Love versus the system

Sue and Jon moved about the party in circles. Not together but never far apart either. It was a bit of a sad day for their group of friends. The cul-de-sac was five houses of five couples. All up and comers in the city. All around twenty-five and all still without kids. They had taken to throwing weekly parties in the summer two years ago and the tradition was mostly maintained every week since the beginning of May to early September. Friends, or coworkers were sometimes invited. Mostly it was a very friendly place to live. Today though was a sad day. Sue’s best friend in the group was moving out of town with her husband. Transferred overseas. It was a good thing for the couple but still Sue was sad to see her go. They duo had been besties since the day they met.

Their house was already empty, sold to some other family. This was the last party amongst these five families maybe forever and that was sad. Still Jon livened things up by daring couples to play drinking games; outrageously flirting with women and joking with the men. Sue followed his lead and drank to her heart’s content, masking her sorrow in wine and her husband’s jovial nature. A nature she did not share as she held Marcy’s arm and chatted about her new apartment in London. A fake smile plastered on her face.

Tonight, there was no coworkers, or friends at the party. It was just the ten of them and it was excruciatingly a good time. Tomorrow, a new family would grace their doorsteps, invade the sanctity of their world, but tonight they would enjoy each other as only close friends could.

The new neighbors had already dropped off cards saying they would stop by to greet the others in the cul-de-sac tomorrow mid-morning and throughout the day. They would bring pastries and snacks and hoped to sit and talk with each couple and get to know each other. Overall, it was a friendly gesture, but a bit overbearing and a tad unwelcome to Sue who was grieving the loss of her friend moving. She hadn’t even read the card after her husband had opened the letter and told her of the contents. She had simply scoffed at it and walked away to wallow in self-pity.

Sue knew she would get over it, but she hadn’t had a good female friend since high school and it was sad for her to lose the one she had made finally after four years of solitude in college. First, her freshman year of hell and then over a half year of drunkenness before meeting Jon and by then he was her world. Bitches didn’t like that she, the slut of the school, got with the most eligible bachelor.

Jon tried his best to keep things lively and for the most part succeeded, leaving all comers drunk and blissful until they parted for the night.

Author's note: Please support at Patreon below.

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Image inspiration posts available to both Patreon tiers.
First two full chapters are available on the Patreon starting 6/17/2022 for Tier 1 and Tier 2.
Chapters 3-5 are being edited and Chapter 6 is being written. All are viewable for Tier 2.
These will probably be broken into smaller chapters when posted.