(Author's note: welcome! As you may have guessed from the title, this story is the fourth installment in a series, covering one wild week in the life of Amy Lefebvre, an eighteen-year-old girl with an insatiable appetite for much older men. Go back and read the previous chapters if you want the whole story.)
(Author's note II: this is set in the summer of 1993, a time when I myself had not yet been born. I apologize for any historical inaccuracies that may have snuck in without my noticing.)
***
Amy's life had changed a lot in the few days since her eighteenth birthday.
After years of keeping them bottled up inside, she had finally allowed herself to act upon her innermost desires, bringing them vividly to life at last. Letting go of any feelings of shame or embarrassment, she had claimed her place as a confident young woman of the world, kicking off the week with three consecutive one-night stands, each wilder than the last. From an ordinary hookup on Monday to car sex with a married man on Tuesday to a threesome with a pair of misogynists on Wednesday, she was expanding her horizons in ways she had barely imagined even a week earlier.
Indeed, once Thursday rolled around, she found that she had managed to get so swept up in the wave of new experiences that she had somehow managed to completely lose track of the date: it was July 1st. Canada Day. A public holiday. While her favoured hunting ground (the local bar) had always been sparsely occupied on her previous excursions, tonight it was bound to be teeming with drunken celebrants decked out in red and white.
Another new experience
, she thought to herself,
this is bound to make things interesting
.
***
As they did every year, the town had put together a festival in the park to mark the holiday, and Amy spent much of the day there with her friends Daisy and Mary. There were games, food stalls, musical performances, a petting zoo, the works. And once the sun went down, there would be the fireworks show, which was always spectacular. Amy had been coming here all her life, and throughout the day she often found herself lost in thought, reminiscing about Canada Days past spent with her family and friends.
"Kind of a different feel this year, eh?" said Mary, jolting her out of once such reverie.
"How do you mean?" asked Amy.
"Oh, just, you know, with school just ended, everybody about to embark on their own new and exciting adult lives... I guess this one kinda feels like, I don't know, a party for the end of our childhoods or something."
"Mmm, that's deep, girl," said Daisy, only half seriously.
"Honestly, I was just sort of thinking the same thing," said Amy. "You said it better than I think I could have, though."
"I think that's why Luke planned his party for tomorrow," said Daisy. "Tonight's for people to hang with their families and stuff. End of childhood, like you said. And then tomorrow's the 'welcome-to-adulthood' party."
"People will be all partied out before we even get to the weekend," said Mary with a giggle.
"I still can't
believe
you're not coming with us to Luke's," said Daisy. "This is gonna be a big deal, man! And instead, you're just gonna be off on your own, like you've done every night this week!"
"Hey, leave her alone," said Mary. "Everybody's gotta make their own way."
"I get why you guys are disappointed," said Amy, "and I
promise
, I'll make it up to you. Soon. But this week I'm doing some important, like, personal growth stuff."
"Personal growth stuff?" said Daisy. "Man, shut up or I'm gonna punch you!" But she was smiling as she said it.
"Will you at
least
stick around and watch the fireworks with us tonight?" She went on.
"Look, you
know
I'd love to," said Amy, "but not right now. We can do our own fireworks show later in the summer."
"Alright, alright," said Daisy, with a slight air of exasperation. "We can talk about it later. Anyway, you're too pretty to stay mad at." She aimed an elbow at Amy's ribs as she spoke.
"Ooh, over here guys!" said Mary, who had pulled slightly ahead. "It looks like Julie Watson's band is about to start playing!"
Any lingering feelings of disagreement were immediately swept away by the prospect of a performance by their classmate's all-girl garage rock band, and the three friends eagerly rushed off to join the crowd.
***
As she stood in the Angry Moose at nine o'clock that evening, Amy reflected on the somewhat inopportune timing of recent events. Her birthday had come just after the end of school, and her father had left on vacation, leaving her to explore her new adult life on her own. All of that was great, and the only thing keeping it from being unequivocally excellent was that this two-week period also happened to coincide with a number of events that would have wished to attend with Daisy and Mary.
Oh well
, she though,
I guess nothing's ever perfect
. Still, she felt a little guilty about it.
The Moose was, as she had expected, quite busy tonight. She hadn't even been able to get a seat at the bar, which was how she'd always begun her previous visits. She instead sat at a small table, sipping her drink and watching the crowd. It was always easier to find suitable targets when they were alone, but everyone here seemed to be part of some large group or another. She briefly wondered if she might not have any luck tonight; maybe she
should
have just stayed at the park with Daisy and Mary.
What am I saying?
, she thought,
I'm surrounded by partiers, this is the perfect time to get laid. I just need to push a little outside my comfort zone
.
She tried focusing on individual members of some of the groups, trying to find someone who looked like they might be easily approachable. The lively atmosphere was definitely different from what she had begun to get used to.
Maybe I should just get wasted
, she thought,
let the alcohol do the thinking for me
. But no sooner had the thought crossed her mind than the crowd shifted a little, and her eyes landed on a man who looked as out of his element as she felt.
A distinguished-looking black man in a collared shirt and tie sat in a corner, seemingly alone, with a half-full pint glass in one hand. Like her, his eyes were scanning slowly across the room, and he had a small smile on his face as he took in the conduct of the revellers all around him. Still, he looked undeniably lonely, as anybody would when sitting alone on a joyous holiday. Astonished by this stroke of luck, Amy decided to take this as a sign, and got up to join the man.
Thank you, universe
, she thought to herself as she waded across the crowded room. The man's eyes were currently focused on the other side of the room, and he took no notice of her until she was right next to him.
"Hey," she said, trying to sound as sweet as possible, "you look like you could use some company. Mind if I join you?" He looked up at her in surprise.
"Be my guest," he said after a moment, "though I haven't got an extra chair for you. Demand for chairs would seem to be quite high at the moment."
"Oh, that's alright," said Amy, "I'll stand. I don't mind."
"Well then, so will I," said the man, getting to his feet as he did so. He, unsurprisingly, towered over her. "It would hardly be polite of me to take the only seat."
"I'm Amy," she said, extending a hand. He seemed like the type who'd appreciate a handshake.
"Harry," he said, taking her hand and giving it a brief but warm shake. "Pleased to meet you. Are your friends around somewhere?"
"No, all my friends are at a house party. I'm here on my own. Like you, it looks like."
"And why aren't you at this party? Have you had some sort of fight with someone else there?"
"Oh no," said Amy, "I'm here by choice. I just needed some me time."
