Cougar and Tiger

"Oh, Alice," Cindy exclaimed, laughing.

Alice, her neighbor down the road and longtime friend, chuckled as she recounted her story. "No, no, I'm totally serious," she giggled. "Andre refused to call the repairman to come in, just kept insisting that he could do it himself, too expensive to have someone do it, blah blah, blah".

"Yeah, sounds just like a guy. Men," Cindy said, shrugging.

"So I'm sitting in the kitchen, watching him going up and down, in and out from underneath the sink, running back and forth for some tool or whatever, and all I'm seeing is him getting more and more frustrated. He was such a mellow guy, you know, so seeing him pissed off that much was really something". Alice shrugged her dark and grey hair back, really getting into the story about her ex husband. "Literally two hours go by with things going that way until sure enough, shooosh," she exclaimed with a hissing sound. "The pipe burst and this ugly water just came gushing out, flooding the floor.

Cindy laughed, her light brown hair coming loose off her shoulder. "Oh my God! Oh my," she gasped between giggles.

"Well, as you can imagine, he was really embarrassed. But it did finally convince him to call the maintenance man and we left him to it. Had a nice first date. And it went pretty smooth from there since then." Alice paused and her light hearted tone became twinged with a little regret. "I do miss that man sometimes."

"I bet. He sounds like a nice guy really."

"Except he couldn't keep it in his pants. But you're right, I suppose other than that and he loved his booze and he lied about everything, he was pretty decent," Alice said sarcastically. "Never really was a good father to Chico."

Cindy winced. "Ouch."

Alice shrugged. "And what about you?" she asked her friend, changing the subject. "Don't tell me you don't have some war stories of your own. I bet lots of guys were chasing after you," she added, marveling at her friends' appearance. Even at 58, Cindy looked great. Always dressed up casually, but nicely. Makeup done lightly, but perfectly. Her light brown-and-blonde hair and clear blue eyes gave people the impression she was a lot younger than 58.

Cindy shrugged lightly. "I've dated one guy seriously since I was 15. He was Danny's father, I had him at 19. But his father didn't want the responsibility. Had plans to go to college and all, so we parted ways. I didn't date anyone until Alicia's father. Turns out he was already married. Since then, no one serious," she admitted. It wasn't the first time the two friends had shared their personal dating histories with each other, but it was always a relief each time they could speak with candor and not be judged by the other one for it.

Alice grinned. She loved to tease her older friend. "No dates?"

Cindy laughed. "Some, but usually just someone my coworkers set me up with. No one really stuck around. I'm an old lady, remember?" she chortled.

Cindy paused. "I did decide to start up a dating profile, though."

Alice gasped. "Aw, Cindy, that's wonderful. Any luck yet?"

Cindy shook her head. "Only activated it this morning. I guess there's been some views," she said, digging her phone out of her pocket and unlocking it. "But I can't see who without buying the premium edition." she shook her head in disgust. "Guess they need to make their money somehow, the people who make these things."

Alice peered at her friend's profile page. "Nice picture, but you sure you don't want to add a little more something something?" she asked, grinning, indicating her friend's more wholesome appearance. Cindy's response was interrupted by the sound of the front door opening. "Oh, hey, Chic," Alice yelled out towards the hallway.

A young man, really still a teenager, walked around the corner. Chico, Alice's son of 19. "Sup, Momma. Oh, hey Ms. Walker," Chico greeted the two, his voice smooth and suave. Cindy smiled in response. She's known Chico as well as his mother for close to 12 years now. He'd always been very polite and respectful towards her as a kid when she sometimes had to babysit him and he had always been willing to help her out with odd chores around her place. She knew things weren't always easy for him at school, especially when he was going to high school. She knew he got misjudged by his overall appearance, partly because he was part African American, partly because he liked to dress sloppily and with his pants hanging low. But in spite of appearances, he was a very friendly, often charismatic guy. Graduated top of his class.

"How was it with Chad last night? You guys didn't stay up all night playing that GTA stuff, did you?" Alice frowned at her only son. "You know I hate how violent those games are."

"No, no, Momma, we just hung around Wing Park mostly. Chilled with our friends, then went back to his place and crashed." He changed the subject quickly, indicating towards Cindy's phone, still open on her profile. "Problems with your phone, Ms. Walker?" He was used to helping out with technology since both of her kids were moved out and had jobs and families of their own.

