Chapter 6

Stan borrowed his sister's car for the party Saturday night. It was an older model ford, but Stan was glad to have it. They drove up from mid-town to the country club where Peter and Ginny Murtaugh's party was being held. The parking valets opened their doors, and Stan came around the car. She put her arm in his and together they walked up the dressed stone steps into the club.

Inside, a band was playing and a long buffet table ran down one wall. As they entered, there was a line at a receiving desk. When Stan and the girl made it to the desk, the woman there looked up. "Names?"

"Stan Mertz ... um, and guest." Stan smiled. The woman noticed the girl for the first time. Her eyes widened. The woman's handed Stan a small name-tag with his name on it. Beside her hand was another tag, blank.

"And her name?" The woman looked at Stan.

The girl looked at Stan. The woman at the desk looked at Stan. A moment passed. The couple behind them stopped talking and began to listen. Stan blinked. The girl looked back at the woman at the desk. "I don't seem to have one."

The couple standing behind Stan and the girl laughed. The woman at the desk crinkled up her face in a grin. "Goodness, Stan. You don't even know her name?"

"Of course I do." Stan forced a laugh. "This is my ... um, friend ... and her name is..." Stan's eyes desperately scanned the room, and latched onto some of the hanging decorations.

He cleared his throat. "Noel." He smiled a tiny, crooked smile. "Noel Felice." His voice firmed up, and he looked at the girl. "Yes, her name is Noel Felice."

The girl blinked slowly. Then she turned back to look at the woman at the desk. She folded her hands carefully across her skirt and said. "Yes, Stan's right. My name is Noel Felice."

The woman at the desk wrote the girl's name on the tag and handed it to her. As Stan and the girl walked away, he could hear the couple behind them approach the desk. The man said. "Trust Stan to bring a weird one."

As they approached the banquet line, the girl whispered in Stan's ear. "Is that really my name? Are you giving me a name, Stan? You don't have to if you don't want to." She paused a moment. "But, I think I would like to have a name."

Stan grinned at her. "Yeah. Noel." The girl shrieked with glee and hugged his arm. "Thank you master!"

They went through the banquet line and filled their plates. Around the ballroom, numerous tables had been set, and Stan made a bee-line for the tables occupied by his friends in the tech-support group. The tables were in a back corner, and not too far from the kitchen. Around the table already sat several of Stan's colleagues, in a heated discussion of the relative merits of Linux versus Windows. The wives and girlfriends seemed bored already.

As Stan and the girl approached, all conversation died away. Stan, dressed for the first time in his life in a fitted tuxedo, led on his arm a beautiful woman.

The girl was dressed in a green and black formal gown. The fitted skirt rose a good three inches above her knees, and was made of a whispery black chiffon. The bodice was tightly fitted in green velvet. From under the skirt came long, lithe and athletic legs in seamed black fishnet hose. Her feet were encased in high green velvet heels. The bodice caressed every curve, and her magnificent breasts rose proudly up high, almost overflowing the dress. She was tan and thin and fit, her hair a cascade of auburn ringlets down her back.

As Stan and the girl sat down, the table drew a collective breath. Stan smiled a nervous smile. Conversation died. Everyone at the table smiled at the girl. She smiled back.

Two seats over, Dwight Fellows suddenly began choking on his beer. Coughing into his napkin, he eyed Stan and the girl. Stan smiled fiercely.

A woman sitting across from Stan elbowed the man to her right. He jumped slightly and then said. "Hi. I'm Tom Black, and this is my wife Kathy." Tom then proceeded to make several more introductions.

The girl looked at Stan. Stan smiled a nervous smile. "This is my friend, um, my girl friend, I mean she's a girl and my friend, but not ... uh well maybe ... um. This is Noel."

Kathy Black reached a chubby arm across the table, threatening to rip out of the large dress she'd forced herself into. "Hi! I'm Kathy, nice to meet you!" She wore a huge smile. "How in the world did you ever meet Stan?"

The girl smiled. "Well, I just looked around on Christmas morning, and there he was!" She hugged Stan.

Stan nodded. "Yeah. Um, we met on Christmas morning."

Over the course of the next hour, the girl was somewhat politely interrogated by the wives and girlfriends, as the men tried not to drool or be too obvious, while still staring at the girl's chest.

The table was somewhat collectively unsettled to learn that the girl was living with Stan, and was seemingly happy to do so.

As the meal wrapped up, Stan could see the company executives starting to make the rounds, introducing themselves and shaking hands. He knew that the dancing would begin soon. As he had sat through the last hour of interrogation, Stan's heart had slowly sunk. No matter how politely his friends had worded it, the message that this girl didn't belong with Stan had been expressed in many ways.

Kathy Black had even at one point exclaimed. "My goodness, Noel dear, whatever in the world do you see in our Stanley?" The girl had just smiled at Kathy, and blushed.

