Tom had absolutely no idea what he was getting into when he accepted his friends' party invitation. Make no mistake, the party was a complete mess from the start. Loud music he hated sounded through the house, and his friends bailed on him at the first opportunity.
He couldn't blame them though. Tonight wasn't supposed to be about hanging out, it was about finding someone to hook up with. That used to not be much of a problem for Tom, back when he was in his early twenties. Who knew that just a couple of years could make so much of a difference? It has been at least half a year since he last scored, and that wasn't for lack of trying.
Tom tried to approach a few girls who looked to be looking for someone too. It turned out they were, just not for someone like him. Three times, he was rejected. It should've hurt him more, but he was used to it now and knew that tonight was a long shot anyway.
Just as he was about to leave the party and head back home, someone approached him for once, instead of the other way around. And not just any someone, but a woman, a gorgeous looking woman with hazelnut hair, wearing a tight-fitting red dress.
She started talking to him. Casual small talk at first had quickly turned suggestive as she closed the distance between them and placed her hand over his.
Tom couldn't believe his luck. She was way out of his league, he knew that. But still, she was clearly interested.
They hit it off. Mandy, which he found out was her name after an embarrassingly long time, seemed receptive to his usually not very effective charms. She even laughed at his jokes.
Mandy told him that she was also alone and on her way out before she approached Tom, but now that they had met she suggested that he could join her, if he wanted to. He agreed immediately, eager to turn what he originally thought was another failed night into a sweet memory.
After a short uber drive back to her place, she left Tom in the living room of her cozy flat that she rented, while she went to the bathroom to freshen up. She told him that he could drink whatever he could find while he waited, but he remained glued to the armchair he sat on, scared of getting any more drunk and passing out before the main event.
On his phone, he informed his friends in their group chat that he was about to score with a hot babe. They didn't believe him, none of them managed to get further than hanging out at the party. He wondered about sneakily taking a picture of Mandy so he could brag to his friends. He looked up to notice she was back. His mouth opened in disbelief when he saw what she was wearing.
Gone was the tight red dress, replaced with an edgier outfit made of black fabric and leather. Mandy had on a black leather bra with multiple straps crisscrossing her shoulders and chest, paired with a loose skirt that reached mid-thigh. She even applied some makeup, surrounding her eyes with black eyeshadow.
Tom continued to stare at her in disbelief. Only when she asked him, "Like what you see?" did he finally close his mouth and composed himself.
"Um-yeah," he replied.
Mandy smiled and approached him. With a few long strides she was next to him and dropped into his lap, her arm reaching around to hold onto his shoulder. "I have a little confession to make," she whispered as her face got nearer to his.
"You're a little kinky?" he whispered back.
She giggled and leaned back. "No. Well, I am, but I have a different confession," she replied, no longer whispering.
"What then?" he asked, his eyes glued to her lips as he wondered whether this was the right time to kiss her or not.
"I broke up with my boyfriend a few days ago," she started explaining. She paused, searching for the right words to use next.
Tom had already heard this line before, many times... "And you're still not quite over him?" he asked with a sigh.
"Kind of. Yeah." Mandy nodded.
He knew this was too good to be true. Nothing was going to come of this. She'd just cry on his shoulder all night as he consoled her, telling him how great he is after, and then never calling him back.
Tom tried to gently push her off of him so that he could get up and go home. He wasn't in the mood for this tonight, he'd rather just drink some more and then go to sleep in his own bed. "That's alright," he informed her. "We don't have to-"
"Let me finish," interrupted Mandy as she held onto him, not letting him push her off. "This is happening tonight, at least as far as I'm concerned. It's just that..."
He watched her face turn from a gentle expression to one full of anger and then back to her angelic self. He waited patiently, letting her get it all out. Maybe she meant it when she said tonight was happening, he just hoped she meant the same thing he did.
"My ex, he... hurt me," she continued.
He didn't want to hear any of this. Not that he didn't care, he just wasn't her therapist or something.
"I don't mean he hit me, I mean emotionally," she continued. "Tonight was the first time I went to anything social since he left. At first, I just felt sorry for myself and cried in my bed all day. But
fuck
that." He could see her eyes were watery as she continued staring down at her hands. "He was always a jerk, never caring what I thought or wanted. I should've ended it a long time ago, but..." Her eyes widened as she looked up to meet his gaze. "Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to drop all of this on you, I'll get to the point." Great, he thought. "I was thinking, that maybe, if you're okay with it. That you could help me get over him."
