I had just turned eighteen when it happened ...
I'd recently started working as a waitress in a busy city centre restaurant, with a lot of other people around my age. Everyone was really friendly, & within the first couple of weeks I'd already been invited to a few parties here & there. I'd been shy, wanting to get to know them better before letting my guard down. Not long afterwards though I'd come to see that they were really fun people to be around & I promised myself I'd accept the next invite.
There was just this one guy in particular, who was very popular with all of my work colleagues that I couldn't quite figure out. I can't recall his name now, it was so long ago. But from the outset I knew I didn't like him one bit. He was over friendly to the point of pushy, & really the best word I could use to describe him was just plain creepy. But everyone else loved him. It made me question my own judgement on the type of person he was.
One night, at the end of a long shift I was one of the last people to leave. As I made my way outside to my car I saw him talking to one of the chefs. He called my name, & caught up with me to explain that he was having a party the following night & invite me. He apologised for the short notice & pointed out that this was the first he'd seen me in a week.
This was before mobile phones & social media were popular, so these things weren't that rare.
I wanted to say no, but I didn't. After all I'd made a promise to myself that I'd accept the next invite I received. & I did want to get to know these people, right! So I took down his address on the back of an envelope I found in the glove compartment of my car, told him I'd see him after 7pm the following night, & left to make the thirty minute drive home.
_
The following night I arrived at the address he'd given me at just before 8pm. A girl should be fashionably late after all. But mostly I wanted to make sure plenty of other people were already there, so it wouldn't be awkward.
No one else was there. I was, he said the first to arrive.
Bear in mind that I didn't start drinking alcohol until I was twenty-one. But there I was sitting in his living room sipping on a drink, wondering where everyone else was.
Another hour passed by, & still there was no sign of any of my new friends. I felt so uncomfortable but politeness kept me in my seat. & (silly me) that was most certainly the reason I ended up with the second drink. As you can imagine, by this stage I was very tipsy & in hindsight I would seriously suspect that he knew it too.