Cat or Mouse?
Friday evening hardly ever comes soon enough. It’s the end of a long work week. You’re looking forward to just kicking back and relaxing. For some people it means going out and socializing, blowing off steam, an evening enjoying the your friends as opposed to a week of being aggravated by the people you work with. For me, it usually means (at least lately) just going home, breaking open a few beers, getting off my feet, and just taking in the solitude.
But last Friday, I broke down and went the route of the other people. I was invited to join some friends at a little cook out. At first, I wasn’t going to go. You know me and social situations. But it seemed like there would be enough people there that I am familair with so I wouldn’t feel totally like a cabbage in a cornfield.
It was a nice group of people. A real mix of gay, straight, men, women, couples, and singles. I thought it was going to be a little cook out, but I’m guessing there were about twenty-five or thirty people. If I had known it was going to be that many, I probably would never have shown up. But I sort of realized that it was a pretty good number. Not so many that it feels like a crowd (I hate crowds…unless they are all dressed in orange. Then it’s not a crowd, it’s a family) but enough people that you can get lost among them. Which is cool for me. Because, even with people I know, I still tend to stay to the edges of the circle so I can just watch.
The best way to not have to talk and just watch at a party is to eat. And Lord knows I love food almost as much a blow jobs, so a party centered around a plate of food is the the best kind for me. The only thing that could have made it better would have been if there was a football game on, too. (And maybe getting a blow job at the same time.) But I was having a good time getting my grub on and just watching. Watching the grouping and regrouping of people as conversations and attentions shifted. Watching the greetings as new people arrived. Watching the goodbyes as some left early. Watching the actions and reactions both positive and negative. Watching people watching people. Watching him watching me.
I’m not so sure that the best time to meet someone is just as your sizeable overbite is tearing into an ear of corn, but that’s the way it happened. The fellow that I had watched watch me at different times throughout the evening, from different places around the yard, decided to close the gap and came to sit beside me.
“You look like you need some company,” was the first thing he said. I told him that I was doing okay and he came back saying that maybe he needed some company. So, for a while we kept each other company. We chatted a bit, we ate, he refreshed our beers, we ate, he split a brownie with me. I wanted a whole one, but I sacrificed my greed for the flirt. Yeah, we flirted…a lot.
It’s an unusual thing for me to flirt. Sort of. It’s unusual for me to flirt with a stranger. When I know someone, I can be a huge flirt. There’s security in flirting with someone you know. I usually don’t perform without a net. But here I was playing cat and mouse with a guy I had just met.
But which one was I? The cat or the mouse? When I was young I was always the cat. But that was when ol’ Tom had more interest in the Jennys than the Jerrys. With guys, I have never had the confidence I had with girls. With a guy I have been more of the lazy Tom cat, sitting around waiting for a mouse to come sniffing, more or less placing himself in the trap. But this time, I think I was the mouse. I was the Jerry.
I say was because it didn’t go anywhere beyond that evening. I found our from some other people that he’s involved with someone. But that’s okay. I can’t get involved right now, anyway. It was just fun to be noticed. Fun to be watched with no expectations. And it was fun to notice back.
Whether you’re the cat or the mouse, the Tom or the Jerry, sometimes all you need is the chase.
May 22nd, 2006 at 4:40 pm
Oh the chase! I agree sometimes it’s all you need. Glad to hear you had some long overdue fun. Hope there’s more to come.
May 22nd, 2006 at 6:20 pm
Hey LT,
Good that you got out. Sounds like we are two peas in a pod when it comes to groups. I do like to go to events but it’s alwasy odd walking in at first, and then I’ll often fade to the background like you and just people-watch. I learn more about them before I make the approach. It kin of was like that for me at the Bloggers Gathering in SF a month ago. I know a few seemed very much at unease with that quietness…maybe a perceived aluftness. But that’s me…too bad for those that don’t take the time to know me. Gla you made the effort and got out though. It’s not always that bad is it?
What is it with food and Italians, LT? We do love our food and oddly enough, maybe find a wee bit of comfort in it?!?! Hehehe!
May 22nd, 2006 at 6:29 pm
It’s always good when someone takes the time to notice. Sometimes paying a little bit of attention, playing a bit of cat and mouse, and meeting someone halfway instead of taking the whole brownie can turn an uncomfortable situation completely around. A guy could turn out to be somebody really cool if just given another chance. You never know.
May 22nd, 2006 at 6:37 pm
It is fun to flirt at a party like that. I was hit on strongly by one guy at a party and two others flirted with me on and off throughout the evening. It was a fun time and one that I don’t think needs to be repeated (I told you about it already). I’m glad you had fun and chose the social outing even if your heart wasn’t fully into it. It’s a great way to take your mind off of whatever’s got you down and make you realize there’s more.
May 22nd, 2006 at 10:47 pm
Certainly correct on that count. Nothing like some innocent flirting every once in a while
Paul
May 23rd, 2006 at 4:45 am
See? How nice was that?
I’m very glad.
Just say yes to everything you’re invited to please?
Sooner or later someone’s going to make your mind up for you.
Which would be… Nice?
May 23rd, 2006 at 4:59 am
much to be said for the flirt. or the food. or football. ….but when it comes down to it, I prefer the bj.
May 23rd, 2006 at 8:22 am
So now I know why the mouse got away. Glad you had a good time.
May 23rd, 2006 at 9:13 am
I found, when I was out hooking up, the thrill of the chase and the feeling of “he wants me” was always WAY Much better than the actual sex itself. The nervousness, the wondering, is he, isn’t he?
May 23rd, 2006 at 9:25 am
It seems to me that times like this are such a recentering of who you are or of your self confindence as to be a shot in the arm. I remember times like this and thinking, I’m not so far gone as that I’m invisible. I’m attractive and someone noticed. Who wouldn’t notice dear Tony? The only people that don’t notice is ourselves.
kb
May 23rd, 2006 at 11:37 am
Dude, I’ve been starving this month for my Large Tony blog entries.You are a bright spot in my computer times, that I look forward to.
So Tony do you realize that none of the pictures on your site have you smiling? Even with a “sizeable overbite” almost everyone looks better with a full smile. In my case it feeds the fantasy of you waking in bed with a big smile because of the wake-up BJ you are getting. Hah! Bet that image made you grin. So give me a happy face, please. And keep on writing.
May 23rd, 2006 at 12:43 pm
OK, so what was on your plate?
May 23rd, 2006 at 3:32 pm
so how hott was the guy or guys? coz i have will very little interest in food if there are hot guys but if it is full of fuggly i will turn to alcohol and food [no wornder im and anorexic twigand aicoholic heheheh]
May 24th, 2006 at 4:17 am
Do you know? LT pottytalk aside (and don’t get me wrong; it has its place you saucy minx,) that was almost….. Romantic?
May 25th, 2006 at 12:06 pm
Does it bother you being the “chased” one? Just curious what the difference is between being a “lazy Tom” actively approached by someone and being a “Jerry” actively approached by someone. Are we assuming some kind of dominance (sexual or otherwise) implied in who chases who? Or am I overreading this?
May 26th, 2006 at 1:05 am
Wow… if that guy was me, I probably would’ve backed away when you said you were ok and didn’t want any company… guess he was smarter than I…
August 19th, 2006 at 3:10 pm
” The only thing that could have made it better would have been if there was a football game on, too. (And maybe getting a blow job at the same time.) ”
Tony, I wanna be the guy givin you the blow job while you watch the game.