Not exactly the thing you want to hear from a girl you're trying to hook up with. She clearly had issues, but he wasn't looking for a longterm relationship anyway, just a couple of wild nights together, so he could make do with a little crazy.
"Sure," he replied. "Help you, how exactly?"
She smiled back at him and wiped her eyes with her hand, causing her eyeshadow to get even messier. "Well, I was thinking maybe we could do a little roleplay."
"Okay?"
"I'd still be me and you'd pretend to be my ex. We'll have a little... you know, 'hatefuck session' together so that I can get all this pent-up aggression out of my system." She raised both her eyebrows. "Oh, and trust me, there's
a lot
of it."
Yeah, this was getting real weird, real quick, he thought. Under normal circumstances, he'd bail on her, but beggars can't be choosers.
"Alright, I can do that. What do you want me to do then?" he asked, his mind already clouded with lust ever since her hand stroked his thigh during their whole uber ride to her place.
"Really? You'll do it?" she asked, immediately hugging him. "Thank you so much." She let go and sprang up to her feet. "Okay, I was thinking something like this. Let's pretend that you came back after breaking up with me, okay? I'll take the lead, so just follow. Oh, and I'll probably get a little rough, that okay?"
He nodded in response as he got up, trying to keep up with her. Looking over her lean figure, he was sure he could take anything she'd dish out without much of an issue.
"Great, come on," she said and took a hold of his wrist, pulling him behind her as she walked to the front door of her apartment. "You'll knock on the door, and I'll answer already in character, okay?"
"Sure," he responded, unsure if she was even still listening. She seemed to be in her own little world, excited to have her fantasy play out.
She opened the door and shoved him out into the hallway. As the door closed, she stopped and leaned her head out to face him. "Oh, and I'll call you Bryan from now on, okay? That's the name of my ex."
He nodded at her and smiled.
"Thank you again for doing this."
"No problem," he replied.
"Give me a few moments before you knock, so that I can calm down a little and get into character."
He nodded at her retreating head before the door closed. Tom turned and leaned onto the wall next to her door, checking his phone. It was nearly one in the morning, and he was alone in the hallway of some strange building, about to roleplay that he was an ex-boyfriend of some crazy girl so that she could fuck her anger away. This was certainly not how he saw his night going, and while it could be better, it definitely could have been worse.
It really was too bad that Mandy was clearly mental, because Tom could see himself waking up next to her every morning. With all her energy and cuteness, they'd make a good couple. But he wasn't about to go unraveling the minefield her past obviously was.
After almost ten minutes of browsing his feed, he put his phone back in his pocket and turned to the door. He had a bad feeling. Last chance to back out, he thought. He wasn't sure why, but it felt like he was about to step back into the lion's den. He took a few deep breaths to calm himself down. A few more minutes went by, and he was finally ready to get the show started. He knocked on the door and waited.
It didn't take long, and the door swung open. Mandy looked out at him, tears in her eyes. A white silk bathrobe covered her daring outfit from before. "What do you want?" she asked with disdain. She really got into her 'role', he thought.
"I came to-uh," he struggled to come up with something.
"Came to what? Apologize? Insult me some more?" she barked her questions at him before pulling him inside by his shirt collar and slamming the door closed behind him. "I can't believe you cheated on me Bryan. I loved you, I... I still love you. And
you
love me. Why would you do something like that to me?" More tears began to roll down her eyes.
Tom was completely stunned. This was going way beyond just some casual roleplay. He had to admit she was a pretty good actress though.
She pushed him up to the closed front door, still gripping his shirt with her hand. "Well? Cat got your tongue? Why don't you tell me how lousy I am in bed again and how much better
'Stacy'
is?"
This was going way too far, maybe this wasn't worth it after all. "Um, I-uh..."
She pulled him closer, leaning in, and... kissed him. He opened his mouth and let her tongue meet his, her lipstick tasted of cherries. Tom winced as she bit down hard on his lower lip and broke off the kiss.
Mandy let go of him and stepped away. He looked up at her, she was smiling at him as he checked if his lip was bleeding with his finger. "Mandy, I think this is all a little too-"
