Brie

The slab of Brie sat on the table gently sweating. It hadn’t been out of the fridge quite long enough to eat but it was nearly there. The contrast of the virgin, white rind and the oozing, yellow cheese made Nate’s mouth water. He wanted to dive in, get some of that gooey substance on some of the crusty French bread and sample its delights. He watched it glisten in the harsh lighting of the room, longing to try some. The problem was he was at a rather posh function and no one yet had touched the buffet. He didn’t want to be the first, didn’t want to look uncouth, but someone had to be.

He hated these events, they were a necessary evil for his work but they didn’t suit him at all. He was a pie and pint, t-shirt and trainer type of guy. These events where he had to wear a suit and drink white wine and wait for a pretentious buffet were alien to him. This must have been the 8^th or 9^th event like this in the last 18 months, but he still felt like a fish out of water. He was meant to be networking, working the room, saying hellos and how are yous to all the people his company would like to do business with. But he hated that more than the wine he was drinking. He just felt so dumb.

The wine he was drinking was going straight into an empty stomach making him feel a little lightheaded, a little giddy. He either wanted to tuck into the food or get the hell out of there.

‘Looks good doesn’t it?’ Nate span round to see who had just whispered those words to him. He saw a woman he’d not seen before, milky blue eyes that seemed to sparkle in the lights, a black dress and black high-heels, her hair was mousy blonde.

‘Good enough to eat.’ he said thinking he was being funny. She laughed -much to his relief.

‘So why don’t we?’ she said, striding forward, picking up the knife and smearing a large wodge of cheese onto a large wedge of bread. She smiled suggestively and then took a bite. Nate looked around, no one cared that the woman had started the buffet; it certainly wasn’t a crime. He joined in scooping a good dollop of cheese onto his own chunk of bread. It tasted as good as she looked. Before long the rest of the pack were gathering at the buffet.

‘Do you fancy going somewhere slightly less um harsh?’ The Brie woman said to him, her eyes still sparkling.

‘I’d love to,’ Nate said, ‘but…’

‘No buts, I wanna get the fuck out of here and you’re coming with me.’

How could Nate say no to an invitation like that.