"All we were doing is talking! It's not like that time when you...." Dana caught the look on Dan's face and stopped.
Nearly four years of marriage meant that Dan and Dana knew each other fairly well, or at least he thought so.
He and Dana were at a small party, he lost track of her and found her outside on the porch talking to Doug, the one guy he disliked more than anyone on earth.
Dan thought he saw the signals, her hand absent minded brushing back her hair, the overly animated way she moved her hands as they talked.
Dana was often moving her hands when she spoke to someone, the momentary unnecessary touch to her hair was another habit.
Dan knew that, but to him, at that moment, she looked like she was showing interest in the man.
It was already irritating enough that Doug had that way with the ladies, far more than anyone Dan knew anyway. But he just carried himself in a manner that gave off the impression he thought he was better than anyone else.
In High School, it was Doug that carried in the winning 2 point conversion that gave their team the season championship, so he was the hero. Dan himself had scored two touchdowns and stopped a turnover cold that would have been a score when an opposing player picked off a badly thrown pass.
Which was thrown by Doug. Hell, his pass was 20 feet too long and well off line, Dan saw the runner break to the right, then he broke past the other line backer and was clear. Dan ran him down from behind and took him down.
Damn near ended things, it was on the three yard line.
The very next play Dan picked the ball off of the other player's fingertips in the end zone.
Yet Doug was still the hero because of those two points.
And of course it was Doug that sank the three pointer at the buzzer to put the basketball game into overtime. Because of a perfectly timed pass from Dan who was covered by two opposing players at the time.
Nobody mentioned that part.
Dan ran in track also, he was a pretty fair half miler. That was where he could shine, no way in hell could Doug keep up with him when he broke into the gut portion of the race at the last turn.
The school record of 1:58.9 had Dan's name on it.
The mile didn't, Doug of course.
Yes, it was also Doug that stood up at graduation and gave a speech as Valedictorian. Dan's own straight "B" average was not even close.
He felt like the guy always treated him like he was nothing, that bugged Dan. Well, not really, he was always pleasant but it sure felt that way.
But he also bit his tongue, keeping the peace. Since Doug was always smiling and happy, there never was an opening to just smack the guy one.
OK. Probably there was some of the green eyed monster involved, Dan just could not help that.
He did not like Doug.
The fact that Doug had dated Dana all through their junior year did not set well at all, either. He also dated many of the other girls, so Dan made his attempts.
He had tried and tried with her with little success. Dana just seemed smitten with Doug's good looks. He was tall and lanky, blond hair, blue eyes, that damned shit eating grin that always made him look like he was up to something.
Dan's slightly shorter frame was also stockier, his dark hair and eyes with heavier than normal eyebrows gave him a more rugged look.
There were really no problems at all with dating girls, it was just that the one he really wanted to date was untouchable.
+++
It wasn't until late in their Senior year that Dan and Dana hooked up. That was almost an accident, it was a warm Fall evening and he was riding his bike when Dana rolled up beside him.
They rode together for awhile, then stopped at a cafe for some sodas.
Dana actually showed interest, so he asked her out and she accepted.
He always wanted to know what she and Doug had done on their dates, but he could never bring himself to ask without thinking he would appear stupid. Had they kissed? Probably. Petted? Probably. How far had Dana let Doug go?
That was there, in the background, like a damn tiny little stone inside of a shoe.
So that evening at the party when Dan told Dana for what was probably at least the 20th time that he didn't like her being near that guy, she blew up at him.
"Doug is just a nice guy, all we were doing was talking!" And of course she brought up Sherry again.
+++
Ever since they got married, any kind of disagreement seemed to without fail bring up that one incident at a much earlier party when Dan had lost control under a bit too much to drink.
The truth there is that it was far more than a "bit too much".
That party over four years earlier had been about like all the rest, everyone was young and full of it. College kids normally are.
Dan and Dana had been dating for many months and had finally developed into one of those "just the two of them" type of relationships which did not fit all that well with everything that was going on.
Most of their friends were seriously getting it on pretty regularly, but all Dan and Dana had done up to this point was make out a lot. She would let his fingers investigate inside her bra, and even rub her through her panties.
But she balked at anything more, finally when their sessions in the car progressed to that point she would undo his pants and take the edge off of things for him.
Dana actually appeared to really like doing that, her breathing would change into short rasping gasps, and as he ejaculated she would moan softly.
