"For someone who just broke up with another boyfriend, you sure seem to be in a pretty good mood," Kate said, leaning close to Sarah's ear to be heard over the deafening thump of the music. She handed a rather strong, fruity drink to her friend.
"Yeah, well, it wasn't a big loss," Sarah said and gratefully accepted the drink. "Jerry turned out to be a pretty big jerk. Why do the cute ones always seem to turn out that way?"
"Sucks, don't it?"
"Yep. Too bad, too, 'cuz he was a pretty good kisser. Wasn't bad with his hands, either...for a college guy, anyway."
In the press of bodies, a tall and gangly guy shuffled up next to the girls and tried to start dancing with them. Kate and Sarah humored him for a minute, but a knowing look between the two indicated that both found him completely uninteresting. When the guy turned his back for a moment, Kate grabbed Sarah's elbow and steered her toward the back of the house.
"Thanks," Sarah said. "I may be a little frisky tonight, but I do have some standards."
"Hey, Jen was just telling me that the guys set up something downstairs that they're calling the 'Mixer'," Kate said. "I guess they've got a couple small rooms set up, completely in the dark. You can put in your name and they'll pull 'em from a hat. Guy and girl get paired up for ten minutes of touchy feely. Supposedly they've got it set up so that the rooms have different entrances for the guys and girls. You never even see who you're making out with."
"Yeah, sounds like a lot of fun," Sarah said with a roll of her eyes. "Like I want to get groped by a drunk guy...probably a total loser."
"Oh, come on," Kate said. "Most of the guys here aren't bad. Besides, don't you think it's kinda exciting? Making out with someone you'll never know?"
Sarah gave a non-committal shrug and finished her drink. She caught a glimpse of a couple guys heading down the stairs, presumably toward this Mixer. They were pretty cute, she had to admit to herself.
"You said you were a little frisky, anyway," Kate said, further prodding her friend. "This way you can scratch your frisky itch a little without having to go all the way. You can only get just so far in ten minutes."
"Fine," Sarah said in a reluctant tone. Secretly, she was warming up to the idea. There was something exciting about the unknown.
The basement of the house was only partially finished with rooms fashioned from the least expensive building materials that a bunch of college guys could get away with. Sarah thought it felt like being in a cave, but at least it was a little bit cooler than the cramped party upstairs. The stereo was still booming loud downstairs, the bass thumping through the ceiling and resonating against the concrete floors.
Two closed doors stood near the bottom of the stairs, each garishly lit with strings of Christmas lights. Signs designated them as the guy's and girl's Mixer waiting rooms. Kate led the way through the girl's door and into a smallish room with nearly a dozen girls waiting – most were drinking and trying to chat over the music. It was very dimly lit and one wall had clearly been removed and replaced with a barrier of heavy blankets – the entrances to the Mixer rooms.
"Write your names on these cards and we'll throw them in the bucket," a girl said almost before they were even in the room. Sarah immediately recognized their hostess - Mary, the girl that her now ex Jerry had dumped to date her. Sarah had been a friend with Mary during their freshman year when they lived on the same dorm floor, but they hadn't seen much of each other in the couple years since. Mary blamed her for "stealing" Jerry. Sarah had done no such thing, but she figured that any explanation would fall on deaf ears. Sarah just scribbled her name on the card and dropped it in the bucket without saying a word.
* * * * *
Mary had been having a good time at the party, doing the guys who lived there a favor by coordinating the girl's side of the Mixer. When Sarah entered the room, a wave of hot anger bubbled up unbidden. She tried to act aloof, as if the bitch wasn't worth acknowledging. Mary felt a sneer break through her façade, however, and she was annoyed at herself for showing weakness.
Sarah and her friend sought out a spot to wait and Mary shot one last sneer in her direction. She turned her back and set the bucket of names on a dresser and asked someone to keep an eye on it for a few minutes until she got back.
"Sass, I need a drink," Mary said to her friend who had been helping hand out the cards.
"Yeah, I can see why," Sassy said. "She's the one who Jerry split with, isn't she?"
