Caleb 3 - The Party
I was fashionably late for my own birthday party.
After our afternoon's fun and subsequent nap, I had gone for a shower. Louise had gone back to her room to get ready, and, while I got dressed, Josh had his shower. I wondered if it would be awkward when he came out of the bathroom.
Prior to that afternoon, we'd often behaved as a pair of young men might in a gym locker room. We had both seen each other naked, but it hadn't been a big deal for either of us. I wondered if that was going to change.
I was finishing getting dressed when he emerged from the bathroom with a towel wrapped around his waist. That was normal behavior.
He looked at me but didn't stop what he was doing. "So," he said, "you never mentioned this girl Mary before." He picked out a clean pair of boxers, dropped the towel, and put them on, exactly as he had done every day since I had known him.
"She is just a girl in my English class," I replied. "She sits in front of me. I haven't really spoken with her before today."
"She's not exactly hard to look at," he said with a grin, "and you didn't seem to be having trouble watching her ass as she walked away earlier."
I grinned back at him. "You know me; I can't resist looking at a nice ass."
He thought about that for a moment before looking over his shoulder theatrically.
"So, what's wrong with my ass?" he asked.
"Nothing. Why?"
"I never saw you ogling my ass like you did hers - or Louise's for that matter, or Angela's, or...."
I looked him in the eye. "You never
caught
me ogling your ass."
His mouth dropped open for a moment.
"You were...."
"As I said, there's nothing wrong with your ass. Except..."
"What?" he asked defensively.
"Except," I continued, "It's still not wearing any pants, and we have a party to go to."
He threw his pillow at me, then started getting dressed.
Louise knocked on the door just as he was finishing, and I let her in.
"What's taking you guys so long?"
"We're ready," I said. "Let's go."
Bob's house wasn't that far from campus, so we decided to walk since it was a nice enough evening. We could hear the music as we turned into his street, and I worried that the neighbors would be upset at the disturbance.
I needn't have worried. Since the houses on the street were all rented to students, Bob had pre-empted any problems by simply inviting all of them to the party. It made for a much bigger crowd than I'd expected, but I decided it would be nice to meet some new people. Some of them were bound to have nice asses.
The house was quite crowded when we entered, and there was some cheering and calls of "Happy Birthday!" as the wave of recognition rippled out from the doorway. It quickly became apparent that despite the "Happy Birthday Caleb!" banner on the wall, the party had evolved into something else. I was happy enough with that.
I grabbed a beer from the table and began to circulate around the room, chatting to classmates and friends, and being introduced to some of the students from the surrounding houses who were either ahead of us or were studying elsewhere.
There were a few people dancing in the middle of the living room where some furniture had been pushed back to create a makeshift dance floor. I felt a hand on my arm and turned to come face to face with Mary.
I smiled. "Hi, glad you could make it," I said.
She leaned in and pecked my cheek. "Happy birthday."
"Let's get you a drink," I said, but she shook her head.
"In a bit, "she said. "First I want to dance."
She held out her hand, and when I took it, she led me to the dancers and we joined in.
Now, I am fit. I run every day, am on the PSU wrestling team -go Vikings - unbeaten so far this year, by the way - and I go to the gym at least three times a week. Mary danced me to a standstill.
Eventually, I held my hands up in surrender and we went to find a drink and some food. She led me to a seat, and we sat, nibbling at the snacks and sipping our beers while I caught my breath.
I felt a slap on my shoulder and looked up to see Sue with Gordon. She was grinning at me.
"Happy birthday again," she said, and then looked at Mary.
"Aren't you going to introduce me to your friend?" she asked.
"Sure," I said. "Mary, this is Sue, a very good and close friend, and Sue, this is Mary, who sits in front of me in English."
Sue looked Mary up and down and then looked at me.
"Good choice," she said. "Remember to use my birthday gift."
Sue turned to Mary. "Nice to meet you," she said, before grabbing Gordon by the arm and steering him away.
I sighed and finished my beer.
Mary looked at me. "Is she an ex?"
I laughed. "Sue? No, I'm not her type."
"You have that vibe between you," she said, "like you were very close at one time."
"We still are," I replied. "I guess I have spent more time with Sue since I came here than I have with any other person. We just clicked. I get to hear about all her conquests and play agony aunt. Up until this morning, we had never so much as kissed."
"Oh, and what happened this morning?" she asked, looking amused.