Eric stared at the words on his phone, hardly able to believe what he was reading. Standing in his bedroom in the basement of his parent's house, drenched after a hard run in the summer heat, Jenny had cancelled their plans for later that evening.
She had become so talkative in the last few weeks leading up to his visit back home from college. Everything pointed towards a wild night together, nothing serious of course since they would both be heading back to different schools in a short while, which worked perfectly for Eric.
"I'm really sorry," the text began. "My parents decided to stay in tonight, and we're doing a family dinner instead. Raincheck?"
Eric read the message again, annoyed, but not angry at the news. They both lived at home during the summer break, and best-laid plans came and went at the whim of parents who changed their schedules. Still, his disappointment was immeasurable, but he wrote back, "No problem, I totally get what it's like. Raincheck for sure."
From above, footsteps could be heard as his parent's guests mingled about. Since Eric had told them he would be out for the evening, visiting friends and certainly not a girl whose parents were away, they organized a BBQ for several of their own friends.
Tossing the phone onto his bed, Eric walked out of his room in the furnished basement to the bar his father had installed in his absence. In preparation for their party, the fridge had been stocked with beer, wine, coolers, and more. Taking a cold can of beer, Eric cracked open the top and took it with him into the shower next to his room. His date might have been cancelled, but that was no reason not to enjoy the rest of his evening after a good workout.
Standing beneath the warm stream, his first sip of cool beer made him forget all about Jenny. The water always felt great after a run, and there would be another time to meet with her over the summer.
Eventually, the beer ran out, and this was reason enough to end the shower. Grabbing his towel, he began drying off, but the warmth of the water had left the bathroom feeling like a sauna. He opened the door halfway to let in the cool air from outside and continued toweling himself. Still, the place was too warm for his taste, and he decided to finish drying in his room.
He stepped out of the bathroom with one hand by his side holding the empty can, while the other held the towel up and dried his hair. The short walk between shower and bedroom, a mere fifteen feet, had been repeated hundreds of times over the years, and never had he thought that someone might be down there with him until now.
The sound came as a surprise, as a woman gasped and dropped something to the ground. Eric moved the towel from his eyes to see an older woman he did not know, clearly a friend of his parents, fumbling a bottle of wine after dropping a six-pack of beers. She was around his same height, with shoulder length brown hair and a buxom figure, wearing a simple dress that hugged her curves.
"I'm sorry," she stammered, bending down to pick up the beer, but upon getting up, she held her gaze on Eric's body. She did not seem to want to hide that she was checking him out, and Eric thought that with her flushed cheeks, she must have already been a few drinks in.
What came next was contrary to Eric's instincts, which would have been to cover up and shyly run to his room. Instead, he felt a rush of excitement, dropping his hand to the side, almost posing, to give her a good look before saying, "It's my fault, I'm used to having my own place."
The woman nodded, saying nothing, her gaze moving up and down his naked body. Up above, someone must have been walking near the counter, which always caused the floors to creak loudly. In an instant, the woman snapped back to reality. Shaking her head and smiling, she turned to head back up the stairs with the drinks in hand.
With a grin, he shook his head from side to side, his heart racing a mile a minute. What was this ridiculous reaction he had? His mind thought of a million things he would love to do to this stranger, as that brief moment was the most daring he had ever been.
Ten minutes later, he was dry and wearing a pair of old sweatpants while browsing on his laptop. He was hitting up all of his old friends to try and salvage the evening. Phil and Steve were always up for anything, but they were already doing something with their girlfriends. There were also a few girls to reach out to, but again, short notice for an unexpected visit usually came off as desperate.
Eric heard the familiar sound of footsteps coming down the stairs, and his heart jumped. Looking at the door, he expected to see the woman reappear, but it was only his father, Greg, who cheerfully popped in with a rosy glow about his face, a half-drunk beer in one hand, and an unopened can in the other.
Despite not being who he had expected, Eric was still happy to see his father. The two were close, and moving for college left them both surprised with how much they missed each other.
He tossed Eric the beer, "Still heading out tonight to see your friends?" he asked.
"Yep," Eric said as he opened his second beer, "but it's up in the air right now. We might be meeting a little later." It was a small lie, and Eric said it mostly out of embarrassment, but this also kept himself free to go out if anything came up, or if Jenny suddenly found herself with an empty house.
"That's great, it's always nice to catch up with everyone. If you're not heading out for a while, why not come up for a drink and say hi to everyone? They'll all probably ask you about how your first year of studies are going."
"Sure, let me just put on something other than sweatpants."
"Just throw on some shorts and a t-shirt," he said, walking out the door, "You should be relaxing!"
Eric slipped on a comfortable, loose pair of shorts and found one of his favorite t-shirts. Reaching the top of the stairs from the basement to the kitchen felt like he had walked into a totally different space as the chatter of guests filled the air, along with music and the smell of his dad's famous grilling. Before he could get a good look at anyone, a familiar voice rang out from across the room.
"Eric! My boy it's good to see you!"
It was Marty, one of his dad's oldest friends, coming over with a drink in one hand and throwing the other around for a big hug.
"Hey, Uncle Marty. It's great to see you," Eric said with a grin on his face.
Marty turned back to the group of people he had been speaking to, "This is Greg and Martia's boy, Eric!"
The group stood around the kitchen island, ranging from early forties to late fifties. Marty beamed at the young man he had seen grow up. It has been nearly eight months since they last saw each other before the fall term began at college.
As expected, they all asked similar questions.
"How are your grades?" Fine, just fine.
"What are you majoring in?" It's only my first year, I'm not sure. Maybe history?