Dan did ask her if she had ever done that with any other guys but she denied it, telling him all she ever did was kiss a little bit.
Dan sort of believed her, so he let that slide. His own experiences were somewhat limited so he assumed hers were also.
After all, she was his now and that was that.
That is what he told himself, even while he wanted to know about how it had been with Doug.
The truth at that point was that Dana was the only female he had ever gone even that far with, although once in a hay barn a local girl named Paula had shown him her breasts to tease him and then ran.
Oddly that incident was what popped right into his head when Dana took care of him, without fail.
He saw no point at all in mentioning that. It was just something that had happened early on, exciting but best kept a secret.
He knew he loved Dana, she told him she loved him, too. They were even talking about how it might be after college.
So things were just fine until that damned party.
+++
One girl there was named Sherry, she was one of those gals that can best be described as stacked.
Barely five feet tall, she was blessed with a pair of boobs that were not possible to ignore, and Sherry was well aware of her affect on males.
Without fail the tops she wore showed a large expanse of cleavage, and her blue jeans appeared to be painted onto her rather round bottom.
There had been a few stories about Sherry, but Dan wrote that off to just bragging. The guys did quite a bit of that when they were somewhere with none of the women around.
Most of the time Sherry was now somewhere close to Doug.
Doug's family owned a chain of auto parts stores so he always drove the latest and fanciest sports cars.
Another irritation, Dan's old Ford was clean and shiny but it was still an old Ford.
Doug played guitar in a local band which also helped make him a chick magnet. He delighted in making the amplifier squeal from feedback to the beat of some heavy drums like that was a big deal.
Dan had tried that at home himself, it was easy and just noise. He much preferred country songs, and he loved watching the audience begin to tap their feet when he played and even sang some.
Of course at the parties the instruments would come out, Dan played fairly well himself and somehow ended up taking the place of Doug's regular guitar player that night.
"Try to keep up." Doug told Dan with a sidelong glance as he picked up his own guitar and joined in. Most of Doug's music was rock, lots of Creedence, good old Led Zep, Stones and stuff like that.
Dan had no trouble doing that of course. A half dozen couples were there, and things were getting to the point where the louder the music got the better it was. Beer was flowing, someone had brought a huge jug of Vodka and Dan had been sipping that. Doug of course in short order had his guitar shoved up against the amplifier creating feedback, that was just racket to Dan.
Then Doug took a break, the kid on drums was sitting there idly tapping out some different moves as everyone was drinking and talking.
Dan slipped into a simple country song and stepped up to the microphone, by the second bar everyone was quiet and listening. Dan's voice was made for country type music and he knew that, in short order he had everyone either dancing or tapping their feet.
He did notice Sherry staring at him and then she moved up closer to the corner they were playing from. It was hard to not look at her, the thin and very tight top she had on outlined her breasts clearly, her nipples making obvious lumps.
Then she began to bounce up and down on tiptoe, that made it even worse.
After a few tunes, he saw Doug coming, the guy picked up his instrument and gave Dan a scornful look.
"Let's play some real music, I can't take any more of that crap!" He said with a tone mostly a sneer, but even at that he had that lopsided grin on his face.
Dan shrugged and set down his guitar, letting Doug do his thing.
Somewhere in there he lost track of Dana, at one point he was sitting on a couch with two other guys that were smoking some weed, but Dan never touched the stuff. The clouds of smoke got him anyway, then Sherry came over and wiggled her way onto the couch next to him.
That was the last thing he really remembered.
+++
Morning was painful, Dan opened his eyes with no clue where he was. He instantly shut them as the light sent fire into his brain. Finally he opened them again, realizing he desperately needed some water. Looking around, he knew he was in a bed but where was the question. Rolling over, his feet touched the cool floor. There was a door, obviously a bathroom so he got up and went in there, running water into the sink while drinking it right out of the tap.
Spotting the toilet, he lifted the lid and reached down to take a leak, that was when it struck him that he was naked. He also realized with a start that his pubic hair was matted and sticky with something.
He had had wet dreams before, but never when he was blind drunk. Of course he had only been totally drunk maybe 3, 4 times in his life and right now he was thinking he would never let that happen again.
Dan found a washcloth, got it wet and washed himself. Back in the other portion of the room, he found his briefs and pants. On a nearby chair was his shirt. He dressed and went to a window, looked out. He was looking at a back yard, but one he did not recognize.
