She swung open the door, her eyes adjusting to see couples paired off and dancing in the half-light. Annie spotted her sister near the bathroom, dancing with her husband.
“Chloe, come to the bathroom with me,” she whispered, tugging at her sleeve. Her sister followed, shrugging at Dave as she shut the bathroom door behind them. Annie flipped on the light.
“You are not going to believe what just happened to me,” Annie whispered as she pulled her panties down and sat to pee. Chloe stood at the door, her arms crossed over her chest.
“You mean while you were alone pouting in the kitchen?” Chloe scoffed, rolling her eyes.
“I wasn’t alone,” Annie grinned and bit her lip, reaching for the toilet paper.
Someone knocked and the sisters both said, “Someone’s in here!”
“It’s me, Becca!”
Chloe opened the door for their sister, who came in and sat on the edge of the enormous Jacuzzi tub.
“What’d I miss?” Rebecca asked. “Holy cow, Annie, what were you doing in the kitchen, wrestling?”
“Is it that bad?” Annie flushed the toilet. At the sink, she peered into the mirror as she washed her hands.
“So what is going on with you?” Chloe asked, still propped against the door.
“There was a guy under your kitchen table.”
“What?” Rebecca echoed Chloe as she stood.
“In fact… we had sex on your kitchen table.”
“Annie!” both sisters exclaimed simultaneously.
Annie grinned into the mirror, rubbing her fingers under her eyes to lessen the raccoon-look and grabbed Chloe’s hairbrush from the shelf.
“And now I’m going home with him.” She yelped when she brushed the back of her hair, having forgotten about the lump on her head.
“Who is this guy?” Chloe frowned.
“I don’t know,” Annie admitted, grabbing a lipstick off the shelf and applying some. “Ick! Chloe, how old is this stuff? And cheap! You have more money than God, go visit the counter at Neiman Marcus once in a while, would ya?”
“What’s his name? Is he cute? What does he do?” Rebecca stood behind Annie, helping her tuck her skirt tag in and straighten the lines of her blouse.
“Eric.”
Chloe shook her head, still frowning. “I don’t know an Eric.”
“You don’t know everyone.” Annie sighed and grabbed a tissue to rub off the awful-tasting lipstick.
“I do in my own house!” Chloe insisted, reaching past Annie’s head and opening the medicine cabinet. “We didn’t invite any Eric.” She handed her a twenty dollar tube of Christian Dior lipstick. “All you had to do was ask. I keep that stuff out for the cousins to play with.”
“Thanks. Digital Brown? Who do they have naming these things now, robots?” Annie admired the way it slid over her lips, like silk. Much better.
“Don’t change the subject,” Chloe admonished. “We need to know who this mystery man is.”
Annie opened the cabinet back up to search for more. She found eye shadow, mascara, eyeliner, and put them on the counter. “What does it matter?
Seriously. He’s incredible!” Annie beamed at Chloe in the mirror and then turned to grasp Rebecca’s hands, squeezing.
“She looks happy,” Rebecca admitted. She smiled back at Annie’s infectious enthusiasm.
“Yeah, and so did Diane Keaton in Mr. Goodbar. Remember what happened to her?” Chloe quipped, reaching past Annie into the medicine cabinet again. “You need darker mascara than that. Here.”
“Mr. Goodbar?” Rebecca giggled. “Wasn’t that like 1970-something?”
“Richard Gere.” Annie sighed. “Now there’s a man like fine wine…” Chloe stepped between them like she was breaking up a fight. “Listen, you two, I’m being serious, now, okay?” Annie turned back to the task of applying make-up.
“So bring him out! Let us meet this incredible guy,” Rebecca said, flipping the fuzzy lid down and taking a seat on the toilet. “Does he look like Richard Gere?”
“I’m meeting him outside. He’s…kind of shy,” Annie explained, making her mouth that strangely perfect, unconscious O as she applied mascara.
“Shy enough to have sex on my kitchen table?” Chloe snapped.
“Shy enough to hide under it for most of the party,” Annie said with a shrug.
“What, is he deformed?” Chloe asked, making a face.
“Maybe he has social anxiety disorder,” Rebecca remarked, handing her sister the eyeliner. “My friend Bill has that.” Annie smiled a thank you.
“Annie, be reasonable.” Chloe smoothed her sister’s long, dark hair affectionately with her hand. “You don’t know this guy. What if he’s some psycho? I mean, a person has to be pretty weird to be sitting under a table at a party, right?”
“Well… maybe…” Annie admitted. She rubbed her lips together and grabbed another tissue to blot them. In the harsh light of the bathroom, with both of her sisters there to nudge her, she had to admit it was a pretty strange situation.
“Just bring him out and let us meet him.” Chloe rested her chin on Annie’s shoulder, looking at her through the mirror. “I’m sure if I don’t know him, Rebecca probably does.”
“Chloe, I can’t,” Annie admitted. “He wouldn’t even let me turn on the kitchen light.”
Chloe sighed, shaking her head and pulling Annie’s hair fully out from under her collar, gasping when she noticed the marks on her neck. “My god, did he do this?”
Annie blushed. “Yeah.”
“Okay, this guy is bad news, Annie.” Chloe fingered her sister’s bruised flesh. “I’m telling you. You can’t do this.”
“Maybe she’s right,” Rebecca said, coming to look at the marks.
The pair flanked Annie now, and her eyes flickered from one sister to the other in the mirror.
Chloe crossed her arms. “Annie, you are not leaving here with some strange guy I don’t know.”
“Who are you, my mother?” Annie scoffed, picking up the make-up and shoving it back into the medicine cabinet.
“Annie, please… we love you,” Rebecca said, holding onto her arm and resting her cheek against her shoulder.
“We’re just thinking of your safety,” Chloe added.
“I know, I know.” Annie sighed, doing a last once-over in the mirror and turning to face them. She put an arm around them both and they hugged her back. “Okay.” Annie relented, shaking her head. “You win, I'll go get him.” Annie made her way back toward the kitchen. She saw John on the way, dancing with the red-haired girl, his hands way too low on her ass. He leered at Annie as she passed, and she gave him the finger. She wondered if Eric was already out on the front porch. She looked out the beveled glass in the door, but she didn't see him standing out there. She glanced behind her and saw Chloe and Rebecca talking to Dave, her sisters looking pointedly at her.
“I’m going!” Annie mouthed. She stood at the door for a moment, wondering why her hands were shaking, why her breath was so shallow and her heart was beating so fast. She had every right to go into her sister’s kitchen, every right to turn on the light. Besides, they were right, she had to know.
She took a deep breath, opened the swinging door with one hand, and flipped the light on with the other. She stood, holding the door open, staring at the kitchen. One chair was still pulled away from the table. The table itself was slightly askew from their arduous attention.
Where is he? Annie stepped toward the table, letting the door swing closed, and peered underneath, just to be sure. She smiled, remembering, her hand gliding over the smooth surface.
“No lights, Annie. It was all I asked.” His voiced was pained, hoarse. “You promised.”
She whirled around, her hand over her heart, to see him standing behind the door. “Eric?” It was a question, but she knew. It couldn't be anyone else, although the difference between her expectation and reality staggered her. He was the most physically beautiful man she had ever seen."