<div class="floatleft">(http://fashiontribes.typepad.com/main/images/mens_penguin_sweater_nordstrom.jpg)</div><strong>Name:</strong>Sam Reid (http://elliquiy.com/forums/index.php?topic=169361.msg7948132#msg7948132)<br/><strong>Location: The Woods</strong><br/><strong>Tag: Open</strong><br/><hr/><br/>For a brief moment Sam was actually starting to enjoy the party.<br/><br/>He'd headed to the barbecue and made sure he was stood in front of the guy who looked like he<em>actually</em>had a clue when it came to serving. On either side the sort of apish men who think they can  cook but actually just ruin everything were busy whooping around and doling out a selection of quite possibly the most unappetising burgers Sam had ever seen. He clearly wasn't drunk enough, especially when one saw how quickly people were wolfing them down and how enjoyable they seemed to find them. Surely there wasn’t enough ketchup or hot sauce in the world to make them edible? Michael’s on Naples Ristorante this<em>certainly</em>was not...<br/><br/>He'd glanced back to the man cooking his food. He was paying attention, being careful. Hell, the guy was using seasoning’s and was cooking lamb. Lamb! You knew if someone was paying this much attention and cooking with lamb of all things, that he not only cared but he knew what he was doing. It hadn't taken long to strike up a conversation about food, make a few hints, be friendly and get the guy... he said his name was Freddy... on side. Seemed like a nice guy as well although Sam's interest was mainly selfish... he wanted the good food and if nothing else his dad was always looking for new chefs and cooks for The Faces, the club he now owned. It may not be much but Sam was fairly sure if his dad ever did get serious he could turn it into something special.<br/><br/>There was even an element of people watching he could do. An almost supernaturally beautiful blond came by, grabbed some hot dogs and wandered off. Sam could admit he was a bit surprised; he'd had her begged as a vegetarian at least if not a flat out vegan. A black mark against his ability to read people quickly. Then there was another girl. Tall this one. Athletic. Great legs. Soccer player. He was pretty damn sure about that. You didn't spend any time in L.A over the last few years without having picked up some understanding of soccer... or at least David Beckham... and soccer happened to be one of the sports Sam was at least competent at. Competant enough that he'd only been made to look a bit foolish during a kick-a-round with “Becks” (as Sam pretended he liked to call him) out the back of the bar he used to virtually call home, unlike when Kobe had made him look like an absolute idiot. Anyway, the girl was probably was one of the drunk looking group that had staggered in earlier. Although she looked sober... not like a drunk person trying to look sober but<em>actually</em>sober. How painful.<br/><br/>And then reality decided to step in, give him a punch in the gut and remind him that despite the rather nice tasting lamb in a tortilla wrap he was currently biting into he was still in a field in the middle of nowhere rather than in L.A.<br/><br/>Public gangrape. Sam wasn't going to say it didn't happen in L.A but it sure as hell didn't happen in the places he went to or to the people he hung round with. No-one was that stupid. Even drunk as they were, people noticed when someone pulled a knife and cut a girl's dress off. He idly note that it was the same blond that he'd seen earlier. Sam would have liked to say he was about to leap in but frankly he wasn't. He didn't deal with stuff like this and anyway, before the situation could get more out of hand others had played the white knight for the evening. One dude who'd watched too many Steven Segal movies, some girl who thought it was a fancy dress party, some older woman who thought she was on a rather more attractive version of Cops, one guy who had watched Social Network a few too many times and one older dude... grad student maybe... who showed up a little late and wore a terrible suit. Oh well. There go the Ratpack. He finished off his lamb with a last bite but even that seemed to turn bitter in his mouth. Was this it? Was this what he had to look forward to? More drunken brawling? Was this as interesting as it got? More worryingly, was this as good as it got?<br/><br/>A slightly better turn came when he saw soccer-legs from earlier get his bottle of whisky off the quarterback dude. He doubted she'd really appreciate it either; he doubted many here even knew what a single-malt was, let alone could appreciate a truly deep and peaty one like Talisker... but regardless he irrationally felt better she had it rather than the damn quarterback.  Considering she'd just taken it from him they clearly knew each other. Girlfriend? No, not with him eating the face off the other girl. Few were that permissive and even then virtually never that openly. Friend? No, guys like that don't have female friends, they just have girls they wanted to fuck. Family then. Sister. Had to be.<br/><br/>This presented a dilemma. He wanted his whisky back but he wasn't sure how? He couldn't just walk up and say “give me back my alcohol”. He wasn't a douchebag... or at least, that obviously a douchebag. He couldn't go up and plead “please, your brother took my whisky and I really want it back”. He wasn't a pussy... or at least, that obviously a pussy. So what the fuck did he say? That was an issue Sam didn't really want to have to admit to. Back in L.A he could chat to any girl... but that was because his father owned the best damn club in the city and he could just talk about that. What the hell was he meant to say now?