Just then, a man approached. He was tall and thin, dressed elegantly in an immaculate tuxedo. He shook several hands, and then, leaning over to Stan said. "My goodness, Stan. Won't you introduce me?"

Stan frowned at his plate. "Evan, this is Noel. Noel, this is Evan Porter, the company VP of worldwide marketing."

Evan Porter smiled a warm, charming smile at the girl and shook her hand. Then, he leaned in and kissed it, saying. "Charmed." He shook several more hands, as the girl smiled at him, then moved onto the next table.

"Snake!" Said one of the men at their table under his breath. In an old joke, long practiced, several of them hissed at each other. The table erupted in subdued and careful laughter.

"He seemed nice." The girl said. Eyes rolled at the table. Before stories could be told though, more people came through, introducing themselves, and more hands had to be shaken.

As the band began playing, and the servers collected the last of the plates, Peter Murtaugh and his wife approached. Peter introduced himself to the people that didn't know him. When he got to the girl, he paused and then shook her hand. He looked at Stan with a sly smile. He leaned over and said quietly. "Way to play the game, Stan. Home run." Stan suddenly didn't know what to do with himself. A moment later they were gone. Stan decided to drink.

Stan sat in his chair, watching the couples dance. The girl held his arm and discussed the socio-dynamics of the Voyager crew with one of Stan's co-workers. Stan watched her out of the corner of his eye, smiling, laughing, chatting ... for all the world at home and at ease. He finished his drink and waved for another.

Stan mused to himself that no matter how you looked at it, this woman didn't belong with someone like him. She was beautiful, talented, clever, witty, and sexy. He was fat, dumpy, ordinary and nearly sexless ... or at least until recently.

He looked over at Kathy Black and just knew inside that he was supposed to be with someone like that. If he was ever supposed to be with anyone.

Out of nowhere, Evan Porter arrived, solo. He leaned over and whispered something to the girl. She giggled and turned to smile at Stan. "Stan, would it be okay if I went for a dance?"

Stan looked at Evan, then at the girl. His heart sank slowly, like air leaking out of a balloon. He smiled at her and nodded. "Of course, dance all night if you like." A look of concern began to form on her face, but before it could, Evan swept her up and out onto the dance floor. Stan waved his nearly empty bottle at them as they departed, and waved to the server for another.

He watched them dance. She was graceful and skilled. He was smooth and polished. Together they swept across the floor. Heads turned to watch them. After a moment, they ended up in the center of the floor. Evan spun her in a blur of a twirl. Even from his seat, Stan could hear her laugh.

They danced several dances together, and then Stan saw another man cut in and dance away with the girl. He stood, shakily, and stepped back from the table. "Gonna get another drink." He said.

Kathy Black nodded at him. "Probably for the best."

Stan made his way to the bar, grabbed another beer, and then went to the mens room. As he stood in the urinal drinking and feeling sorry for himself, he didn't notice Evan arrive next to him.

"Beautiful woman, that Noel, Stan." He smiled a cool smile at Stan.

Stan nodded.

"At first I thought you'd rented a stripper for the evening, or an escort, but not after dancing with her. She's a classy piece of ass, Stan. How'd ya meet her?"

Stan zipped up and looked at Evan. "She came in a box on Christmas, a present."

Evan scowled slightly. "Fine, be that way. Tell me Stan, are you going to be a geek all your life? Are you going to die a social misfit? I mean look out there, at your so-called friends. Talking about crap, marrying ugly women and raising ugly, squalling brats. What a shit life."

Stan stepped back, not looking at Evan. "Its good enough for me. At least I have friends."

"Oh Stan, I have friends. Good friends. Rich and powerful friends. Friends that speak foreign languages, friends that take trips to Singapore, friends that are not an embarrassment to be seen with. Friends that have some social grace. Not like you, Stan."

"Why are you talking to me then, Evan?"

"Oh, it's Mr. Porter to you, Stan."

"Why are you talking to me, Mister Porter?" Stan yelled. Other men left the restroom.

"That's better, Stan. I'm talking to you because you have something I want."

"What do you mean?" Stan looked at his shoes.

"That girl likes you, for some unknown fucking reason. She seems devoted to you. And I want her. So, I want you to let me take her off your hands."

Stan's face flushed. "What?"

"Look Stan. I'm in a position to do you a nice favor. We have a new office in Hawaii. I could arrange to have you sent there, as a supervisor, to head up the field tech support work."

Stan nodded to himself.

"Hell, I'll even raise your salary by twenty five percent. Just clear out and let me move in on that beautiful piece of tail."

The room was quiet for a moment. "I mean, come on Stan. She's sure as hell not YOUR speed. How long do you think you could keep her happy, a month at most?"

Stan stepped back, shook his head, and pushed by Evan towards the door.

"Where are you going, Mertz?"

"Out."