“Fine, but let’s walk around this way so we can come back on his side of the street,” she insisted.
Our neighborhood was pretty empty during the afternoon when I liked to work out. Everyone was either at work or in their houses. Even the stay at home mothers tended to be busy with their children from ten o’clock to noon. Anna and I made our way north on one of the side streets and walked toward the paved bike path at the back of our neighborhood.
“So how are your parents?” I asked just as we reached the bike path.
“Shhh, don’t say a word, then laugh like I said something funny?”
“What?”
Anna grabbed my hand and held it firmly as a man and his son approached us on the path. When they were a few feet away from us, she squeezed my hand firmly.
“Ouch.”
“Laugh,” she demanded with a huge smile on her face.
“Oh, haha, Anna you’re so funny,” I played along.
“Hey, Jason, how are you and Clyde doing today?” Anna asked as she turned away from me and gave him all of her focus.
“Hi Anna, we are doing well. Clyde was a little sick today, so I stayed home with him, but of course, he started feeling better. Isn’t it funny how that works?”
“Oh yeah, those little guys can get better really quickly. You remember to call me if you need a babysitter. I’m available any time of day. Even if you just want some extra hands around so you can get things done around the house,” Anna offered.
She was standing with one hand on her hip, and her breast pressed out toward him. He couldn’t help looking at her, and who could blame the guy? She was practically offering herself up on a silver platter for him.
“Thanks, Anna; I’ve still got your number. You two enjoy your walk.”
“Actually, we were going for a run. Have to keep looking good,” Anna said as she started to jog in place. “See you around.”
“Have a nice day girls,” Jason said as his eyes fixated on Anna’s bouncing chest.
I followed Anna’s lead and jogged down the path with her until we turned enough that he couldn’t see us. Then Anna stopped and put her hands on her knees as she tried to catch her breath. It was clear that she wasn’t in shape at all.
“Well, he’s handsome.”
“Isn’t he dreamy? I’m going to screw him until my legs shake, and I can’t see straight.”
“Wow, okay,” I said at her graphic vision of her time with Jason.
“Isn’t he like the best looking single dad you’ve ever seen? I mean come on that blond hair and those blue eyes. Wow, I’m wet just thinking about his hands on me.”
“Maybe you should actually have sex before you start seducing single fathers?” I suggested.
“Just because I’m a virgin doesn’t mean I don’t know what to do. I’m so ready to do this guy. I could seduce him right now if I wanted to.”
“How about you wait, and we finish our walk?” I laughed. “I think you need to have some sex, but find a nice guy your age so you can have an actual relationship. That guy isn’t going to be someone that stays around.”
Anna huffed at my suggestion and started to speed up as we walked the path. She had her heart set on losing her virginity but always talked about these older guys. I couldn’t even remember a time when she’d talked about a boy her own age.
“How’s your old man flirting thing going?” Anna asked as she changed the subject back to me.
“He’s the last thing on my mind right now. I have to save money for a new apartment. My car went to crap yesterday and is literally sitting in some police impound because I couldn’t pay for a tow off the highway. I swear I work hard and never seem to make enough money.”
“That sucks. I’m sure your parents would help you get into an apartment, though.”
“Of course they would, but I’m a friggin adult. I have to get my shit together, and I’m not going to ask them for more money.”
“Do you want to go out tonight?” Anna asked as if drinking and partying were the solution to the troubles I was having.
“Going out drinking isn’t exactly going to solve my problems.”
A few raindrops hit us, and we both looked up at the clouds and turned around to head home. We picked up the pace in an effort to make it back to Anna’s house before we got totally soaked.
“So you do want to go drinking?” Anna laughed.
“Yes, actually I’d love to. But I’m inviting Monica to come too. She really needs to get out of the house.”
“Invite whoever you want. I’ll pay,” Anna offered.
She had a credit card from her parents and no limit on her spending. I wasn’t one to take advantage of her generosity, but sometimes I really didn’t have the money to pay for drinks.
“Just this time. I’ll pay you back,” I offered.
“Lilli, you don’t need to pay me back, it’s fine.”
We picked up our pace even more as the rain started to fall faster, and we turned the corner back toward Anna’s house. The cold raindrops spread out over my skin, and goose bumps popped up all over my arms. It was a relatively warm afternoon with the temperature around sixty degrees, but once the rain started, it seemed to cool off rather quickly.
“Race you to your house,” I said as I started running as quickly as I could.
Anna tried to keep up with me, but she was nearly a block behind as I ran up her driveway and punched in the electronic code to her front door. I really wished my own parents would invest in the electronic door code so I wouldn’t have to fumble with my key all the time, but my parents weren’t very into the technology world at all.
“Geeze woman, how can you run that fast,” Anna said as she fell into her doorway and collapsed onto the ground.
“I actually practice. You really should work out every now and then. You know being skinny doesn’t mean that you’re healthy, right?”
“I’m nineteen, Lilli. I don’t care about being healthy. What happened to your car? I thought your parents gave you the old one they had?”
