I sipped my drink as I looked around the room. My date was late to the party and I was alone amongst strangers. The house was warm and festive and people helped themselves to pizza and dips while chatting. The host had just bought me a cup of tea and I sat in the corner and quietly waited. This party was just a normal Saturday night for them, but all new to me. It was not a normal party, but a play party, with the curtains closed to the outside world, and a space cleared in the middle of the living room and in the rooms upstairs.
Two people were busy now in front of me, one almost naked and the other removing clothes as they get hot with the effort of winding rope around her and up to the loops in the ceiling beam. She giggled and hopped from foot to foot as the rope tightened and pulled her onto tiptoes. He moved in to kiss her and push her back, off balance and swinging, feet up and flying so slowly to horizontal. She threw her head back and let her curls drift down as she relaxed into an invisible mid-air mattress. All around, party-goers continued to chat, murmuring of other stories, negotiations. I am unnoticed, quiet in the corner, and my focus is on them. He tests the ropes again, sliding his hand over her body casually, firmly, from knot to knot.