Darius's glass made a thud when it hit the table but both men were doubled over with laughter and hardly noticed.

"So, here I was, wearing high heels, a dress, make up and a wig and face to face with the prettiest girl in school! I was so stunned I could barely gather enough wits to try and play it off!"

Darius had to pause and catch his breath before he continued again.

"It was horrible, needless to say, I never went trick-or-treating again. That had to be the most embarrassing moment of childhood!"

"That must have been mortifying! How ever did you, 'play it off'?"

"I think I mumbled something about trick-or-treating with my sister, but I was stuttering so bad, I seriously doubt she understood anything I said." Darius paused to sip his drink. "Okay, I shared. Now it is your turn Nick. What was the most embarrassing moment of your childhood?"

Nick shook his head. If only he knew what he was really asking! 

"Just a moment, childhood was so long ago! Did you want anything else to eat while I think about it?"

Nick had never seen a man devour as much food as Darius had in such a short time. A plate of fried chicken and mash potatoes had disappeared in the first fifteen minutes. A salad, a pot of coffee, another order of mash potatoes and two slices of cheesecake later, Nick was almost certain that Darius had either not eaten in at least a week, or that Nick himself was more out of touch with the average human meal size then he ever dreamed possible.

"Well, now that you mention it..." at the shocked look on Nick's face, Darius chuckled. "I'm just kidding you. I always forget to eat so when I do remember I always try to stock up." Darius was rewarded with a puzzled look from his companion. "If you had my memory you'd understand. So I shared, your turn."

Nick pushed his chair back from the table and closed his eyes, thinking back.

"I couldn't have been more then 16 at the time if I remember correctly. It was about a girl of course."

"The best stories always are."

Nick nodded his agreement and continued. "I was so smitten. Terribly in love like only a teenager can be. Anyway, she was the daughter of the blacksmith in my vil....town.  Quite a formidable fellow who had already told me in a very clear manner that I was to stay away from his daughter if I valued my life."

"He could really do that! I mean, just order people to stay away from his daughter? That's crazy."

"Not crazy, this was a different time and in a different country. A father could do anything he wanted where his daughters were concerned."

"Jeez. I didn't know people were like that over in France."

"Belgium and this was a long time ago. I'm older then I look you know. Now may I continue?"

"Yeah, sorry"

"Anyhow, her birthday was approaching and I was feeling every bit like a rebellious teenager so I decided that I was going to go to her despite her father's warnings. I spent weeks learning a beautiful love song to sing to her and I think I even made her a small figurine of a beautiful horse as a gift."

"Your were 16 and you didn't get her anything but a....."

"AHEM!! Do you want to hear my story or not?"

"Sorry, curious."

"As I was saying. The night of her birthday came and I had everything ready. As soon as the sun set I snuck out of my ca...house and made my way towards her home. I waited outside her window until I was sure everyone in the house was asleep and then I crept in through her open window."

Darius opened his mouth to speak but Nick beat him to it. "It was summer and there was no air-conditioning, everyone left their windows open. Satisfied?"

After Darius offered a nod Nick continued, "Visions of her sweet face and golden hair danced in my mind. I was so distracted by my imagination that I came through the window and tripped over a chest that was beneath it. When I fell I smashed a bottle of her perfume and got it in my eyes. Here I was, visions of love vanishing from my mind, with perfume all over me and in my eyes and I had knocked over the chest, creating an awful noise!" Nick stopped to wait while Darius chocked on his cheesecake crust.

"Somewhere amid the blind panic I got up enough sense to try and leave before the Smith carried on his threats. But as soon as I stood I tripped again over the same chest and flew head long onto the bed with her. No, even better, on top of her and to make things worse, my tunic had gotten snagged on the bed frame, tearing it when I flew onto the bed."

Darius was making a strange hiccupping sound so Nick paused while he recovered.

"As usual, the smith chose that moment to come and see what all the noise was about. You can well imagine what he saw. Me with my tunic torn, laying on the bed with his daughter, who by now had woken up enough to realize what was happening and was drawing breath for a scream. Needless to say, even with my blurred vision I managed to make it back to my ca...house in record time, of course, the smith behind brandishing his sw...shotgun could have been motivation."

Nick looked at Darius, "It wasn't really all that funny. I actually think it was kind of sad."

"It's not the story." Darius managed to squeak out, "I was imagining you in a tunic!"

"I don't think that's very funny! I look pretty darn good in a tunic if you ask me!"

"Let's hope I never have to."

"I'd drink to that."

"Speaking of drink, you haven't touched your coffee."

Nick look despondently down at his cold coffee.

"I don't drink...........coffee."