<br/><br/>Fuck it.<br/><br/>He wanted whisky.<br/><br/>He approached the girl as she walked away from what he still supposed was her brother. As he came close enough to be noticed he deliberately let his eyes drop... but limiting it to the whisky (which he gave a rather significant glance to), not her other assets, attractive as they were (and damn, those really were some legs...). He wasn't trying to hit on her, he was trying to get some whisky.<br/><br/><strong>“Good bottle of whisky you have there... do you mind?”</strong><br/><br/>He'd liberated a cup from one of the piles that littered the place and tipped it, in essence asking if he could have a "wee dram". It was close to sacrilege to drink a whisky this good from a cheap cup like this but frankly at this stage he just wanted the damn whisky.<br/><br/><hr/><br/><strong>Deeper in the Woods</strong><br/><br/>Even through the haze of the alcohol, Katie felt like she was making a mistake.<br/><br/>Fairview wasn't exactly a big town but compared to where she grew up it was a metropolis. Everyone knew everything in that town. The very idea of a party like this was almost beyond her; you couldn't even steal a sip of wine back home without someone noticing. And boys! Ever since the Drummond's daughter had got pregnant by some drifter that wandered by she'd basically been under lock and key, chaperoned everywhere... and in a town where everyone knew each other it was pretty hard to get sneaky. Katie had been amazed when she'd even been allowed to go to college... and while even a hint at the words “San Francisco” had led to derisive snort from her mother and an icy glare from her father, for a girl with her background Fairview wasn't bad at all. Anywhere would be good, anywhere where there was even a hint of freedom.<br/><br/>And Katie was using that freedom.<br/><br/>She'd been sat down and given “the talk” before she left. Studies were what mattered. Alcohol was something to be careful about. Boys weren't to be trusted. Keep yourself safe. Now Katie had rolled her eyes at much of this advice but she understood where her parents were coming from. She knew she had been sheltered. She knew she wasn't used to drinking and she knew she wasn't used to boys.  She wanted to keep her head about her even if it meant she was considered boring to begin with. She needed to learnt to walk before she could run.<br/><br/>And then she'd been offered that first white rum and coke.<br/><br/>Katie wasn't entirely sure what had happened after that. She knew that the first rum and coke hadn't been the last and there were some various other drinks in there as well. She'd tried to be sensible but someone would just press a glass into her hand and however hard she tried to refuse she just couldn't. She wasn't trying to impress her new friends but there was a difference between being a bit boring and not be included... and she desperately wanted to be included.<br/><br/>And then there had been Chad.<br/><br/>Well, she thought his name was Chad. God, her parents would be angry at the very thought. Drunk and wandering into the woods with a boy. A boy who she thought was called Chad... but it could have been Chris. Maybe Charlie. No, no, it was Chad. She was certain. Well, fairly certain. But Chad was nice. He hadn't been like the boys she'd been warned about. He hadn't even been like the other boys there, crude and ogling, vomiting and falling over. He was drunk himself but he was a lovely drunk, not aggressive, not some preening gamebird. He was fairly quiet but charming and he'd said he liked the way she did her brunette hair. She'd glowed when he said that and when his hand had ended up resting on her thigh as they sat together she hadn't moved away. She'd liked it, even if she was a little apprehensive about whether he was going to make a move. But he hadn't and they'd simply sat there and chatted. It had been nice.<br/><br/>And now the two were walking hand in hand into the woods, away from the rest of the party, deep into those dark woods.<br/><br/>She liked Chad. She'd like to have a coffee with him, to have a good (sober) conversation. But she was apprehensive. Why had he brought her into the woods? Did he want to kiss her? Did he want something more? What was wrong with the party and the fire? What did he need the dark silence of the woods? She wasn't sure if she was excited or scared. What she was sure of was the way there was a tingling in the pit of her stomach. She actually quite liked it.<br/><br/>Chad smiled at her and gripped her hand a little tighter. They had gone a fair distance into the woods now, far enough that the sounds of revelry behind them were starting to fade away. It was darker now, light from the fire fading, branches trapping the darkness around them and still Chad hurried them along, further and further into the woods. Finally he came to a stop, reaching out to clasp her free hand. He leaned in, Katie even more apprehensive, but his only act was to plant a slightly drunken kiss on her cheek. A shiver went through her as his wet lips touched her... a pleasurable shiver. His lips travelled across her cheek, slipping to her ear, his breath hot and warm.<br/><br/><strong>“Close your eyes. I have a surprise for you.”</strong>