It has now been almost a week since the events took place.

Tom is a guy I met in London a few months back, through my ex. White, height below average, thin but with a slight beer belly. He never tried anything with me, besides daily conversations. He’s always been polite and respectful. I heard good things about him, and he seemed like a nice guy, but I never got too close because I was worried things might be awkward since he’s my ex’s friend.

Last Thursday, Tom and I (Chinese, 25F, tall, thin) met at a party that my girlfriend organised. I was surprised as I didn’t know he and my bestie knew each-other.

Tom and I hardly spoke throughout the party, at least the first hour or so, as we never really spent any time together. I could tell he wanted to get closer to me, as he has always been sharing moments of his life with me via text, I was always reading his text, but never replied. Anyways, after two hours, we ended up close together listening to some music, as one of the guys that was hosting the party had a guitar hero set and started playing it in front of everyone. I don’t remember a party more crowded than this one, almost 50 people squeezed into a relatively small flat in East London.

I was slightly tipsy, and at one point I realised that Tom was behind me, we were both standing, listening to the very loud music, and jokingly he put his hands on my shoulders, i felt shivers running down my spine for some reason, i think he realised, but i didn’t reject him, I simply turned my head back towards the TV, he put his other hand on my other shoulder, then he slowly moved his hands down to hold my tiny waist. After a minute or so, I took his hands off my waist. He and I were still very close.

The crowd squeezing in, meant his hands were now touching my ass, and i turned around and we looked at each-other, he didn’t break eye-contact, and I suddenly felt a strange heat wave in my body and in between my legs. His hand were now comfortably touching my ass and i don’t know why, but i didn’t say anything, i wasn’t scared, maybe i was just enjoying the attention, and his touch.

When the next-door neighbours complained for the loud noise, the crowd dispersed, some went out in the balcony to smoke, and some moved to another room to play table games, and chat. I quickly followed my girlfriend and went to talk to her in the other room, I was embarrassed to look at Tom in the eye so I just walked away.

It must have been around 3am, the party almost over, most people had already left, when some of us were still playing a game in the living room. We were all sat, around a square table, there were chairs and two armchairs, but there weren’t enough seats, so we ended up sharing armchairs, and Tom was quick to get a spot next to me in the same armchair, we looked at each-other and smiled.

We played a boring British card game (name escapes me) for a little bit, then I started feeling a bit cold so I made a big mistake, and asked my friend for some cover to put on my legs. Tom, once again, was quick to ask to share the same cover and I didn’t want to be rude, so we placed the cover on both of our legs. My skirt was very short, so my long legs were super cold. Honestly, it didn’t even register, until, during the game, he put his right hand on my thigh. I was very tempted to push his hand away, and that’s what i would have done in normal circumstances, but for some reason, i felt comfortable with his hands on my thigh. Maybe because I thought that, it could be a harmless gesture, or maybe it was just that his hand was very warm.