"Uhmm, yeah, actually. Do either of you know what these are supposed to mean?" she indicated the list of acronyms on her profile she could choose. "Like ENM and ONS? What do they even mean? GSOH?"

Alice shook her head, examining them. "No idea really. Chic, you've had a couple of girlfriends," she teased her son. "What's NSA and F2F?"

Chico hesitated. He knew all of those acronyms of course, but there was no way in hell he was going to say so in front of his mom or her fine friend. "Oh, umm, well, it's your dating profile. You should really...". He paused, thinking of the possibilities he had at hand. Suddenly inspiration struck. "Here, let me fill this out for you."

Cindy handed her phone over immediately. "Oh, thank you so much. My daughter told me about this app here, said she'd had the most success meeting actual normal guys on this app, but I don't know. But she thought I should at least give it a try. 'That's what all the people are doing nowadays, Mother'", she explained, imitating her daughter's more nasally tone. "As if there's any real successes on these stupid apps."

"Well, actually, Ms. Walker," Chico said while working. "This app does have a section you can read about other people's experiences they've had on here. Just gotta keep an open mind about it. And rule of thumb: the more things you add to your profile, the less it looks like a fake profile and the more likes you'll get." Chico looked up at his neighbor. "If I add more pics of you, you'll get more likes. Can I?" Cindy nodded. Chico opened up her photo gallery and scanned the possible pics. He found a folder that read "Summer 2024". Interested, he opened it up and to his delight, found many pics that showed Cindy in a swimsuit.

However, as much as he wanted to save them, he simply added a few of them plus some more casual ones he'd found in her gallery to her profile. He quickly wrote out her bio and selected some of the acronyms, then saved her changes. "There, it looks like a better profile. Maybe you'll get lucky," he said, handing her phone back to her.

Cindy smiled at Chico. He was such a good boy. "Well, thank you so much. I always appreciate what you do for me."

Chico smiled back, then stood up. "I'll leave you ladies to it then. Hey, Momma," he called out to his mom, who had stepped out a minute ago to adjust the thermostat. "Chad wanted me to meet this chick who's friends with his girlfriend. I think I'm going to be out again tonight."

Alice ran back in, interested in the news. Her son did date frequently, but she always did get a thrill at hearing how he was always son interested in meeting up with someone. His girlfriends never lasted long, but he always seemed to have one lined up for him who wanted to meet. "Oh, that's awesome, Chico. What do you know about her?"

"Not much yet. But I'll message her, learn more soon. I think she just got online herself," he said, grinning. He knew his mother would never catch on his implication. "Gotta go. You two take care now." He turned to head upstairs to his room.

"Nice to see you, Chico," Cindy called out, opening her phone back up. "Thank you so much for your help with this."

"No problem as always, Ms. Walker. Hopefully it works out." He stopped and added. "Oh, and if you do get any likes, like that person back as quickly as you can. Because without premium subscription, you can miss out on those likes and otherwise you won't be able to see that person's info."

"Thank you, I'll try that." With that, Chico left the room. A few moments later, the two ladies could hear his door close.

Alice sat down next to her friend and watcher her examine her updated profile. "Nice, that's looking better," she commented, reading the bio.

"He did a good job, but I dunno," Cindy frowned. "Look at these pics he added. Don't you think they're a bit much?" She showed at least three pics in her swimsuit from last summer, a few others of her in a dress. Alice shrugged. "I mean, they're good pictures. Very sexy. You shouldn't be so shy, Cin," she chided her friend. "It's a dating profile. Men won't be attracted by a simple bio and one picture. You need to express yourself in the one sure way that will get their attention, go on a date, and they can learn more about you from there."

"I know, I know, I just don't want people who see me on here to think of me as some kind of slut," Cindy sighed.

"Of course you're not. Still, it's okay to have a little fun now and then."

Cindy raised an eyebrow. "You're an expert on that now?"

Alice winked. "Don't knock it until you've had it. You don't have to be in a serious relationship with someone to enjoy yourself. You're a knockout, Cindy. You should allow yourself to enjoy the company of men."

