Thursday, November 01, 2007

Acquaintances

Mandy Pt I.

The cheating ways do not lend themselves to playing with acquaintances. As noted in previous posts, the “rules” dictate that one engaging in such behavior be smart, discreet and avoid attachment. Acquaintances can therefore be a crap shoot and one must be careful. Sometimes, however, the opportunity is ripe for the taking, you either pull the trigger or stay away...there is no in between. Recently, the CS was presented with such circumstances.

Mandy was married for a few years, but currently is not. The CS recently became acquainted with her through a close mutual friend, "Jordon." I did not know her husband, but Jordon knew him very well. Although I can’t say that we became close friends, I saw Mandy from time to time and we became quite friendly. She of course knew me and my status, and we got to know each other fairly well from our outings with friends.

One particular evening, Jordon invited Mandy to join a group of us at a trendy spot in the city. Bedsides some previous harmless flirting, nothing ever transpired between her and I. The lounge was packed with twenty and thirty something’s uniformly sipping on either mixed drinks or Amstel Light’s. It was another one of those nights where the crowd, the ambiance, the company, the food and drink all came together to provide an intoxicating atmosphere.

Mandy was the only girl out of the six of us there. She has a wonderful personality, dry wit and a good sense of humor, so there was no awkwardness. The night was filled with all kinds of banter between all of us, and as the alcohol kept flowing, so did the conversations.

Somewhere in the middle of this, the CS noticed a group of girls and guys directly next to us and the glances of a certain rather attractive female. Despite being rather preoccupied with the events at our table, we exchanged glances several times but I wasn’t in the mood to work on it any further. We were all sitting around the small table with some in a booth, while I was on an ottoman style couch around the other side of the table. Mandy was sitting next to me. Several of the guys had noticed that obvious interaction between me and the girl next door and they are never ones to hold back, supplying an endless array of quips and digs.

As our group was engaged with one another, I felt the touch of a hand on my shoulder and someone sit next to me on the rather small ottoman. For a moment I thought it was Mandy…instead it was the girl I was glancing with, Judy. She came to our table, completely disregarded everyone there…sat right in between Mandy and me and began a conversation. Rather bold…no qualms or inhibitions.

But what was more interesting than Judy, or her approach, was the effect it had on Mandy…and ultimately… what the CS was going to do about her...