Two sexy women, one lucky guy, and an overnight train ride.
Enjoy this crazy story..
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This is the story of the wildest night of my life, a night I spent on an overnight train from Paris to Venice with two gorgeous women, one of whom I met for the first time that night. I was 22 at the time and in the middle of my post-graduation backpacking trip through Europe. I’d started out in the UK and eventually made my way down to Spain and Portugal before backtracking up and across the South of France and eventually to Paris. Throughout the way, I’d met up with various friends from high school and college who were doing their own (usually much shorter) trips.
In Paris, I’d met up with May Nguyen, who was probably the smartest person I’d ever met. Our dorm rooms had been across from one another our freshman year of college and we’d been in all the same honors classes. She had graduated at the absolute top of the class and was set to go to Harvard Medical School. She was in Paris for the summer. May and I were never all that close. We never really hung out outside of school. But we were friendly. We’d had a ton of classes together over the years and occasionally studied together. She was pretty, but in a non-descript, stereotypically California Asian girl sort of way. She was half-Chinese, half-Vietnamese, born in Saigon I believe, but her parents had moved to California when she was very young. She had straight black hair and always dressed like she’d just stepped out of The Gap. You know, all-american but never flashy. She was a little shy, but not awkwardly so, and had a decent sense of humor once you got to know her. But she came across as very driven, a classic overachiever; it was hard to picture her ever cutting loose or having fun, getting drunk, or doing anything spontaneous. In other words, she’s was not someone I would normally have made any effort to hang out with.
But it got lonely traveling by yourself, so any excuse to see a familiar face was welcome. I knew May was in Paris, so I emailed her a few days before I got there and arranged to meet up with her for lunch. We met at a little bistro she’d suggested. By the warm way she greeted me, I could tell that she too was happy to see a familiar face. We caught up over lunch and shared stories of our European adventures. I could tell she was a little in awe of the fact that I’d been going from city to city with no real plan, just going wherever I felt like going each day. That was clearly a very foreign concept to her. She told me she hadn’t been anywhere but Paris yet, but she was planning to take an overnight train to Venice the next day, to visit her boyfriend, Pete, who was in Italy on some summer abroad program. She was nervous about taking the overnight train by herself, but it was much cheaper than any alternative means of travel.
I’d been debating between heading toward Italy or Germany, and Venice was definitely on my bucket list, so without even giving it much thought, I asked if she wanted company on the train ride. At first, she was a little surprised by the offer, and wasn’t sure if I was serious. But once she realized that I was, she seemed to warm to the idea quickly. She was clearly not the world’s most adventurous person, and I think the idea of having a travel companion was comforting to her. So after lunch, we went to the nearest train station and she helped me buy a ticket (her French was much better than mine). The train was set to depart the next night at 10:00 p. m.
After we bought the ticket, I told her I needed to go find a hostel to stay in for the night. To my surprise, she immediately insisted that I crash on her couch instead. Given how fast I’d been plowing through my money on the trip (and how much longer I had to make that money last), accepting her offer was a no brainer. We ended up hanging out the rest of the afternoon and into the night. Her apartment was a little studio in the heart of Paris, just one room, with a double mattress on the floor and a little couch. We got some wine and she cooked some amazing Chinese food for dinner. As we sat on the floor of her apartment drinking wine, I got to see a side of her that I’d never seen before, a relaxed, casual side. She was very talkative, telling me all about her relationship with Pete and how they’d been together for three years and how she wasn’t sure where it was going.
“How about you,” she asked “Are you still with that little skinny girl with the big tits?” I had to laugh at that. After two bottles of wine, this was an unfiltered version of May that I’d never seen before.
“You mean Heather.” I answered. May’s description of her was pretty accurate. “No, we broke up.”
“Why?”
“I guess because I knew it wasn’t really going anywhere and I didn’t want to have to feel guilty if I hooked up with someone on this trip.” That was the honest to God truth, but I was surprised I said it.
“So?
“What?”
“So, have you hooked up with anyone so far?” She had a mischievous grin, clearly pleased with herself for pushing the conversation into an interesting place.
I debated in my head how honestly to answer that question. The truth was that I’d hooked up with a handful of girls already in the month and half I’d been backpacking, including a cute blonde Welsh girl at the hostel just the night before. But I hadn’t had any sex on the trip, which was a bit of a disappointment. I finally answered “let’s just say, there’s been some snogging here and there.”
She looked at me funny. “Snogging?”
“Sorry, I guess I’ve spent too long in the UK. Kissing. There’s been some kissing here and there.” That answer seemed to satisfy her, though it also seemed to trigger some other brief flash of emotion. In retrospect, I think it was regret. She’d been with the same guy for three years and I think she felt that she’d missed out on a lot of the “fun” that other girls her age were having.
As we got ready for bed that night, May came out of the bathroom wearing a pair of short little cotton pajama shorts and a white tank top. It was the first time I’d truly appreciated what an amazing body she had. So slender and smooth and toned. Her legs were truly amazing and she had more of a chest than I had previously appreciated. Not huge breasts, but shapely ones for a slender Asian girl like her. In my intoxicated state, I briefly wondered what would happen if I tried to make a move. But the moment passed and soon the lights were out.