Cindy shook her head. "My belly isn't as fit as it used to be, I have more gray in my hair than I used to, wrinkles. I'm getting old, I'm not going to interest anyone for that anymore."

Alice snickered. "I don't know, I think some guys--hey, look at that!"

Both of them examined her screen. She had received a like.

The picture was blurred, but after scrolling through the local profiles, they found the one that matched the colors of the picture and liked it. Matching with him, Cindy could finally see her first match. His name was Marcus, age 55, and he definitely wore it well. Dressed in a grey peacoat and black scarf, he looked like one of those old time writers, very masculine and sophisticated. Iron grey hair styled well and a bright white smile, he could have been a model on the cover of a magazine.

Alice squealed excitedly. "He just messaged!"

Cindy looked down and opened up the messages tab. He'd written, "Good afternoon, Cindy Walker. It's nice to meet you."

Alice grinned at her friend who grinned back. "Well, respond to him."

*******

Chico watched the speech bubble of Cindy's profile pop up and after a few moments, she wrote back. "Hello, Marcus, it's nice to meet you, too. Thank you for the like."

Chico smiled. The truth was, he's had a crush on his older neighbor for quite some time now. She was small compared to him, but still slender, long and smooth legs. Her tits weren't as big as some of the girls he'd dated, but there was no denying that ass of hers was amazing. Perfectly curved and mesmerizing to watch as she walked on by. No denying that while banging some of the girls he'd slept with, he often pictured Cindy in her place, her moans in his ear. He just knew he had to have her.

It was beyond fortunate that Cindy was using the same app as the one he'd helped Chad's great uncle set up once before a few years ago. Even though that account was long deactivated, Chico still had some of the pics saved on his phone he'd used to take the pics. He simply edited his own existing profile, changed it around to resemble the kind of profile he expected Cindy would go for, and voila. Having already cleared his evening with his mom and if he was careful about how he went about this, he knew he might be in for a real treat. A fine dessert named Cindy Walker.

The two of them exchanged pleasantries. Chico knew enough to know not to come out with questions about hooking up. That was a sure fire way to turn off a girl of any age. Talk to her politely, ease into it with pleasant conversation, then engage her in a meetup of someplace neutral. Once there, he felt confident he could eventually talk them into bed with him, even if it took a few meetings to do it. Sometimes it required patience to do it, but that was how he'd often scored some really hot chicks before.

While texting her, he often flicked back to her profile to check out her pics. He knew how modest she was even by her swimsuit pics. She wore a summer shirt over her beige bikini pics, but her lower body wasn't easily hidden from the shots. Just enough to make his dick swell at the sight and to allow his dirty mind to wander.

"What are some hobbies of yours? Interests?" He wrote.

"I don't get out very often." Chico knew that already. It was true his sexy neighbor rarely got out and away from the house. "But my hobbies include horses, bowling, painting, and gardening. I also used to like to go out dancing, but don't get out like before."

"I'll tell you something. I don't really like these apps. Would you be interested in talking more in person?"

There was a little bit of a delay in Cindy's reply. Chico knew she probably had to be on the fence about this. He'd watched her leave the house about twenty minutes ago, so he knew she didn't have his mom egging her on or else she would have replied immediately. His mom had checked on him minutes ago, but for all she knew, he was texting the girl Chad had sent him up with. He often grinned at the thought of his mom's face if she knew who he was really texting.

Finally, the speech bubble appeared. "What did you have in mind?" He hastily wrote back.

"Nothing too serious. I just want to get to know you better and meet you. How would you like to join me for dinner at Lilly's in town?" Lilly's Bar and Grill often offered plenty of dancing opportunities.

Cindy's reply was much more prompt this time. "Sounds good to me. What time?"

*****

Cindy fluffed her hair nervously. She wore a light blue dress for the occasion and wrapped a scarf around her neck to preserve some of her modesty. She would have been more than happy to just go out in her jeans and flannel shirt, but both Alice and Alicia when she'd called them to report this unexpected development had insisted on something fancier than that. Both were ecstatic to hear about her success at landing a date right off of the bat.

However, the minutes ticked by. They'd agreed to meet around 6, but it was already 6:30 and still there was no sign of him. She messaged him on the app, but all she'd gotten from him was that he was running late. "No shit," she snapped, annoyed.

