"Great party, Phil," said someone Phil didn't recognise. "I'm Sarah, from number four. This is my husband, Jim."
Phil and Jim shook hands. "Nice to meet you both. I'm really pleased you could come."
Phil had invited everyone in the building to make sure that there were no complaints about the noise. It was also a great opportunity for him to get to know the other residents. The building was a late Georgian mansion in one of the smartest parts of town. Developers had converted it into ten apartments over four floors.
Phil was new in town and didn't know many people. Apart from the buildings' residents, the only other people at the party were from his office. He hoped to impress them.
There were many young couples, and single men. Single women were few and far between.
During the first hour of the party, most of the men gravitated to the spare room, where Phil's pool table was the centre of attention. Most of the women were in the lounge. They had pushed the furniture back against the wall to create a makeshift dance floor and had turned up the volume on Phil's stereo.
Phil tried his best to move between the two rooms, but inevitably wound up with the rest of the men.
"How do you like London, Phil?" asked Joey, one of his colleagues, can of beer in hand.
"Great," said Phil, "and it'll probably be better when I've made a few friends to party with."
"Have you met Lisa and Nicole yet?" said Bob, from apartment five.
"No. Who are they?" said Phil.
"They live just across the hall from you, I'm surprised you haven't noticed them, they're hot."
"Oh, those two," said Phil. "I knocked on their door yesterday to invite them to the party. I don't think they're here yet."
"They'll be here," Bob said. "They'll be here."
*****
Phil hardly heard the doorbell over the music. He rushed to open the door and was stunned by the two girls waiting on the other side.
"Hi," said one of them. She held out her hand to him. "I'm Lisa."
Phil shook her hand.
"And I'm Nicole," said the other. She offered her hand too.
"H... Hi." Phil was rarely this lost for words.
"Aren't you going to invite us in?" Lisa asked.
"Wha... Oh... Sorry. Of course. Come in."
Phil stood aside and the two young women crossed the threshold into his flat. They could hardly have been any more different. Lisa was a head shorter than Phil, with a tight toned body. She wore a tiny red party dress and matching high heels. Her long blonde hair cascaded in ringlets around her shoulders.
Nicole was head and shoulders above her friend. Her blue halter-dress stretched to conceal her ample bosom, and was short enough to show off her long, tanned legs.
"This is a celebration. I thought this might be in order." Lisa pulled a bottle of champagne from behind her back and handed it to Phil.
"Excellent," said Phil. "I'll get some glasses."
He quickly returned from the kitchen with three crystal flutes. Lisa popped the cork from the bottle, and poured the drinks.
For the rest of the evening, Phil followed Lisa and Nicole like a drooling puppy. He showed them around his house, danced with them and made sure he kept their glasses full. By eleven, the party was several hours old. Most of the guests were in a happily uninhibited state from the free-flowing booze.
Some of the women had moved to the spare room to join in the fun on the pool table. The men there were taking every opportunity to 'teach' the women how to play and kop a feel at the same time.
Some of the men had moved onto the dance floor, and were kopping just as many feels as their friend in the other room.
Phil didn't notice. His attention never drifted from Lisa and Nicole.
"What ages do you teach, Lisa?" asked Phil.
"Secondary. Ages twelve to eighteen. I am a sports teacher."
"Oh, nice. And what do you do Nicole? You never said."
"I'm a nurse. I'm in my first year out of nursing collage. I work on the geriatric ward at the moment."
"The old men keep ogling her all the time," said Lisa.
"Stop it. They're not that bad," said Nicole. "What about you Phil. What do you do?"
"I'm in advertising," he replied. "I used to work at the firm's office in Leeds, doing local accounts. But a campaign I did a few months ago convinced them to offer me the job at the national office."
"What was the campaign?" asked Nicole.
"You wouldn't have seen it, but it was very popular," he said.
"What was it?" asked Lisa.
"It was for double glazing. It had a busty blonde hanging out of a window. She looked a lot like you actually, Lisa."
"Oh, thanks. I think."
"It was really successful. Sales of double glazing doubled in a month."
"Have you still got the posters?" asked Nicole.
"Sure. Would you like to see them?"
"Yeah."
