The Best Use of Time

"Stop looking at the door", he chided himself, as he glanced to the entrance of the hotel bar yet again. "She'll come or she won't, she didn't say either way, and if she doesn't, well, nothing lost from trying". He took a sip from his drink, glancing up again and smiling as he saw her in the doorway, looking from side to side. He half-rose from his chair, waving to get her attention. She smiled and walked toward him.

"Wow!", he thought, as he watched her cross the room -- or more precisely, as he watched the outline of her nipples bobbing under the thin fabric of her dress as she crossed the room. It was sleeveless, white with a flowing skirt. "She

has

to know what that does with her breasts, doesn't she?" She neared the table and he stood to pull out the empty chair for her, reminding himself "eye contact, eye contact!"

"I'm glad you came", he said, grinning, as she put her clutch purse on the table and sat down, "and in a moment I am going to tell you that you look stunning, but first I have a question! In the excitement, it only occurred to me after the fact that I don't know your name, and I would never forgive myself if I walked away from today not knowing that. And you don't know mine. I'm Nick. Nick Dimitrov" He held out a hand, which she took, smiling back at him. "Ariel Emms", she said, "nice to formally meet you, Nick. And thank you, you look very smart yourself!"

"Ah-ah", he said, waving a finger jokingly, "I didn't tell you you look stunning yet!"

She laughed, replying, "No, but you're going to -- and you are too kind. I do like this dress, it's hard for anyone not to look good in it! I wear it when I want to make nice impressions." She smiled, waggling her upper torso slightly, making him momentarily lose his resolve to look only at her eyes.

"It certainly does that", he said, thinking to himself "oh yes, she knows what it does!" He lifted the bottle of wine from the table and looking questioningly at her. She nodded, and he filled her glass while saying. "But you'd already made an impression on me. I have never left a roulette table with as much money as that before! Usually I just play till my chips are gone" he said, laughing, "and I know it's probably rude to ask, but - surely that was about $100,000 you left with?"

She smiled noncommittally, saying "It was lucky for me I was at a high stakes table and it was an outside bet, yes. But what about you? Not everyone spots a winning streak as quickly as you did. And usually people assume my luck has to change and start to bet against me, but you rode with me to the end! To be honest, that's mostly why I accepted your invitation for drinks." She lifted her glass, and silently toasted him before taking a sip.

"Mostly?" he said with a grin.

"Well, you also have a nice smile. To be honest, I'm not certain you aren't casino security, but I thought 'what's the harm?'" She grinned at him over the top of her glass as she took a sip of her drink. "And you have a

really

nice smile."

He smiled at her, saying "Whatever it was that got you here, I'm ok with it!" He poured himself wine, then started saying "So are you in Vegas for busin-"

"Sorry to interrupt, but look behind you, now!"

Nick turned, brow furrowing in confusion, trying to decide what he was supposed to be looking for, as a waiter with a tray of drinks hurried past, catching his foot on something and nearly falling, but somehow managing to catch his balance without any glasses falling from his tray.

"Hunh! Impressive" Nick said, turning back to Ariel "What did he trip over?"

"I couldn't see, sorry"

"Then how did you know he was going to trip?"

Ariel smiled. "So, in a while, you are going to say to me 'how could you possibly know that?', and that question is probably better answered then. Anyway, tell me more about Brenda! She sounds fun!"

Nick looked at her in confusion. "Brenda? Sorry, I'm...who?"

"Did you see her again?" Seeing his confusion, she said "Sorry, my timing is rough, I've had too much wine for careful fine-tuning! But the upside is that that makes me more, um, open-minded!" She smiled at him knowingly across her glass.

"You...you haven't even finished that glass yet", Nick replied, struggling to make sense of the suddenly-odd conversation.

"Not yet, no!" With that, she drained her glass and held it out to him to refill. "No, really, I'm not drunk. And I'm not insane, I just...decided something!" She laughed lightly. "But sorry, I'm getting ahead of myself. Ha! Ahead of myself, that's funny!" She sat up straighter, trying to look more serious while still smiling, a lock of her hair falling in front of her face. "You had a question."

"I...oh, well, just small talk, really, are you in town for business or pleasure".

"Business, of course! Wasn't that obvious from the way we met? But that doesn't mean I'm necessarily

opposed

to mixing in some pleasure." She grinned. "That should also be obvious from the way we met!"

