Behind The Mask [END]

"Alright, Harry," Tom said to Harry, "Where are the missing men?"

Harry slowly turned his head, as if searching for the five absent party-goers in the living room. Everyone was watching him; waiting for his pronouncement. He stopped scanning the room when his gaze landed on a window looking out onto the front yard. Lifting his arm, he pointed towards that window. "They are standing out on the front porch."

All heads snapped to see that there were, indeed, five male college students clustered around the window, peering inside. The men waved their hands and shouted out in unison, "Trick or Treat!"

The front door opened and the 'missing' football players poured into the room, laughing and talking excitedly. The other males present also joined in the merriment. Even the dates of the M.I.A.'s, who at first felt emotions of relief, and then anger, saw the humor of the prank that had been perpetrated on Muffy. They, too, had to start giggling.

"What the fuck!" Muffy sputtered, looking at the boys coming in through the front door, then at Harry, and finally at Tom. The laughter from her Sorority sisters disturbed her the most.

"You bastard!" she snarled as she strode up to Tom. "You were behind this whole plot to. . . to. . . to humiliate me in front of everyone."

"A little humility might be good for you, Muffy," Tom said with a level tone. "But actually, this was Dan's idea."

All eyes fell on Dan, who smiled a sheepish grin and hoisted his can of beer in a salute to the crowd. His other arm was draped around Sue's shoulders.

"AND ALL OF YOU WERE IN ON IT!" Muffy screamed at the top of her lungs as she glared at each and every football player in turn. Her fists were clenched in rage and a blood vessel protruded ominously on her forehead. "I will get even with you assholes if it's the last thing I ever do."

"Not all," Tom corrected in what Muffy found to be an infuriating calm and reasonable tone. "We couldn't include Rob. . . For obvious reasons."

As if on cue, the door opened and Rob walked in. Seeing that her date had regained consciousness, Muffy stomped towards the exit, grabbing her boyfriend's arm and telling him, "Come on. We're leaving."

Rob, who played quarterback, looked as confused as if he had been sacked in the backfield while trying to fire off a forward pass. "What happened?" he asked as he allowed Muffy to drag him away.

"We'll tell you Monday at practice," Sam called out.

"And you did a great job," Tom said to Harry. There were mutterings of agreement throughout the crowd, and several boys stepped up to shake his hand. A couple of girls did as well, so obviously Muffy was not as popular as she wanted people to believe. When one girl, Velma, shook his hand, Harry felt a folded piece of paper being pressed into his palm. Later, when he looked at it, he saw that it was a phone number. He and Velma were in a few classes together, but he had always been too shy to speak to her.

He would call her tomorrow. Amazing the amount of confidence a male's first blowjob gives him.

"You know," Harry rubbed the back of his neck as he looked up at Tom, "I almost got whiplash when you snatched me down from the table."

"Oh, stop your bellyaching," Tom answered, tousling Harry's unruly hair in a friendly fashion. "We practiced that move three times this morning when we were out here delivering the beer and ice."

Meanwhile, Dan put another record on the player and called out, "O.K. you walking dead, let's Par-Tay!"