Ben smiled across the table at Anna, the candlelight glinted off her eyes.  She was blushing, and turning away.  A dimple curled into her cheek, as her smile curved up slowly to meet it.  She looked away, then up, to see Steven standing there, he had come back from the men's room. 

"There you are sweetie," she greeted him, and slid back into the booth, making room for her boyfriend to sit.  Now she was situated between the two men, Ben's wife had yet to return as well.  There would be the four of them at the pub tonight.  An Irish rock cover band was warming up in the background, mostly playing ballad tunes.  The harder stuff would come later, after nine, when the college kids got here.  For now, they still allowed old fogies to enjoy pubfare and gaelic songs.  Anna scanned the menu, while Ben and Maureen disputed over which dishes they would order, so she could watch her figure and they could share them.  Ben wanted beef boxty, she wanted chicken pot pie.  Steve suggested they order both and take home leftovers, but Maureen just looked up and scowled.  They would have a dinner salad instead.  Ben patted his tummy, he had been trying to lose weight too.  Ten pounds since the summer.

"Not enough rock climbing this year, with the extra hours at work." he lamented, while hoisting up a Guinness to his lips.  Maureen sipped on a diet coke with lime, her eyes flitting back and forth between Ben and Anna.  Steven was still reading the entree options, taking larger gulps of the Harp and not putting it down in between.  By the time the waitress arrived, he was ready for another.  Anna hadn't finished her black and tan yet, she was just half way through.

"I'll have the spicy irish wings, and the brisket sandwich," he decided, and added on a beer.  Anna paused, then asked for the chicken tenders and a side salad.  

"Blue cheese, please," she asked, "and the hot sauce on the side."  She picked up her beer and nursed it, a little beige foam collecting on her upper lip.  Ben and Maureen ordered, Ben adding on another stout, and Maureen another diet coke.  She would be the driver tonight, though it was sometimes Ben.  Tonight he was in a mood and ordering beer, which he hadn't asked her before he got started.  Which put her in a mood.

The band ended their set, and a Waterboy's cd played in the background while the couples made conversation.  Ben and Steve had been friends for over fifteen years, long before either Maureen or Anna had been in their lives.  They had worked for the same IT department at the University, now Steve was the manager and Ben was working for a software design firm downtown.  They had a fairly large circle of mutual friends added to over the years, which met regularly at the holidays and for Jason's annual birthday bash in July.  

Maureen had been previously married to their friend Sean, they had three kids together.  She and Ben had only recently been married, the year before.  No one had seen that coming, and no one was sure how long it would last.  Ben was more than five years younger and a lot more playful than Maureen.  Maybe because he didn't have kids, or maybe because he had been a career bachelor for a reason.  Sean had also remarried, and more or less distanced himself from the crowd and his ex wife.  Maureen and Ben had gotten close when she had rented the casita in the back of the property to him.  Eventually he moved into the main house with her and the kids, the casita becoming a man cave and crash pad for friends.  They had seemed to get on beautifully at first.  Lately it was more complaint than compliment.  Anna sipped her beer to keep from remarking on Maureen's overbearing attitude that night, and lately.  Ordering for Ben, critiquing his choices in food, clothes, beer.  She didn't like stout, why did Ben have to pick something she didn't like.  Steve and Anna rolled their eyes.  Hopefully the band would start up soon and drown her out.  

Anna's phone buzzed with a text as she was brushing her teeth later, Steve was already in bed reading a new Manga series he'd discovered on one of the art walks.  It was by a local artist, good work, and he had bought three issues.  Anna didn't get into the manga or the role playing that Steve and the guys were into.  Instead, she enjoyed the sci fi and the photography.  Steve was a pretty serious photographer on the side,  Jason into experimental film.  The two would take off on long weekends sometime, coming back with photos and footage of the Arizona countryside that would become more interesting through their unique lenses.  Buttes and mesas were no longer the stereotypical drab southwest scenery.  Jason really had a talented eye, he had produced some shorts for the local film festival. Steve would make cameras from wood and tin and found objects.  Anna didn't really get how he did it, she was just proud that he did. He had a show coming up.

"Thanks for a great night, see you soon."  It was from Ben.  Anna finished brushing her teeth, and texted back, "U2, GN".  Ben had stayed with them more than one night in the last two months while taking some space from Maureen.  It was her house, and going to the casita wasn't a good way for him to get away from her when he needed to as well.  Anna and Steve had given him a key, and let him know the guest bedroom was his when he needed it.  They were all friends, but Maureen wouldn't be going anywhere with three adolescents at home.   Anna rinsed her toothpaste, then walked into her bedroom and gazed at her fiance.  Steve was totally wrapped up in the book, and didn't notice her standing in the doorway, totally nude, for several minutes.  

She made a noise and he looked up, his eyes scrunching up behind his glasses.  Anna and Steve were often nude around the house, so at first he just smiled and let his gaze wander back to his book.  Anna made another noise, more like a purr, and climbed onto the bed on all fours.  She crawled across the covers and pulled the book from his hands, tossing it onto the floor by their bed.  Lucy, his cat, had already nested in next to his hip for the night, and she was disturbed by Anna pulling the covers down and climbing onto Steve.  Slowly, she kissed her way down from his sternum to his belly button, pushing into his abdomen with her chin, and tracing the rest of the way down with her tongue.  Steve adjusted his hips and pulled the pillow up under his head.  His hands floated down and stroked his girlfriend's head while she continued fellatio, playing with her long blond hair.  Anna looked up and flashed her dimple smile, and then climbed onto her boyfriend's ready manhood.  They rode together in silence, his hands holding her hips and lifting her back and forth, until they both climaxed just a few minutes later.  Anna let out a soft moan when she came, much more quiet than usual.

Anna rolled off Steve and snuggled down into her pillow.  Lucy meowed and jumped back on the bed, climbing into the gap between their legs, and nestling in.  Steve reached across and turned off his bedside lamp, then rolled back to kiss Anna between the shoulder blades.  She was already breathing the deeper breaths of early sleep.  Soon she was in dreams and didn't hear Steve whisper I love you, my dear.  

 As Anna dozed, her thoughts returned to the table at Fiddler's Folly when she had been sitting alone with Ben.  He had let his hand rest on her knee, and at first she didn't think to move away, until he squeezed a little and moved it gently up her leg.  

"Steve is so lucky to have found you, Anna," he had said.  For perhaps the twentieth time.  "I bet if I'd met you first, we would be together." Anna had become acutely shy at that moment, flushing with the compliment and the awareness of his hand suddenly being more than just brushed up against her leg.  She pulled away, and moved further out in the booth when Steve came back just in time.  Ben had said many nice things to Anna before, and sometimes she wondered what he had meant by saying them.  He had never touched her, ever, and had always shied away from hugging her goodbye.  Anna decided to sleep on it, and not tell Steve.  They were best friends, after all, and she knew better than to try to get in between them.  As she dozed, the image of Ben's face loomed closer and closer, as if leaning in for a kiss in front of everyone.  "We would be together, Anna, you and I."