She sighed and leaned back against the booth. She'd already ordered a Daiquiri and was mostly finished with it, wanting to hold off on ordering dinner until he arrived. Then she heard a familiar voice speak out. "Ms. Walker? What are you doing here?"

She looked over in surprise. Chico stood right there, dressed in his usual baggy shorts, but wearing a collared shirt that hugged his fit chest. "Chico, what are you doing here?" she unintentionally echoed his question.

"I'm here to meet someone. You?"

Cindy shook her head. "Same. I met someone on that app that arranged for us to meet here tonight. Actually, he should be here any minute."

Chico nodded. "That's awesome. Glad my help earlier was actually helpful," he remarked with a grin. Cindy laughed. "Well, we'll see how helpful you were. He's actually running late, later than he should be actually."

"Yeah, I see. Seems to be a thing going around now. That girl I mentioned earlier, the one Chad set me up with, she hasn't shown up either. I've been here for fifteen minutes, still heard nothing from her."

Cindy nodded sympathetically. "Well, I'm sure she'll turn up soon." Chico dipped his head in acknowledgement. "Well, I won't bother you. Hope that guy shows up soon. He doesn't know what he's missing." He bent down to give his neighbor a hug.

Cindy blushed at the compliment. "Awww, thank you Chico. You're so sweet to this older lady." His scent filled her nose as he embraced her. He was wearing body spray, she noted, something that smelled fresh and sweet. He grinned at her as he left. He certainly had a very charming grin, carefree and slightly cocky. "No wonder he's always got all these girls chasing after him," she thought.

Her mind drifted back to the matter at hand: her late arrival to her date night.

Chico watched her across the restaurant as she had her drink refilled, waiting on her "date". He chuckled to himself, knowing that the guy she knew as Marcus was actually him and she had no idea. A part of him felt bad for her, of course, for the deception and getting her hopes up. She had always been good to him, always available if he needed to come over and work for a few bucks. She'd always been generous in her payments to him. Still, he justified it to himself that he'd make up for the trick he'd played on her somehow. Chico didn't consider himself a liar. He knew when it became time, he would admit everything to her.

But he also knew the way he was going about this was all he could do. Everything from their age difference to their familiarity to her general wholesome personality made their coupling unlikely to pan out into anything, so it would take a roundabout way to have her. And Chico knew he just had to have Ms. Walker. He'd been 15 when he first started to notice how attractive his neighbor was. He'd come over to pull weeds while she did some work in the backyard and he could hardly fail to notice that in her shorts, her nice, smooth, toned legs kept his attention throughout the day. Her ass also became a constant distraction to his horned up teenage mind. Since then, she'd often become the subject in his mind during his private alone time.

Cindy glanced up to see Chico striding up to her both. "Nothing from him?" She shook her head, annoyed. "He's not responded to any of my messages now." Chico nodded in understanding. He'd heard his phone alert him to her messages of course, but he didn't want her to see them as read. "I'm probably just going to get the check and go home. He's not coming." She sighed and then looked at him. "I take it your girlfriend hasn't shown up yet?"

"Nope. When I tried to message her, her number read as blocked. She totally ghosted me," Chico explained, looking sad as he responded to her. Cindy shook her head. Chico was a young man, barely more than a boy. Rejections like that could be crushing. She'd been ghosted a few times in her life, including tonight as it so seemed, so she understood how he must be feeling. "Here, want to sit here for now?" she invited, indicating the seat across from her. Chico nodded, inwardly crowing at his progress. He knew she was sympathetic to him over his "ghosting".

Because neither of them had eaten and Cindy discovered that Chico had gotten a ride from Chad with the expectation his date and him would leave Lilly's together, the two of them stayed and ordered their food. Chico was happy to see that his "date" wasn't someone afraid to eat whatever she wanted in front of him, indulging on fries and a burger. Some of his dates had been concerned about eating anything besides salads or appetizers in front of him. It felt relaxing that he could eat like he wanted to in front of his sexy neighbor.

After their checks were paid, Cindy got up and got her purse. "Well, Chico, are you ready? I hope you don't mind that I take you home instead of to this Chad's? I don't know his neighborhood."