As we turned the corner and acknowledged the doorman, I made sure that Skye went first as we made our way into the bar. My reasons were a mix of how I was raised to be polite and act like a gentleman, but on a purely selfish level, I wanted to step back and enjoy the sight of my wife's high heels and hips sliding from side to side in that tight blue dress that seemed to lift up as we slowly climbed the stairs to the roof-top bar. This was the third bar we visited tonight in Queenstown, but this was definitely the liveliest. The music was modern and electronic, with the volume at the perfect level where every movement made you feel part of a music video but not so loud that you could not be heard. The bar itself was packed with a mix of couples, small groups of tourists, and a couple of large groups of young people--guys with beards and lumberjack shirts and girls who insist on wearing ill-fitting baggy clothes. We made our way to the bar and continued on our agreed-upon ritual for the night to try every different brand of gin we could find. We made our way to the edge of the bar and looked down on the streets below. Queenstown is a beautiful spot, but it was a little cold on the roof, and the mix of the night air and a lot of gin was making Skye a little light-headed, so we decided we should sit.
As I mentioned, the bar was packed, so seating was scarce, but there was one bench with four seats and a single man sitting alone in the corner near an open gas fire. We made our way across the bar, and I asked the guy if the seats were taken; having someone speak to him seemed to jump-start him into life, and he introduced himself as Ryan and proceeded to share far more details of why he was in Queenstown and why he was drinking alone than I really wanted to know, but Skye was hooked and started making small talk. Ryan explained he had recently split with his girlfriend, and he booked this trip alone to travel down from Auckland, get his head together, and spend some serious time mountain biking. Skye then asked about why he split with his girlfriend because she loves that type of thing, and Ryan explained that his girlfriend had moved away and the long distance thing was not working. Skye kept probing, and Ryan continued to tell his story, explaining that being apart had meant his sexual thoughts were turning more extreme, and when they did manage to meet up, their desires were not exactly synchronized. His girlfriend wanted intimacy and something vanilla, whereas Ryan wanted something memorable and intense, maybe even to experiment, and this made their time together awkward, and they began to drift apart. Skye sympathized with his situation and made some bland statements about Ryan still being young and attractive, and with many good years in front of him, she could be good like that, but I knew she had to ask about what he meant by experiment. Ryan nervously blurted out watching other people, threesomes, group sex, and other things he had seen on the internet during his alone time, and then sheepishly giggled. At this point, Skye excused herself and went to the bathroom.
I struggle with small talk and started to drift into my seat away from Ryan and watch the rugby on the large screen, but at this point Ryan's phone on the table started vibrating again and again. I tried to make a joke and asked Ryan if that was the girlfriend begging to take him back, which in hindsight as a joke could have gone either way, but he laughed and then said I should see this, so I slid my chair over. I am not old, but I am not technical, and to be honest, I have no interest in social media. I was surprised when Ryan explained this was an app for people looking to 'hook up, as Ryan put it, and the alerts were people nearby with whom he might want to meet. Ryan showed me a few of the photos, and to be honest, a lot of the pictures seemed photo-shopped, and Ryan explained that it is common to see fake accounts, etc., but he had recently had some success with the app and really had no other plans for the night, so he was keen to play the game.
At this point, Skye returned from the bathroom and sat down next to Ryan so she could see what we were both looking at so intently on Ryan's phone. Skye looked and listened for a minute or two, then took a large sip of her gin and placed her left hand on Ryan's thigh. He was slightly taken aback, but this was her opening to grab his phone, saying, "Leave it with me'" Skye slowly slid her hand off Ryan's thigh while grinning at me, then drew the phone back and started to scroll through the profiles. After a few seconds, her hand returned to Ryan's thigh. I was not sure about this but concluded maybe it was her way of owning the moment. She passed the phone back to Ryan and said, "What about this girl? Her name is Lana, probably not her real name, but she is attractive. She is in Queenstown tonight, and she is wearing no underwear". Ryan laughed; he ticked a box or something and said, Let's see if she is interested. There was a large pause while we sat waiting, but nothing happened. All this time, Skye's hand had not moved from Ryan's thigh, and I couldn't really tell if it was turning me on or making me uncomfortable. Ryan then placed his hand on Skye's bare leg. My confusion multiplied as he leaned towards me, looked me in the eye, and said, Let me get you both some drinks.
With Ryan gone, I asked Skye what she thought of Ryan; she replied that he is very nice and good-looking, and this whole dating game app thing was a huge turn-on, and she wanted to see what happens next. I have to say she was right; being married means you do not get to experience these kinds of things, and I was excited to see if he was going to have any luck. Ryan returned with a tray full of drinks. He sat down and passed the glasses around, and at this point his hand returned to Skye's leg, and she did the same. I figured I would let it go for now because Skye does have amazing legs and it was exciting seeing someone else's hands touching her naked skin, and he did get a number of shots for us to share. Ryan then pulled out his phone and explained that the girl Lana had just messaged back and was on her way. We were both dumbstruck, whereas Ryan went a little quiet, presumably mentally preparing himself for the conversation to come. At this point, I said we would move away and give Ryan some space to work his magic. Ryan nodded as his phone vibrated again; Lana had just messaged saying she was at the bar.
All three of us turned to look, and there she was in real life. Her profile picture, which was focused on her face, was really a missed opportunity to show off her ample breasts and curves. She was wearing a tight white see-through silk blouse under which was clearly a black lace bra, a knee-length pleated brown skirt, and brown knee-length boots. She had long blonde hair and was, to sum it up in one word, hot. Ryan motioned her over, and they started chatting. We sat in silence at the other end of the table, trying to listen in. After about five minutes of small talk, which mainly consisted of Ryan complimenting Lana on her looks, he then turned to Skye and introduced us both to Lana. This did seem strange, but Skye was hyped and jumped straight in with a million questions about how on earth Lana was single, had she done this type of 'app' thing before, and how many times, in fact, I swapped places with Lana so they could sit facing one another as they started chatting like they had known each other all their lives. I laughed, Ryan giggled, and we both stood up and made our way to the bar to get more drinks.