"Wait, you mean -- you're here to gamble? Professionally?" As she started to tilt her head, raising an eyebrow in slight rebuke, he held out his palms and said "No, no wait, I don't mean I'm surprised because you're a woman -- it's because you were at the roulette table! Those are about the worst odds in the house!" He paused. "Ok, look, everybody says they have a system -- and everything I know says there

are

no systems. BUT -- I watched you walk away with, well, a

very

large sum of money!" She waggled her head in vague assent. "So apparently what I thought I know is wrong!" He threw up his hands in mock despair.

Ariel laughed. "See,

this

is what made me decide! Well, this and your smile, admittedly you had a good headstart!"

"Ok, but...but...

how

?!!" He grinned at her. "You can't just tell me that you've found a way to beat a roulette table and expect me to say 'hmm, interesting' then ask how your flight was! Seriously!"

She grinned, sipping her wine. "Well, strictly you're the one who said I have a system, not me. And if you're trying to persuade me you

aren't

casino security, you're doing a bad job of it!" She laughed. "But let me answer your question with a question" she continued. "I have this theory that we all have some things we remember that are maybe not earth-shattering, but they have a significance in our own lives that means the details are burned into our memory. Right?" Nick nodded, murmuring a sound of agreement. She continued "So, I've had this conversation before, and it turns out a thing most men seem to remember is the first time they felt up a girl."

He twisted his head sharply to one side, squinting hard, and said jokingly "sorry, just trying to deal with the whiplash from the sudden turns this conversation keeps taking!" She laughed, but replied "I bet I'm right, though -- aren't I?"

Nick looked pensive for a moment, then said "A bunch of us had gone biking to a nearby river. There was a sudden rainstorm, and I ended up in this kind of hollow in a rock face with this girl. We were stuck for a while, and eventually she leaned over and started kissing me. I let my hand run down her back and started squeezing her buttocks, which was a nice addition to the kissing. She reached down and grabbed my hand and I thought that was that, but instead, she brought my hand up and put it on her breast, which was

way

better than squeezing her butt!" Nick chuckled affectionately at the memory. "I haven't thought about that in years!"

"What was her name?" Ariel asked softly.

"Oh, what was it again, it was --." He stopped, looking wide-eyed at her. "Brenda! It was Brenda! You asked about her! How..." he stared at her intently. "You're not...she was taller, and...and..." Ariel interrupted, grinning and saying "bigger?" as she momentarily cupped her breasts and bounced them upward.

Nick looked more confused than ever, asking "Ok, seriously,

what

is going on!

How

did you know her name? How did you know she was..." he gestured vaguely toward her chest.

"Oh, you told me her name. And..." she grinned "'bigger' was just a guess, but I find it's usually right!"

"Ok, I am

seriously

confused right now! Are you a friend of hers? Have I done something wrong?" He began to look frantically around the room.

Ariel reached out reassuringly to place a hand on his arm. "Truly, this conversation is the first I have ever heard of her. It's confusing, I admit. Look -- shall I tell you how I won today?"

Nick pressed his palm to his forehead, his eyes shut. "We're back to that?" He opened his eyes, waved his hand away, and said "Ok, sure, why not, it can't get stranger!"

Ariel finished the last of her wine, and took the bottle to pour herself another glass. She looked at him questioningly, and so he drained his glass and held it out to her, saying "why not!"

"Ok", she said, "so let's assume you flip a coin -- a fair coin -- a hundred times. How many heads would you expect to get in a row, somewhere in there?"

Nick looked a little pleased with himself. "I know this one, actually, it's like, six in a row, or seven, something like that -- way more than you'd think."

"Exactly" Ariel replied. "Now, if you're at a roulette table, it's more or less the same for odd/even, red/black, high/low -- you naturally get surprisingly long streaks. If you went to a table and you kept switching your bet -- now red, now black, that sort of thing, and you kept being right, you'll quickly get thrown out, because even if they don't know what's going on, that just looks too suspicious. But" she said "if you place a decent wager at the start of a streak, and keep on letting it ride, doubling your money every time, well, you just look lucky. Like this afternoon, which was ten in a row, which is

really uncommon

. But the principle is quite simple, just let your bet ride when a streak is about to start."

