We had a party at my house this weekend. It was a fun time, pretty low-key, but something happened toward the end that I keep thinking about. It's sort of bothering me and fascinating me at the same time. Anyway, first some backstory.
I have three roommates, all of us with different sets of friends, so there were a lot of different types of people there. A lot of people I don't know, and probably wouldn't get to know in my day-to-day life.
My one roommate, the newest one--who is a stand-up guy, very friendly and personable and respectful--had a bunch of his friends over that night, and they all turned out to be...um, of the white-hatted variety, if you know what I mean. (No? You don't? OK, frat boys. They were the frattiest frat boys ever. I almost expected them to...I don't know, shout "Panty raid!" or smack each other on the ass with their little Greek-lettered paddles, or something. I've seen Animal House.) There's nothing intrinsically wrong with this particular type of guy, I suppose, I just don't have much experience with them. And, I know this is prejudiced, but based on the second-hand information I have from friends who went to UNH, I expect this type of guy to behave like an obnoxious asshole more often than other guys, particularly when drunk.
So I'm standing in the dining room at one point with Chris, maybe around 12:30, about an hour before the party breaks up (and half an hour before the frats leave to find a bar). Two if them are sitting a few feet from me, and one (let's call him Abbott) is putting money on the table and says something to the other one (umm...Costello) about 10 bucks. They chatter for another minute, something about a bet. Sensing that something's up (so astute, even after 3 beers, yeah?), I turn to them and say, "Hey, what's with the 10 bucks?"
I think Costello actually blushed at this point, which made me think that maybe the bet had to do with me (as did Chris, who swiftly melted away into the next room). Abbott and Costello haltingly told me about the bet, which involved saying "something" to "some girl," but now they realized that this girl's boyfriend was probably there, so.... I asked, "Were you going to say it to me?" More blushing. "Uh, yeah," Costello says, then, turning to Abbott, "But now I'm talking to her, and, like, we have this rapport now...." So he didn't want to say it anymore. Before it was OK, I guess, because I was just some chick in a tight skirt. But face-to-face, as a real person, well...things changed.
Finally, I convinced him to say what he was going to say. Something about oral sex and his tongue piercing, to which I said, "Huh, OK." Then I told him what my boyfriend has pierced, and left to go join him in the other room.
I have to say, at first I was a little flattered by this, because I've never been the subject of a bet before. But then I thought about it some more, and...I was the subject of a bet. Which, well, is a little degrading, though I'm not bothered by it overly much. I think I'm more perplexed than anything. Was that supposed to be a pickup line? Why was there money involved? So Costello could turn it into a game, so it wouldn't hurt so much when he was rejected? Was the intent to embarrass me and make me feel uncomfortable? If that was the goal, well, they obviously don't know me at all. Which they didn't, of course, because I was a complete stranger (before we established our "rapport"). And really, what would possess someone to go up to a complete stranger and say something like that to her? I mean, what the hell? It's just kind of gross and rude, and a few drinks is not an excuse. So many questions.
In the end, it wasn't just a party--it was a fascinating sociological experience, and not a bad story.
Posted by thevieve at March 27, 2006 11:26 AM