***All characters are over 18 and are fictional. Any resemblance to any real-life persons or situations is purely coincidental.
Author's Note: I've been told some of my stories have too much dialogue and some readers want to get straight to the characters hooking up. I can't help it; I want to tell a story as much as I want to write about the erotic parts of it. So, this is a warning to anyone who has a problem with dialogue, this story has some that you will need to before getting to the sexy scenes.
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Emily had just finished her main entrée for the potluck party she was having. She wanted to try something new, so she found a great recipe for braised duck legs with spaetzle and mushroom ragout. Her friends said she didn't have to go overboard with anything, but as a professional chef, it didn't feel right for her to try to make anything less extravagant. She thought about making more entrées, but resisted; the last time she did that for a potluck dinner, they had way too much food leftover. So, she decided to keep it at one dish, and the others will bring their own thing.
She did this at least a few times a year as a way to bring some of her old college friends together. When they were younger, they had plenty of time to hang out with each other; now that they were all in their thirties, they mostly kept in touch through text groups. They all had either family, careers, or something else going on that made them too busy to hang out all the time. Emily did these dinners as a way for everyone to stay together through their busy lives.
The first guests to show up were her sister, Janice, and her boyfriend, Mark. Janice brought a simple pasta dish, but her main items were a couple of desserts she made, pistachio tiramisu and trifle cheesecake, and she made enough of it in case anyone wanted seconds. While Emily was the chef of the family, Janice was the dessert expert.
The next guests were one of her married friends, Lori and George, who brought a fancy salmon dish that got Emily very excited to hear about the recipe. The next couple to arrive was Dennis and Susan, who were vegetarians. They brought the Caesar salad that was for everyone and sesame tofu and broccoli dish that only they were going to eat.
They were in the dining room helping Emily get the table ready for their dinner party and having the typical conversations when the subject of Harry had come up. He was the only person who hadn't shown up yet, which was unusual for him since he's usually the one that shows up first to anything.
"Where is our old buddy, Haruto?" Janice asked.
Harry was born Haruto Takahashi; he was given the obvious nickname, Harry, when he was in elementary school and went mostly by that name ever since. His parents were from Kyoto, Japan, and came to America for work a few years before Harry was born.
"I'm sure Courtney is the reason he's late," said Dennis.
"Oh no, he's not back with her again, is he?" Emily asked.
"Of course, he is," said Susan. "They always get back together."
"Shit," said Emily, suddenly feeling very annoyed. "That means she's probably coming too."
For the last few years, Harry had a long-time, off-and-on-again relationship with a very terrible woman named Courtney who no one else could stand. She was obnoxious, rude, narcissistic, and just downright unpleasant. Nobody can understand why Harry would keep going back to a woman like her, but everyone is sure sex has a major role in why it keeps happening. She was a knockout, so no one could really blame Harry or anyone else for falling for her, but no one could understand why anyone would want to stay in a relationship with her for too long.
This wasn't even the first time Harry went after a woman like Courtney. He seems to be very attracted to gorgeous, yet problematic women. Nobody can reason why he would fall for these kinds of women; one theory a few of them came up with was that he enjoys the drama of it all. Either way, it was one of the reasons Emily stopped putting herself out there to get Harry's attention. Besides coming to the conclusion, she wasn't his type she wasn't sure if she wanted to be with a man who has these kinds of issues with women.
When Harry and Courtney broke up for what seemed like the last time six months ago, and it seemed to stick this time, there was a sense of relief among all of his friends. But now, for some strange reason, he was back with her, and Emily was sure this would create a problem for her dinner party.
"This is your fault," Janice said to Emily. "You should've made a play for him when you had the chance; then we wouldn't have to keep dealing with Courtney."
"Hey, I gave him every opportunity to come after me," Emily responded. "It's not my fault he wanted to keep me in the friendzone. Besides, that was in college; I'm long past that by now."
It was no secret among them that Emily used to have a crush on Harry back when they were all college freshmen. He was tall, handsome, very muscular, the star wide receiver of the football team, and an all-around good guy to hang out with. He was also incredibly smart, and Emily met him when they were in a study group for a chemistry class where he basically taught everyone their lessons better than their teacher ever could.
Harry was aware that Emily had a thing for him but never did anything about it. Something close did happen between them in the fall semester of their senior year during a raunchy frat party where they ended up getting a little wasted and making out with each other. They were actually close to having sex when they went to find a private room to finish what they started; Emily quickly got naked for Harry, and he had fun feeling up her tits. He got his shirt off and was about to take off his pants when a fire alarm went off. A fire broke out in the game room, and the fire department was immediately called in, so they had to quickly get dressed and leave the frat house. Thankfully, the fire was contained in just that room, and nobody got hurt. But afterwards, it got awkward between them, and they just decided not to talk about it ever again.
She had given him plenty of chances to make it all those years ago, but after a while she just gave up on it ever happening. She decided that if he wasn't interested in her in a romantic way, then he didn't deserve to be with her. She was still happy with their friendship, and that was still important to her.
"What you should've done was slut it up a bit for him," said Lori.
"That's what he usually goes for," said George.
"But you were always a Charlotte when you could've been a Samantha," said Janice, who loved to make Sex and the City references whenever she could.
"Hey, Charlotte was hot," said Emily.
"I always preferred her to the others," said Dennis.
"Thank you," said Emily. "And I don't have to look trashy to get any guy; I'm cute as it is."
"But you could be hotter if you wanted to nab Harry," said her ever-loving sister.
Emily was a very attractive blonde woman who stood at about 5'5" with a slim body and a good pair of D-cup breasts, which she often kept hidden. She wasn't shy about her body; she loved to wear bikinis on the beach or a sexy dress when the occasion arose, but she never thought she should have to show off too much when she didn't need to. Right now, she was wearing a nice, short-sleeve, red and black floral dress that buttoned up from the front. It showed off half her legs and hugged her breasts on top to accentuate the size. She thought it was sexy, but not in an obvious way.
"Let it go, you guys," she said. "That was college; we're adults now, and if Harry wants to pretend that he's still a frat boy and go after every girl who dresses like a tramp, then that's on him."
"We're sorry, Emily," said Janice. "I guess the idea of us having to see Courtney again reminds us of how Harry could've done so much better."
"And it's not like Courtney has raised the bar on the women he could be dating," said George. "At this point, picking up any random street corner hooker seems a lot more preferable to Courtney."
Everyone had a good laugh.
"But still, let's all be on our best behavior tonight when she arrives," said Emily. "We may not like that she's coming, but we can't let anything she does or says ruin our night."
They all agreed and decided to change the subject by talking a little about what was going on currently in their lives. There were the typical talking points of people in their thirties: work issues, home projects, complaints about the Gen Z kids, and doing what they could to talk as little about politics as they could.
Harry eventually arrived with Courtney; they didn't have to ring the doorbell; everyone heard them arguing with each other as they were walking up from the driveway. Emily greeted them at the door; she and Harry hugged and kissed each other's cheek to greet each other, while Courtney gave Emily a weak handshake.
Courtney was a tall brunette who liked to put on high heels wherever she went, no matter what the occasion was. She wore a short black dress that showed an obscene amount of cleavage on top, and her left arm was covered in a tattoo sleeve that got bigger every time Emily saw her.
"I brought sukiyaki," said Harry.
"Oh, nice, I love that," Emily said very excitedly.
Harry had introduced her to several Japanese and other Asian cuisines that she had enjoyed making herself over the years.
"Well, you're not going to like this; it tastes like shit," said Courtney.
"You didn't taste it," Harry said to Courtney.
"I can just tell it does," she replied.
