Friends of the ring bearer

Jeannette smiled at Nathan as they came to the front door. "Now remember, Nathan, if the people at this party are boring, I'm going to hold you responsible," she teased.

Nathan smiled back, unruffled. In the last five years, Jeanette had noticed that Nathan was a lot more easygoing than he used to be. Something had boosted his confidence, and he had developed a new sense of style, right down to getting a monogrammed silver ring. (It seemed slightly tacky, but harmless enough.) Still, it was good that Nathan had been more confident in recent years, and branching out socially was one side effect of that.

"Not to worry," Nathan said conspiratorially. "I think you'll enjoy tonight."

Jeanette raised her eyebrow. "Is this another one of your risqué parties, Nathan?" One thing Jeanette thought perhaps Nathan could do with was hanging out with people who had a bit more self-restraint. A number of the parties that she and Nathan had both been at had turned out a little too sexually open for polite company: men and women swapping their clothes in the bedrooms, swim-wear-free hot-tubs, and so forth. They all seemed to develop organically, even quietly, so that Jeanette didn't always even notice the goings on until Nathan drew her attention to them. Normally she was a pretty perceptive person, and she was mystified how she kept not noticing them. It was all in good fun in the end, but she wasn't sure how she felt about the people Nathan was socialising with and their sense of personal boundaries.

"Not to worry Jeanette," Nathan beamed. "These are nice people. I'm sure they won't get up to anything that you won't."

Just then the door opened. A barefooted curly-haired brunette eight inches shorter than Jeanette's tall stature beamed. "Nathan, hi!" She threw her arms wide, and Nathan came in for a hug. She squeaked as Nathan gave her a slightly tight squeeze. As he stepped back, the woman smiled at Jeanette. "My name's Natasha. You must be Jeanette," she said, opening her arms again.

Jeanette wasn't the hug-everyone type, but she had no objections to them. She came in for a hug. "Nice to meet you Natasha," she said. "I promise I won't fall on you."

Natasha laughed a cheerful laugh. "You wouldn't be the first!" she said. "Now, I have a slightly unusual house rule, Jeanette, I hope you won't mind. I'd appreciate if you could take your shoes and socks off in the house, and in the garden. It's just because I don't want the floor marked, and parts of it are too slippy for socks. Is that okay?"

Jeanette raised an eyebrow. Nathan was already bending down to untie his shoes. "That's interesting," Jeanette remarked. "No, it's no problem."

"How do you know Nathan?" Natasha asked.

"Oh, we're part of a running group. We often hang out for drinks as well. And the occasional bit of wanton debauchery," she added, deadpan.

Natasha's eyebrows shot up. She looked to Nathan. "Are you two --- ?"

Nathan chuckled. "No, that's just Jeanette's sense of humour. Maybe something subconscious there though?"

Jeanette stuck out her tongue at Nathan.

"I'm actually thinking of bringing her in," Nathan continued. "Normally Jeanette doesn't even notice anything unusual except what I let her notice. Tonight however, I expect that any so-called 'debauchery' will strike her as normal flirty fun."

"I have no idea what you're talking about," Jeanette said, mock-dismissively.

Natasha and Nathan shared a conspiratorial look. Natasha giggled as she looked back to Jeanette. "I'll catch up with you later, Jeanette! Glad you're both here. I've got to take care of something in the kitchen --- feel free to walk around and say 'hi' to people, we're all friendly here. See you in a bit."

Jeanette finished taking off her walking shoes and her socks. She tucked them away at the front door. "She's nice," Jeanette says. "How did you meet her?"

"Oh, at a party much like this one, about five years ago," Nathan said, standing barefoot. "Shall we have a little walk around?"