Tags: re-edit

The meal, like most fondue, lasted enough for the four of us to become well acquainted. I say four because Gus didn’t really participate.

I learned a lot of funny stories at work between Sue and Annie and learned a little more about how Sue and Nicole had met (from a common friend they both lost touch with, Elizabeth).

A certain chemistry was installing itself with even Nicole opening up and making jokes. It seemed as though the fewer interactions she had with Gus, the more open she was with us.

I tried to convince the girls to not help me with washing the dishes, but honestly, I hoped to share that moment with them.

Washing dishes appears to be a very simple useless task, but it used to be a bonding ritual between women in the previous generation or two. Men would retire to the living room while the women would clean up and have private conversations away from them.

Over time, the sexual segregation ended, but not always the bonding ritual.

As I anticipated, Gus didn’t show any interest in helping, so I took lead in the washing, and left the Annie and Nicole to the drying off and Sue to the feeding (bringing the dirty dishes), and later, storing the dried dishes in their proper place.

This is something I wanted my girlfriend to do because I am convinced that the more familiar and at ease she is with me and my things, the closer she will feel to me.

Have you ever helped someone store their dishes? You constantly have to ask where things go which makes you feel alien to the house. At home, you know where everything goes and the sooner Sue feels at ease putting away clean dishes, the sooner she will feel at home in my apartment.

Once done, I thanked my helpers (that’s important too) and we moved to the living room, realizing that with just the four of us, the mood had been light and fun but that adding Gus made things awkward.

We talked a little while in the living room until Annie proposed we play couple’s charade, with her as the host.

Predictably, Gus initially refused but he was pressured by Annie and Nicole to play. Personally, I would have preferred to play against Annie and Nicole, but I didn’t mind either way.

Charade is a tough game for a couple to play… in a game with your girlfriend, it’s important to let her feel included and not to be too competitive. You can even play to lose to help her self-esteem.

But in Charades, when it’s your turn to play the charade, you want her to feel good about understanding your mimics, so you have to be as clear as possible, but when it’s her turn to mime, you have to guess so she doesn’t feel inadequate.

Fortunately for us, we were playing opposite Gus, the all thumbs man. I think that for the whole charades, Nicole only understood 2 of his mimes, while he only got 3 of hers.

Sue and I only the other hand, had a pretty good batting average, succeeding probably 70% of the time, and laughing it off when we failed.

Annie usually picked movie names, objects, but near the end, added a few sexual references, like a vibrator and oral sex. I had to mime vibrator and Sue got it in less than 10 seconds, but no one understood Gus when he was trying to mime oral sex.

Instead of simply using his tongue and hand to mime having a dick in his mouth, or letting his tongue go between his fingers in a v, to mime performing a cunnilingus, he insisted to make Annie understand the word Oral, switching constantly between showing his teeth and pretending to do an oral in front of a class.

This particular incident began a fight between Annie and Gus, but before I could intervene, Sue grabbed my hand and asked if we could open another bottle of wine.

I understood and left to the kitchen, with Sue ( and Nicole!) in tow for helping me “open” the bottle of wine. In this case, it meant each of us taking a glass and talking about how good it was.

When the fighting ended, we returned to the living room and continued charade for a few rounds, but the mood had been killed.

Annie and Gus were the first to leave. Nicole followed shortly after, and even Sue admitted that this had bummed her out and that she wasn’t in the mood for more.

She did tell me it wasn’t my fault and that she really enjoyed her evening otherwise.

We made vague plans to meet the next day and kissed each other goodbye.

Series Navigation

«Sue Chapter 10: Supper with friendsSue Chapter 12: After the party»

Tags: re-edit