“Just Us” 

The setting of the story is one that most couples can relate to: a dinner with another couple over lots of wine, liquor, beer, whatever, and good food.  When the night gets long, conversations get deep, and people find themselves asking questions they don’t necessarily want the answers to.

The couples in the story are mid-twenty-somethings; one is married, and one is serious, not quite engaged but definitely on the course toward that conclusion.  It’s almost like the couples are trying to pretend they’re older than they actually are, which is more common than one would imagine.  It’s the time when these individuals are looking to migrate from the bar scene into something bigger and better, but not quite sure what that is or what that entails.

The two women are best friends; the men enjoy each other’s company.  On the surface it is a perfect night, but as more wine is imbibed the tone of conversation steadily shifts toward more meaningful topics imbued with subtext that points to deeper problems for the couples.

What’s always intrigued me about nights like this is how imperfect they actually are.

Small dinner parties are like “Truth or Dare;” it seems exciting at first until hidden feelings get revealed and honesty doesn’t always seem like the best policy in the end.

The story that this is based upon was very much like those early dinner parties I had when I was in my twenties.  We drank wine because that’s what adults were supposed to do.  Fortunately for me, my counterpart enjoyed his liquor as well and we’d always retreat toward that as dinner came to a close.

And that’s when the “Which One?” game always came out. Which one would you choose, drowning or burning to death? If you had to date one of my sisters, which would you choose?  Questions like this went back and forth. Questions like this start off funny but quickly assume a more serious tone and hidden truths begin to surface that call into question people’s characters and the decisions that they have made or would make.

You think you know someone?  Play this game some time.  You may just be surprised what you find out.

Or not.

Taken from Why People Do What They Do by Emilio Iaseillo

Published by Deer Hawk Publishing www.deerhawkpublications.com

Represented by Loiacono Literary Agency https://loiaconoliteraryagency.com/authors/emilio-iasiello/