A Chance Meeting

A small, shy smile popped onto my face, and I placed my hand in his. 'Jonathan Small,' I replied, 'call me Jonathan, or Mr. Small, or Sir for all I care,' William laughed, instantly I knew he was a keeper. 'Who did you come with?' My eyes darted from his hair to his feet, then back to his face, 'you don't look the sort for pushy academics,' I commented, throwing my voice from the main room so as not to be heard. Yet he was still shaking, and seemed a bit afraid. 'Come on William, don't tell me you're afraid of these people?' He checked himself again, and fumbled around in his pockets. 'I'll be going then shall I?'
'Wait no sorry! Jonathan, Jonathan. I have a favour to ask of you,' he said quickly.
'Ah, a favour from a stranger? Honestly William, we've only just met, what would your mother say?' I added cheekily.
'My mother's dead,' silence. 'Jonathan you're quite easy to scare,' William chuckled and placed his hands on his hips. 'But, the favour is that, well, I don't know how to say this... I'm a big fan of your reviews, and if it wouldn't be too much trouble, could you possibly have a glance at some of the things I have written?'
'Oh, so you know who I am do you? I'm flattered really, but I don't know when I'll have the time... And there's all the legal mumbo-jumbo that goes along with it too; if I was to say they were fantastic then I'd be endorsing you to my publisher-' I stopped at once. 'What's so funny?' I could see William's face buried in his hands and stifled snorts were jutting from between his parted fingers.
'I was asking for an opinion, Jonathan, not a book deal!' He cried enthusiastically, and fell onto the bottom step of the staircase. 'You REALLY are easy to scare,' he continued, and begun to light a cigarette.
I smiled at him once again, and swung myself round onto the step above him. 'Can I borrow your light?' William did not look up at me but laughed again, 'an artist such as yourself? Don't you need one for every day purposes?' He snickered again, and handed me a silvery grey lighter.
'I am not an artist, you should know that, I'm a critic-'
'oh I forget,' he interrupted, 'you're the ones ripping the art to shreds!' And he fell over laughing. Admittedly, it was funny that someone so new to me could analyse my profession so quickly, I suppose this is the problem with these big parties. I fumbled around in my breast pocket and revealed a battered packet of Marlborough Reds, I fished one out and dropped it between my lips, then lit it. 'Those things'll kill ya,' William commented, with another puff of his cigarette.
'Better me than you,' I added. 'So tell me, who did you come here with?'
William stood up, and placed himself against the open door, peering slowly into the ballroom. 'Look at all those people, do you know, I don't know any of them?' He seemed mesmerised in their dances, 'I wonder if anybody noticed that they didn't know me,' he laughed quietly under his breath.
'They're completely ambivalent to newcomers,' I said, 'and you're avoiding the question.'
He paced over to the banister, and turned to me. 'I came alone. It's what I'm most used to, I was born alone, I lived alone, and now I'm here alone. And I can tell you for sure, tomorrow I'll damn well be alone.'
I watched him head out of the corridor, back to the dance floor, and decided it was best to leave him alone.
I wasn't sure what had just happened, or even who William was, but I knew I would see him again sometime soon.