“They did; that’s the one that totally crapped out on me. So my ex-boyfriend has the car we bought together; my parents gave me a car that is a piece of junk, and now I’m totally car-less. I’m going to have to get someone to drive me to work or take the train.”
Anna looked at me with shock on her face, and I burst into laughter. The idea that anyone would have to take the train was beyond her. If she wasn’t driving somewhere, she took an Uber. It was her only other way of getting around and showed the level of spoiled lifestyle that she had. But her parents didn’t care at all; not once had I heard she was in trouble for spending too much money or buying something that she wasn’t supposed to buy.
“The train? Why would you do that?”
“Anna, some people need to work. I can’t always expect my co-workers to give me a ride. I can take the train; it’s not that big of a deal. You know it’s just four blocks that way, right?”
“But you work until midnight some nights?”
“Yep, and conveniently enough, the train runs until two o’clock in the morning.”
“No, absolutely not. I won’t allow it.”
She protested as she climbed up to sit on the stairs with me. She had become a good friend, but Anna certainly had a different lifestyle than I did, and I felt pretty lucky in my life. At least I lived in a nice neighborhood, and the train was nearby. One of the girls at work had to literally walk a mile just to get to the train, and it was through a really rough neighborhood.
“It’s okay, Anna, I’ll be fine. I’m sure I’ll have enough money to get my car fixed in no time.”
“You just call me, and I’ll come and get you. I don’t care what time it is.”
It was a nice gesture, but Anna partied a lot more than I did, and she was often away in North Chicago with some of her old high school friends that moved up there. I knew I couldn’t rely on her to give me rides, but I als
o would be stuck arguing with her for hours if I didn’t agree to ask her.
“Okay, I’ll call you when I need a ride.”
“Now tell me what happened with that delicious neighbor of yours? Did you go over there and let him give you a tongue massage?”
“Anna! No!” I laughed. “I did bump into him while I was running.”
“Let’s get some food for this conversation,” she said seriously as I followed her into the kitchen. “How about some Apple Jacks?”
“That’s straight sugar, Anna.”
“So yes, you want some?”
“No, I’ll eat this apple. And oh, my gosh, I can’t believe I didn’t tell you about my run in with him. His name is Devin, and wow, he was so friggin sexy up close that I could hardly talk to him. In fact, I’m not even sure I made a coherent sentence.”
“He’s a guy; you don’t need to talk. Just wrap your arms around him and plant a nice wet kiss on his lips. That will get things started.”
“You are the horniest virgin I know.” I laughed. “But no, I’m not doing that. Although I did do something…well, something that you probably would have done.”
I couldn’t stop laughing at the memory of flirting with Devin through my bedroom window. It was definitely something that Anna would have done; there was no doubt in my mind. She was an expert at flirting with men.
“What did you do?”
Her eyes widened, and she leaned in to hear my story. I described how I had written my name on the window and the look of shock on Devin’s face as I dropped the curtain and let him look at my naked body.
“It was exhilarating,” I said as I ended my story.
“I know. Flirting is like a drug. You’ll keep going back to it over and over again in search for a high. How has he been this week? Any big flirting sessions?”
“I think he’s on a business trip or something as he hasn’t been around. But what should I do the next time I see him? How can I really keep flirting without looking totally desperate?”
“That’s a good point. You don’t want to seem like you need him to like you. Actually, it might be best if you ignored him and didn’t flirt at all. Make him come to you. He will make an opportunity happen, and then when you have him at your beck and call; that’s when you move in for the kill.”
“By ‘kill’, do you mean that’s when I screw him?”
“No! You can’t sleep with him yet. Even if you really want to. He needs to want it so bad that he can’t even concentrate at work. You need to occupy his thoughts so much that he’s literally begging to have you.”
“Wow, I think that might be a bit much for me.” I laughed. “I’m not really the begging to have me kind of girl. That’s you, not me.”
“Shut up Lilli. I don’t have anything that you don’t have. You could have any guy you wanted. That hair alone is a fantasy for some guys, but you’ve got a rockin’ body that could tease them for days.”
“You know, not every relationship is about games and teasing.”
“Well, this one with your neighbor is, so listen to me. Don’t look up there. Don’t even glance in his direction. Keep your eyes away from his place and your curtains shut. Let him stew for a little bit.”
I couldn’t help laughing at how serious Anna was about me teasing Devin. She had it all planned out, much better than I could have dreamed up. All I could think about was seeing Devin again and flirting with him, maybe even getting a chance to talk to him again. I hadn’t even thought of the idea that I should leave him alone. It would be really hard not to look up at his house or peek inside when it was dark out.
“I’ll do my best. Now let’s go find some outfits for tonight. I don’t have anything interesting to wear in my closet.”
“Oh, yeah, I’ve got like a dozen new outfits. Let’s try some on.”
It was hard not to be a little jealous of Anna. She was rich, beautiful, and had men throwing themselves at her whenever we were out at the clubs. Her life seemed pretty good to me, at least from looking in on the outside. I imagined there were things that I didn’t know about her, but nothing so far appeared to be hard for her in life.
