its mellow phase.
I leaned back on the couch, took a few puffs from the joint and closed my eyes. I wasn't tired really, but I welcomed a few minutes to chill out. Reflecting back on the evening I thought it had been a pretty successful party. Lots of people came through and quite a few cute girls to boot, though I didn't have much time to really get to know any of them. Hosting is demanding work! I also thought about Marie and the great times we had last spring. I missed having her around and really, really missed the great sex. Maybe I should have tried harder to keep things going with her, I thought. Besides being great in the sack, she really was fun to be around.
"Hey there," a husky voice next to me said, startling me out of my reverie.
I opened my eyes to see none other than Holly sitting next to me on the couch.
"Holly!" I exclaimed with too-obvious astonishment.
There was an awkward silence, then Holly said, "Aren't you going to offer a girl a joint?"
"Wha--oh sure! Here," I said, handing her the joint.
As she took a deep toke I tried to gather my wits. I quickly glanced around the room--no sign of Marie. I really didn't know what was going on here. To start with, I had no idea Holly smoked pot. She just didn't seem the type: too uptight, straight-laced. Yet, here she was, smoking away. Second, why was she even here, period? No Marie, just me, and she seemed. . . friendly. I didn't get it.
Holly handed me back the joint.
"Nice party. Good crowd and I liked your choice of music."
"Uh, thanks," I said between tokes.
She seemed to be going out of her way to be nice to me. And I noticed that her speech was just a little bit slurred and that her head swayed back and forth a bit. She had definitely had more than one beer that night.
"Marie said I would have a good time. . . especially if I behaved myself."
"Behaved yourself?" I asked.
Instead of answering me she motioned for me to pass the joint.
"Getting' kinda down to the roach here," she observed after inspecting it for a moment. "Got a fresh one?"
"Uh, yeah, I've got more in my room. Here, let me get another."
I practically jumped off the couch and trotted to my room. I needed a little time to sort out what was going on here. I kept my eyes peeled for Marie on the way, but I still saw no sign of her. Once in my room I pulled open the dresser drawer where I kept my stash and grabbed a fresh joint. I turned to go but pulled up short when I saw Holly standing in the doorway. She had followed me to my room!
"Oh great! Cool!" she said, and headed over to my bed and sat down heavily on it.
This was getting stranger by the moment. But what could I do but go with the flow? I lit the joint and took a quick toke before handing it to Holly as I sat next to her on my bed. I was glad I taken the trouble to properly make it up before the party, although Holly was the last person I could have imagined I would be worrying about impressing with my housekeeping habits.
