The Office Party

Part 15

For once, the pub is pretty busy and the atmosphere is just warming up as we get there. There's a couple of bouncers on the door. We push through the doors and weave our way towards the bar, but there's a bit of a crowd waiting to be served. We stand together in the middle of it and I lean in to talk into Petra's hair. She smells nice. 'I feel a bit scruffy, still in my work clothes.'

She leans back on me and turns her head to smile. Our faces are close. Her shoulders just skim against my breasts. 'You couldn't look scruffy if you tried, Fi.' She looks at my lips, then back into my eyes. 'It'll be fine.' She looks back at the queue at the bar and leans more heavily against me. 'Busy, isn't it, though?' Her bum pushes back onto my hand, where I'm holding my bag in front of me.

I lift my bag onto my shoulder and let my hand rest between us again. She pushes back onto my hand and I turn it round. I run my fingers up and down the line of the corduroy of her skirt. She lets me effectively stroke her bum for a bit, then turns her head again. She blows her fringe out of her face. 'Stuff this. You stay here and get served and give me your coat. I'll go find somewhere for us to sit.'

'Good idea.' I shuffle my coat off awkwardly in the crush and let her take it. She brushes past me, and our faces are almost close enough for us to kiss. There's a little moment where we stand face-to-face, pressed together and I think we will, but she smiles and lowers her head and moves away. It's warm in the pub, and I feel more comfortable without my coat. I spot an opening in the crowd and push nearer the bar.

Actually, with the three members of staff serving, it doesn't take all that long to get the drinks in. I weave back out into the middle of the pub and skirt the dance floor looking for Petra. She's squeezed on the end of a bank of seating, with her foot on a stool to keep it free. Our coats are piled on the stool too, just for good measure. She moves them and pushes the stool out a little for me to sit down. We find a way of accommodating our legs together in the lack of space under the table, and both quite enjoy the fact that it involves them resting up against each other. I notice her hand resting on her thigh and slide mine along my leg until I can feel her fingers. She lets me take hold of hers, and we hold hands under the table, resting them just where our knees are pressed together.

We mainly talk about work. Gossip, neutral stuff. Although now and then, we'll just pause and look at each other and smile at the knowledge that we're also holding hands under the table. In a lull between songs on the jukebox, she leans in. 'It's nice to hold hands, Fi.'

'Yeah.'

'I've never done it in public before.' Her lips are wet from her drink, and her eyes are wide.

'Really? Never?'

She shakes her head. 'No, never. Not with another girl. Not in an obviously couple-y, sexy way.' She moves her hand in mine a little bit and I like the feel of her skin on mine. I like the heat of her hand on my thigh, too. 'Like this. This is nice to do in public.'

'Yeah.' I move my leg against hers a bit and enjoy the way she pushes back. I start to ask, 'What about kissing?' But someone has obviously put some more money in the jukebox, because some old soul track starts up, and my quiet enquiry is lost.

Petra grins and leans forward over the table. I see the strap of her bra under the open collar of her blouse. She holds my hand a bit tighter. 'What's that?'

I put my mouth close to her ear and like the way she moves her hair out of the way. I brush her earlobe with my lips 'Kissing. Done that in public?'

She moves her head, and I feel her cheek soft on mine. Her lips are close to my ear too. 'Course not. Not yet.'

I nudge her face with mine and our noses brush. I feel her nose stud scrape my skin slightly and discover I was right: it does feel sexy. Our lips brush lightly as we hold each other's gaze, then we both close our eyes and kiss. No tongues, just lips. But it's nice.

We only have one kiss, but it's enough. We tease each other a little, pretending to almost kiss again, but never quite making it all the way. Otherwise we flirt with each other in other ways, and chat and drink a couple more halves each. We both have an idea where the night is heading. Petra goes to the bar at one point and returns with shots as well as our normal drinks. As I'm recovering from the fiery awfulness of the liquid, she leans in, resting her hand on my dress, high up my thigh, and her other hand on my arm. 'Shots're bad for kissing breath too.' Her words are a little bit slurred by now. She giggles happily.

I nod and shrug, and lean in and kiss her again. Her lips are very soft, sticky from the shot. She tastes of beer and tequila, and in the background of onions and the cigarettes she's had. It's a good kiss, though, with a real undercurrent of desire – especially as she didn't know it was coming. She opens her eyes again as we break off and puts her mouth close to my hair. 'Am I coming to yours? Tonight?'

'I think you should.' I nod carefully. The alcohol is going to my head too, a bit.

She grins. 'Good.' Then she frowns and squints at her watch. 'I should ring. Home. Say I'm stopping out.' She holds up a finger solemnly. 'Hang on.' She leans over to her bag and rummages for her phone, and I watch her as she has a brief argument down the line with her dad. I feel a tiny bit guilty, then remember that she really wants to move out. And I'm glad she's trying to persuade him that “crashing at a mate's” is what she's going to do, because it means we get to sleep with each other tonight. She wins the battle and smiles broadly as she puts her phone away. The music changes, some catchy dance floor filler, and she perks up. 'Oooh, I love this.' She stands up and slides her hand into mine. 'C'mon, let's dance.'

I glance at our bags and coats on the bench, and catch the eye of the man next to them. He's just letting his boyfriend squeeze past on his way up to dance, and he smiles at me. He waves a hand to allow me to go, and nods at our stuff to say he'll keep an eye on it. Petra pulls me onto the dance floor and we get our drunken groove on.

Three songs later I need a break. I leave Petra on the crowded floor and go to the bar. I can't believe how much better the place is with some music on and a few people in, having a good time. The atmosphere is relaxed and friendly. I notice a few couples around and about, snogging or flirting heavily, and feel happy that they (like me and Petra) have this place where they can kiss each other without being stared at or taunted or shouted at. I get two more shots, because we've still got some normal drink left in our glasses, and take them back to our spot.

Petra comes back and sits for a bit while we do our shots. Then she goes back up to dance for a bit, but the music changes to a slow number. She pulls me onto the floor with her and pulls my arms round her neck while she holds my hips. We shuffle slowly round to the music, concentrating mainly on how nice it is to be pressed close and moving together. Being in a dress, I can feel it move over my skin with every slight sway, which turns me on. I can feel it moving against Petra's clothes too, and her blouse moving against her warm, slight body. It's very erotic.

I rest my head on her shoulder and kiss her earlobe. She murmurs into my hair and slides her hand round into the small of my back. I find her ear with my lips and kiss it, before asking, 'D'you want to go?'

'Do you?' she whispers back.

I kiss her hair. 'Yep. Please.'

We manoeuvre ourselves off the floor towards our coats, and separate to gather our stuff. Petra leans in and kisses me as we are about to move away from the table, while I'm tugging my coat on properly. Surprised, I kiss back after a moment, but she breaks it and grins.

We push out into the chilly night air and I take her arm as we start to walk. The cold air hitting us after the hot crush of the pub has a strange effect, and we both suddenly feel very, very drunk. I tell her it's not far and ask if she's OK to walk, and she says she is. She sways a fair bit, though, as we start to walk. I take a moment to breathe deeply and stop my head spinning.

Eventually, I feel sobered up enough to guide her, but the fresh air doesn't seem to have an effect on her. But, mainly with me holding her firmly by the arm and keeping her moving in a vaguely straight line with my body, we get back to my house.