It was a pre-Christmas party and the mood was boisterous and loud. Drinks were flowing freely and the atmosphere became more charged as the night wore on. Across the room, I watched him. I had noticed him almost from the beginning, when I first arrived at the party.

He was blond and golden and vibrant and so godamn sexy. The attraction was instant and intense. For the next hour, my eyes surreptitiously followed him around. I was at the party with Steve, whom I was seeing casually. Steve and I would hook up every few weeks, have dinner, or catch a movie, then we would go back to either one of our places and have sex. Nothing permanent, nothing serious. He was easy to be with and we had more or less the same interests and we enjoyed one another’s company. We were both also of the same opinion that before we tumbled into bed with someone, we needed some form of connection first. We were pretty free agents, true, we could cancel our appointments if something else came up, or to see other people if we wanted. But at least we weren’t strangers. Yeah, I guess it was kind of a loose set up, and I knew it wouldn’t really last very long, but while it was there, it served a purpose for us both at a time when we needed it.Therefore even though I had gone to the party with Steve, I felt no real guilt eyeing another guy half the evening.

Steve wandered among friends, happy with the music and the alcohol, and winked at me when he caught me more than once with my attention fixed on that blond head. I slapped his teasing hands away and asked him to find out who Blondie was.

‘That cute darling?’ Steve raised his eyebrows, looking across the room.

I nodded affirmatively and Steve disappeared.

He re-appeared a few minutes later, and my heart jumped as I saw him come forward with Blondie in tow, a wide grin pasted on his face. ‘Dustin, I’d like you to meet Keith Fenton.’ Steve said, in a mock serious tone. ‘Keith, Dustin Chase.’

I felt my face flush, but held out a hand as calmly as possible.‘Hello Keith,’ I said.

‘Hi Dustin.’ His voice was slightly teasing as well, which made me wonder what in hell Steve had said to him.

I stared daggers at Steve, who just shrugged unrepentantly and continued to grin at me.

‘Nice party,’ I said weakly.

‘Um …’ Keith replied, peeping at me through his lashes.

Thankfully, just then Steve was hailed by some friends. He gave me a squeeze on the arm, put his mouth to my ear, and whispered ‘Good Luck Babe!’, then aloud, he said nonchalantly, ‘Have fun, you two!’ and he swaggered over to the group by the bar.

Keith stole another look at me and it was so impish that I forgot the awkwardness and just laughed at him. I found Keith very engaging. He was confident and witty and I found myself relaxing. I was normally a pretty reticent person, preferring to stay in the background in social gatherings and parties. Keith was the opposite. He was obviously very popular and knew tons of people at the party. We got interrupted often, but he stayed by my side – to my surprise and pleasure – and always resumed our conversation when the other person had moved away.

‘Look,’ I said at one point, ‘if you’d rather … I mean if there’s somewhere you need to be … um …’

‘I’m cool. Why? Do YOU need to be somewhere else?’ Keith asked, and again I had the distinct impression he was teasing me.

I looked down for a moment, smiled and then blurted out. ‘Well, I wouldn’t mind being somewhere else if you want to skip out of this too …?’

We left together, after I apologized to Steve, who waved me cheerfully away. Keith drove us in his little red sports car since I had come with Steve. We found a quiet little coffee place and stayed up talking till dawn. I had opened my eyes at his hot car when he guided me to it, and he said casually that it was a graduation gift from his father. I learnt much later that he was the only son of Thomas Bruce Fenton, a prominent social figure and wealthy businessman. Keith gave none of that away though. He steered the conversation away from anything even remotely connected to his family and talked mostly of sports and people he knew and his favorite haunts.

By the time we got up to leave, I had a pretty fair notion of how this lad spent his time; he slept late, his short days were filled with sports and games, and the evenings usually found him at some club or bar. I managed to not shake my head at him, kept my thoughts to myself (who was I anyway?), and allowed my senses to drown in his smoky blue eyes and sexy smile.

He dropped me off at my place and idled the car, looking a little shyly at me. I released the safety belt but did not immediately open the car door.

‘Well,’ I said, hesitating.He waited for me to continue, a definite twinkle in his eye.‘I … er … enjoyed the evening. Very much so!’ I said sincerely.

‘So did I,’ he replied quickly. ‘You got a number I can call to get in touch?’

YES!

‘Yeah, sure,’ I said casually, fishing my card out rather clumsily. ‘Here, it’s got my office and mobile numbers on it. I hope we can … let’s do this again … soon ….’

I cursed silently as I slipped out of the car. I think I sounded no better than a teenager out on a first date. I watched him drive off, and then slowly walked into the house. I wasn’t sure what I felt, but it was the first time I had felt that way. Looking back, I guess I would say I had fallen in love.

* * *