Compared to how dingy the outside of the building looked, the hosts for the party did a phenomenal job creating an elegant, and sophisticated atmosphere for an upscale cocktail party. This was the first time my wife and I have visited "The Warehouse" and our first impression was a bit of awe. The outside of the building looked like no one gave it even a second of attention in the last 40 years, but once we got through the entry way, inside the first room, it was incredible. It looked right out of a movie set. The lighting was dim enough to create some ambiance, cool music in the background, loud enough to set the theme, but not overbearing, and the dΓ©cor was top notch. The first room we entered looked to be about a quarter the size of the entire building, a couple stories to a high roof, metal everything, and different seating areas and standing tables setup throughout. There were about two hundred people spread out across the room, some in pockets of a few people in a conversation, a few couples standing by themselves, and a couple stray folks, that seemed to be on their own. There was a bar, serving some drinks, right by the door we walked in, and looked to be a couple more on the back side of the room. Everyone was dressed damn near perfectly. A lot of cocktail dresses, that were just sexy enough, but not over the top, high heels, men dressed all looking straight out of a GQ photo shoot.
We stepped up to the bar to get our first drink into us, and give us a chance to take the whole scene in. I was a bit mesmerized by the entire experience...the people, the building, the atmosphere. It was the type of party I had always wanted to experience, but had previously never really knew existed. And the people watching, fricking incredible. We did not discuss it, but my wife's demeanor and body language let me know that she was as equally captivated about it as I was. We settled on a couple martinis, always extra dirty and a couple olives. We stood at the bar, leaning our backs against the bar ledge, and savored the taste of the vodka as we soaked in the sights of the party. A few people walked by us, exchanged a polite hello and shared a smile. Overall, the room seemed pretty inviting. After we emptied our first glasses, we ordered round two, and the second it was handed to us, before I even had a chance to say anything, my wife gave my a quick squeeze on the hand, a kiss on the cheek, and told me she was going to go walk through the party and mingle a bit.
I thought about grabbing a seat on one of the couches nearby, but decided standing next to the bar gave me a better vantage point over more of the room, and felt a bit less awkward than sitting alone. I watched my wife disappear into the crown on the other side of the room, and only got a few glance of her in the distance, every few minutes. She made eye contact with me a few times, smile on her face. I could tell by the way she was carrying herself, her flirting game was 100% on. We have always been faithful to each other, but we mutually enjoy flirting, and feeling of being wanted by others, the attention, and the sexual excitement that came with it. We keep it in check, and don't let it turn into anything more, but like getting the positive feedback. The endorphins we get from the attention, often fuels some pretty hot sex between us later, so we let the little flirting games go on...to a point.
After nearly finishing my second drink, I decided it was time for some flirting of my own, so I ordered another drink and setoff to the middle of the room, looking as I walked, for a interesting group of people to interject myself into the mix. The center of the room was full of small, standing level cocktail tables, all with groups huddled around talking. I found one that looked like an appealing crowd, and got myself into the conversation. It was nice, and I enjoyed the conversation and some of the subtle flirting that took place, but after a while, I noticed I had not seen my wife. Not even a brief glance. I politely excused myself from the conversation and started a slow walk through the room, trying not to be overly obvious, but hoping to see and check in with my wife. I made it to the far side of the room, and she was nowhere to be found. With a couple hundred people, I could have easily missed her, so I worked my way back through the room, assuming I would find her somewhere.
After a couple leisurely rounds through the party, and no sign of her, I started to assume she stepped into the restroom, or outside for some air. Just as I was settled in the idea of going back to camp out at the bar and wait, a women I had been speaking with a few minutes earlier walked up and mentioned that my wife and gone to another part of the warehouse, with a woman she had been talking with. Apparently, the woman who told me, had been standing next to them a few minutes before, and overheard the discussion of doing a strolling tour of the rest of the building. She pointed me to the doors at the back of the room. I made my way to the door, starting to be curious of what the rest of this building was like, and if there was a whole other part of this party going on, that I did not even know about.
I went through the door, and was surprised it emptied out into a completely unfinished massive warehouse space. It was dark, and huge. I could not even see the end of the building clearly, as it was not only massive space, but filled with all kinds of old stuff. Old machines, storage shelves, old conveyer belts, all kinds of old factory stuff. I started to make my way through, exploring for where my wife may have gone, but the steps were slow, as I had to navigate in the dark and around all kinds of objects. As I got about 20 feet into the room, I could see a glow of light, a couple hundred feet in front of me. There was too much between me and whatever was casting the light to tell what exactly it was, but I decided to make my way towards it. It took a while, but as I got about half way there, I could start to hear some voiced in a conversation, and it seemed that whatever was at the lite up area, included some people. I made my way a bit closer, and came around the corner of a very large manufacturing machine, all old and dusty, and got a visual on the lighted area. I partially stood there frozen...it was not at all what I would have imagined.