In stark contrast, I felt like everything in my life was hard. I’d finally met a guy I liked and moved in with him just to find out he was a cheating jerk, and we had to break up. I couldn’t keep a decent job at all, and I was working in a field that I didn’t really like. My parents did have the means to make sure I was taken care of, though; I just didn’t want to always be taking their money.
“Bam, this one,” Anna said as she held a black piece of fabric up toward me.
“What is that?”
“It’s a dress.”
“Oh, no! That’s not a dress. There’s barely any fabric there.”
“Lilli, you need to wear this tonight. It’s going to look amazing with your hair. And that tan of yours needs to be shown off.”
I looked at the small piece of fabric and stretched it out to see if it was anywhere in the realm of being able to fit me. It looked more like a hand towel than a dress, though.
“I’d be showing off my tan lines instead of my tan if I was wearing this. Don’t you have any dresses that are normal length? I don’t actually like it when guys are grabbing my ass all night long.”
“It just means they think you’re hot.”
“Oh, okay, but it’s weird.”
“Just wear it, Lilli, please,” Anna said with her big eyes as I grabbed the dress and started to leave the room.
“I’ll put it on, but I’m wearing one of mine if it doesn’t cover my ass. Come pick me up at nine. I’ll take a nap for a while, and then I’ll get ready.”
“Sounds like we are going to have a kick ass night. I’ll call some of the girls.”
“See you later.”
Chapter 4
Devin
After a week in Bali, it was nice to grab a quick drink with Jacob and catch up on what was going on at work. We met up at a little club near downtown called Lively, mostly because it was notorious for the hot young girls, and Jacob wanted to pick himself up a date for the night after our drink.
“Dude, nice tan,” Jacob said as I walked up to him at the bar of Club Lively.
“That’s what a week on the beach in Bali will do for ya.”
“How was the board company?”
“I liked them. Not really an investment opportunity as a group, but I gave them some money and am having some paperwork drawn up for ten percent equity. Just a little reason to go back to Bali sometime.”
“Going solo on this one?”
“Yeah, I think everyone is getting a little tired of my surf companies. I don’t mind the risk for a small investment. They had a good business plan and will see some moderate growth this year. Would see better growth if they’d come to the U.S., but they are set on staying in Bali.”
“Well, nothing exciting at work. I took that drone on a bike ride, though; it was pretty awesome. Followed me on the whole ride, look at this footage,” Jacob said as he pulled out his phone and started playing a thirty-minute video of him riding his bike.
I ordered my drink and was halfway done by the time he actually got the clue that he didn’t need to show me the whole thing. It was pretty sweet, though and just confirmed why I wanted us to throw the whole power of our group behind that company.
“Everyone else on board with it, yet?”
“Not sure, people have been traveling, and there was not much communication this week. We will check in at the next meeting. What else do you have planned?”
“I’m relaxing and going over the numbers for that drone company. I’ll probably stop down in Florida and visit my daughter this week if I can arrange things with Ashley. I haven’t been able to reach her all week, and when I called her mother, she seemed to be hiding something.”
“Did you talk to Izzy?”
“Nope? My times were off, and she was at school when I called. It sounded
like she was staying at Ashley’s parents’ house, though, so who knows what’s going on with Ashley?”
“You should just have some papers filed and get custody of her. She’s your daughter too.”
“Man, I’d love that. But you have to remember they knew me when I was irresponsible and wild. I think I’ll need to put a little work in before I can get custody. A judge would simply have to pull my arrest record, and then they’d laugh me right out of that courtroom.”
We sat and drank our alcohol as we both turned to admire all the beautiful girls in the club. It definitely was a good place for finding women – there were dozens of girls dancing on the dance floor and only a handful of guys.
“You’re my wingman tonight,” Jacob said seriously. “I’ve got to get laid.”
“Ha, okay, let’s get you a girl.”
“Three o’clock. Oh, damn baby girl look at those asses,” Jacob was already out of his chair and on his way over to the blonde and redhead before I could get a good look.
I quickly grabbed his hand and pulled him back to the bar when I realized the redhead was actually Lilli. I also recognized the blonde as the girl Lilli had been out with the last time I saw her, the same girl that had grabbed Lilli and practically yanked her dress off in the driveway.
“Wait,” I demanded. “I know her.”
“Even more reason to go over and talk to her,” Jacob said.
“No, that’s my neighbor.”
“Oh, damn Devin! You’ve got that hot piece of ass living next door to you. Wow, I’d be in that all day every day if I had something so sweet.”
“She’s too young,” I protested.
“Whatever. She’s in here, so she’s old enough. Go talk to her,” Jacob demanded. “I want to talk to that hot friend of hers.”
I was just about to agree with Jacob and go talk to Lilli when I saw her almost fall over as she grabbed onto her friend. She was smashed and even drunker than I’d seen her on the recent nights she had returned home. Instinctively, I wanted to go over and help her, but she and her friends laughed it off as they went to a booth to sit down.
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