"The very bitch," Mary said, navigating her way up the stairs and toward the bar. "And not even a month later, she's here at a fucking party looking for a quick hookup."
"Better than showing up with him," Sassy said, trying to be helpful. Mary only gave her a dirty look in response.
While waiting in line for drinks, Mary spotted a familiar face in the next room. Somewhere in the depths of her brain, vengeance neurons clicked into perfect alignment. A sly grin worked its way across her face.
"Here," Sassy said, handing Mary a drink. "What are you smiling about?"
Mary was about to spill her idea to her friend, but then thought better of it. "I'll tell you later. Just go back to the room and keep the Mixer going. I'll be along in a few minutes.
Sassy gave a quizzical look, but when no further explanation was forthcoming she just shrugged and went back downstairs. Mary waited a minute and then followed downstairs, but went to the guy's door and cracked it open just enough to stick her head in.
"Carlos, come here a minute," she called across the room. There were quite a few more guys waiting than girls, and more than a few gave her hungry looks. She pointedly ignored them.
Carlos, one of the house party's hosts, hopped up from his seat by the curtained wall and came over to Mary. "Hey, how's it going on your side? Everyone here seems to be having a lot of fun with this."
"Oh, yeah, it's going just fine," she said. "Look, I was wondering if you could do me a huge favor. You know Bryce Hudson?"
"Yeah," he said. "Not real well, but we've had a few classes together. Played a little rec basketball, too. Why?"
"Well, I was wondering if you could get him down here," Mary said. "I just saw him in the living room and I would really appreciate it if you could arrange for him to be in one of the Mixer rooms at a specific time."
Carlos chuckled. "Oh, I get it. You got a thing for him?"
Mary paused for a second and then shrugged as innocently as possible. She'd let Carlos interpret that however he liked.
"Do you still have a thing for Sassy?" she said, knowing full well that he did.
"Yeah," he admitted. "Oh, I see how it is. You get what you want, I get what I want?"
She gave him a conspiratorial wink. "Yeah. Don't do it on this next round, but the round after that. Pull your name for the outer Mixer and pull Bryce's for the one closest to the stairs. I'll fix things on my side, and everyone's happy."
"Deal," he said.
* * * * *
Bryce had been unable to get the night off work, so he was late arriving to the party. He'd considered skipping it altogether, but some friends of his had pressured him into making an appearance. He pushed his way through the mass of bodies dancing in the living room. He nodded to a few people he recognized, but he didn't see any of his friends.
Near the bar, Carlos intercepted him. "Hey man, good to see ya," Carlos said, thrusting a beer into Bryce's hand.
"Looks like your party's going pretty well," Bryce said, almost yelling just to be heard. "I could hear it from three blocks away."
"Dude, you gotta come downstairs," Carlos said, leading the way in hopes Bryce would follow. "That's where the real party is going on."
Bryce took one last look around for his friends. Not seeing them, he followed Carlos down to the basement.
"We set up something we're calling the Mixer," Carlos said as they walked down the stairs. "We curtained off areas between me and Greg's rooms. We're pulling names from a hat, matching up random guys and girls for ten minutes of make out time in the dark. The way it's set up, you never get to see who you're paired with."
"Huh," Bryce said. "Sounds like it could be alright."
"Yeah, it's been quite a hit," Carlos said, opening the door and dragging Bryce into the waiting area. "Mostly kissing and groping, but a few guys said they got sucked off for a couple minutes. I'll put your name in."
Bryce surveyed the room and still didn't see any of his friends. And judging by the number of guys waiting in the room, it could take hours to get a turn in the Mixer. He turned to Carlos. "Look, it sounds like a lot of fun, but I'm not sure I want to wait around that long."
"Oh, it's not that bad," Carlos said in a hurry, trying to keep Bryce in the room. "We've got two Mixers going simultaneously."
"Still, there's gotta be twenty guys in here," Bryce said.
"Tell ya what," Carlos said, leaning closer to Bryce's ear. "I still owe you for bailing me out on that Chem lab last year. I can see to it that your name just happens to get pulled soon. I hardly know any of the other dweebs in here anyway, so I'd rather see you get a turn."
