The Quiet Party started at eight o’clock. Will tucked his purple shirt into his black trousers, and pulled his black leather belt up. His thinned black hair, retrieving on the parietal ridges of his skull, was combed slickly backward.
Are you here for the quiet party?
He stretched the flat palm of his right hand out to a couple of friends entering the red-lighted back lounge of the bar.
The what? One of the two answered as if he had not heard Will right, protracting his upper body to listen more closely to the expected answer.
The Quiet Party, Will replied decisively but having already deduced the answer from the question the man had replied with and smiled.
The Quiet Party, the young men now laughed questionably, what is it exactly?, he informed curiously.
Will knew the correct response by now, having answered the same question to the same questions before this evening, but without a sense of obligation he explained the formula of the party routinely once more as if it was for the first time.
Well, you communicate with other participants only by passing notes to each other, so you are not allowed to speak, you see, that’s why it’s the Quiet Party.

In contrast to speed dating, the Quiet Party attracted quite a good crowd of people, most of whom turned out to be girls and women, interestingly only a handful of men. Obviously, Will thought, the men were no match for the women, who were much more attractive than the men, but then again, maybe I only think that because I am a man who is attracted to women. Obvious, he reasoned further, because men are expected to be more aggressive by social norms, feeling naturally more inclined to speed dating perhaps, while women as the passive sex must feel more comfortable with a more introspective form of interaction.

Will, single himself and too introspective to go to speed dating events, kept his formal posture, although he was close to letting one or two women in for free tonight, waiving the entrance fee. But that would be incorrect and what would the women think of such obvious flirt anyway? This was the moment in the week, that he ought to live up to his role. He felt this was the cream on the cake of a week of work, in which he had prepared the Quiet Party. He did everything him self. It had been his idea and he had been advertising the event on the dating and meeting sites, sitting hours behind his computer. He had been replying to emails by prospective participants, writing emails to blogs for single people in New York and Jersey, making phone calls and preparing the materials. He was nervous, but in a good way, full of expectation, tonight the threads had to be spun together.

What are you looking for in a person?
I am looking for a nice, sincere and honest man.
Hm, a rare combination of qualities.
Rare? What do you mean?
Well, it is difficult for people to be honest and sincere at the same time.
What do you mean?
Sincerity is a commitment to one self, honesty is a commitment to another person.
They are two sides of the same coin though.
But we are ambiguous and desire different things. To get along you need to give and take.
But we should grow closer and share a unified dream.
But we change continuously, truth mixes with fantasy as it forms our thoughts.
But our hearts keep us on the right path.
But the path never solidifies until it settles in our memory of the past.
Honesty is a straight line.
How can we be honest to ourselves though?
To be truthful to each other!
But truth is uncertain.

Annie started to feel bored, she even was simply irritated by the answers the man was writing her. Maybe she didn’t like the style of his hand writing, which was uncertain and too effortful, she deemed. Besides, his stare at her while she was writing her answer, was too intrusive as if he was expecting a deep sense of devotion from her, and that while she really didn’t like him. He was dull looking, he hated his purple shirt, and thought it was terribly awkward that he participated in the event. Why would you organize such an event in the first place, it was one thing to simply drop by and try it out, but to spent all one’s time to organizing it, imagine the hopeless thoughts he had put into this. Annie was afraid he was expecting her to be his salvation, but she had just tried to be nice.