One night at the Ritz Carlton Hotel Bar, A Girl is approached by A Tall, Dark Stranger. He reminds her of Her Father and so she lets him buy her a drink. It’s a long holiday weekend and this makes her feel reckless. The Girl allows herself another and another and then starts to wonder what The Man’s beard would feel like against her face. He has a room upstairs. They go. In the elevator is A Famous Woman whose name she can’t place. Too drunk to be discreet, The Girl can’t stop staring; seeing The Woman in her Oscar finery, glittering bands of jewels on her arm, Another Man and she marvels at how wonderful it must be to feel so free. The Famous Woman’s Man laughs, holding the doors open for her, “This your floor?”

The Famous Woman stares at The Girl invitingly, so it would seem, but She is too drunk to trust herself and not drunk enough not to. She steps off the elevator and as the doors close, faces her bleary reflection in the polished brass doors. Behind her, The Man That Looks Like Her Father is struggling with the lock on Room 214.

All the foreplay that was going to happen, had happened downstairs. The sex is quick and unmemorable. Immediately after ejaculating onto the clean white sheets, The Man falls asleep, his arm draped heavily across Her breasts. 

Unsatisfied and depressed, The Girl finds her clothes lying in a twisted bundle at the end of the bed, dresses quietly and quickly, and leaves. Once back in the elevator, she allows herself to imagine how much fun the Other Couple are having and wonders if beauty dictates a good time, every time.