"But how could you possibly know that?" He replied. As his eyes opened wider he continued "Fuck -- sorry, frig -- no, fuck it, fuck! You said I was going to ask that! WHAT is going on here! Is this some kind of prank?" He looked around the bar questioningly.

"Wait", she said "focus...look at me." He took a breath and looked toward her. She smiled, put a finger to her lips -- then dropped that hand, flicked the strap of her dress sideways, and let it fall from her shoulder, exposing her breast. Nick's breath caught in surprise. "I'll explain", she said, pulling the strap back into place "but to do so I have to tell you about the first time

I

got felt up".

Nick blew out a breath between his closed lips. "Of course you do!" he said. "You know what? I'm along for the ride again! I have officially given up trying to work out where this is going!" He laughed "Nice breast, by the way -- and a much better way of getting my attention than that movie cliche of slapping me! Ok, go for it -- tell me about the first time you got felt up! I have no doubt you will tell me what you want to tell me when you want to tell me!" He pushed back in his chair, raising his palms outward in resignation.

"Well, strictly speaking" she began "it wasn't the

first

time. There was my best friend's brother in her basement a couple of times, and my brother's best friend in our basement once. And the cast party after the school play a couple of weeks earlier. And Alex, up at the cottage -- his parents had the cottage next to ours, we saw each other a lot during summers, and, well, you know, a few times on the beach..."

"So this story isn't even

close

to the first time!" Nick laughed.

"If you

must

know", Ariel said, adopting a mock stern expression "I discovered relatively early that having my breasts fondled was

quite

enjoyable!" She moved a hand and, unobtrusively, began toying with one of her nipples through the sheer fabric of her dress. "And it turned out to be that much nicer when it was someone else doing it." She grinned at him defiantly. "Do you see that as a problem?"

"Not in the least" Nick replied firmly "I fully support your breasts being fondled as often as you wish, by whomever you wish! Fully!"

"You probably aren't thinking of me as shy" she said, as he snorted, "and to be fair you'd be right! But I

used to be

very shy, and easily embarrassed.

Very

easily. Not now, of course", she said with a smile, fingers sliding from her nipple to her neckline and briefly pulling open her dress to expose herself again "but at that time I could never have been like your conquest Brenda." She grinned. "I would bet that all of them thought they were the only one who had ever felt me up, and were surprised I was letting them!"

Nick chuckled. "So, 'all of them' -- but you are going to tell me about your later, 'first', time?" he said, making air quotes as he said it.

"Yes, well, you'll see, it was still sort of the first, because those other times I mentioned -- oh, also New Year's Eve when I went to this party with my parents at some friends of theirs and I ended up in the backyard with their friend's son -- well, never mind -- my point is that all of those occasions were

on top

of my clothes. Admittedly, with Alex, just a bathing suit, but still! This occasion was -- well, you'll see."

"And here was me foolishly thinking I could not get

more

interested in your story!" He laughed.

"All right, so -- look, you are

definitely

going to have questions, ok? But I promise they will get answered? As I explain?" Nick nodded.

"Ok, let's see, what, what's best to start with here...the really interesting part, or the

really

interesting part?" Ariel looked contemplative for a moment, then suddenly jerked her head sideways. "Ok, no, that didn't work, the really interesting part is too distracting to focus on the fun part I've been teasing you about, which just seems unfair! So let's try it the other order."

Nick shook his head in confusion. "That cleared up exactly nothing" he said lightly, smiling at her "but I am holding off on questions!"

"Well, not the other order, that doesn't really work either -- tell you what, I'm going to skip a bit in the middle, then come back to it!" Nick gestured with his fingers in an "as you wish" motion.

"Ok, so, it was my last year of high school, I'd gone over to someone's house after school with another group. My best friend and I were going, they were people I sort of knew, some girls and guys, we'd been in school together for a while, but not really well, except my friend was in a couple of classes with them -- but then at the last minute my friend got called away, and it was just me. Well, not just me, obviously, but no-one I really knew, and this was back when I was really shy. And when I say not

just

me, the important thing is that Raj was there." She smiled coyly.

"Raj?" Nick said, smirking slightly.

"Raj Kapoor. He was in my history class, I'd probably never said more words to him than 'excuse me' as I slipped by him in a doorway or something, but I had a

huuuge

crush on him! And really, the fact that he was going to be there was the reason I didn't bail when my friend had to go, because I just wanted to be in the same room as him!"

Nick smiled and nodded. "Yes, I remember that sort of feeling."

Ariel continued. "All right, so, eventually a game of truth or dare started, and -- well, this is where I need to skip a bit. So..." she waved her hands mystically through the air "...important things happen, but, well, not quite 'when I became conscious' but more 'when I was able to focus on what was happening again' -- that sounds bad, it's not bad, I promise -- um, when I was able to focus on what was happening again, I was sitting in a laundry room, on top of a freezer, with Raj Kapoor's tongue in my mouth and his hand on my breast over the hoodie I was wearing."

"Dream come true, then", Nick teased.

Ariel grinned back at him. "Honestly, more than, which is why it distracted me so much from the..." she waved her hands mystically in the air again. "It was a dare, obviously, to me -- I was in the laundry room with Raj for three minutes while he was allowed to touch me above the waist however he liked. And so I was enjoying his hand which was only gently squeezing, and his tongue in my mouth, which was still novel enough to be quite intoxicating!" As she said this, she held out her glass to be refilled.

"At some point -- well, after 60 seconds, obviously -- a voice outside the laundry room door said 'two minutes left!' Raj broke the kiss gently, sliding his tongue out, but then slipping it back in again for a moment before asking 'is this ok?', obviously meaning his tongue in my mouth. Well, I giggled semi-coherently and said 'that's above my waist and it's a way of touching me, so I guess so!'

He started kissing me again, and then dropped his hand from my breast, fumbled with the bottom of my hoodie, and slid his hand up inside, so that now it was just my polo shirt between his hand and me -- I wasn't wearing anything under it -- and, well, you have a sense of what my breasts are like!" She waggled her torso again, the thin fabric playing over her nipples.

"Well -- then his hand slid down again, and he began untucking my polo shirt from my jeans -- not just one little area, he started untucking it completely, very carefully, creating a sense of agonizing anticipation. And I was just so...well, you can imagine, because no-one had touched my bare breasts before, and I was

pretty sure

that was about to happen and that it was going to be amazing! Then the voice said 'one minute left' and Raj stepped back from me slightly, took both of my wrists, and lifted them up over my head. 'Hold your arms there' he said, and for a moment I was seized with the fear he was going to tickle me, but it turned out that wasn't it at all, and instead he grabbed the bottom of my hoodie and my polo shirt, and just

whooshed

them over my head!" Nick shifted a little in his seat.

"Nobody had seen me naked before -- well not naked, obviously, but like this -- genuinely nobody, not 'except for x and y and z', and it was just overwhelming, it was so unexpected and exhilarating. And then he smiled that gorgeous smile at me, and said 'it's a way of touching you, right?' as he leaned down and began teasing my nipple with his tongue.

OH MY GODS

I wanted the moment never to end!" Ariel shut her eyes, remembering.

"But of course it only lasted a short time, because the voice said 'thirty seconds', but his lips were locked to one of my breasts and his hand was fondling the other one, and then 'fifteen seconds' and he was

still

toying with my nipples but I was absolutely helpless, and then 'ten, nine...' the count began and he finally pulled away, and in a panic I pulled my hoodie back on, inside out, and stuffed the shirt inside it because there'd been no chance of getting that on as well, and barely managed to try to look composed as they said '...one' and opened the door."

Nick let out a breath, not quite a low whistle. "Ok, that definitely beats my story with Brenda, and I am not going to stand up for a little while" he laughed. "That's a real jump from a bit of fumbling at a party or on a beach to -- well, however you describe that! And you describe it very evocatively!"

She smiled at him. "Well, thank you, and yes, this order is definitely better. But in case you haven't noticed, that doesn't explain at all how I win at roulette!'

"You know, a small part of my brain kept trying to get my attention about that, but as you went on and on with the details, the blood was apparently leaving my brain because it was needed elsewhere and I paid less and less attention to that!" He laughed. "Do I assume correctly that's the..." he waved his hand mystically in the air "...part?"

She laughed. "Yes, it is. And I will tell you that part now, and you will not want to believe it, so just -- remember the waiter, and your winnings, that's all I can say." Nick nodded.