Dear ....
I don't know what to call you.
"Penthouse Resident?" "Woman in the next building on the same floor level?" "Fellow exhibitionist and voyeur?"
Last night was incredible. A bucket-list-level fantasy, and yet one that came true. You know what happened, just as do I.
We've seen each other many times before since we're on the same floor level, but in separate buildings. As you know, our penthouse apartments face each other with a large rectangular swimming pool below and between us. The windows have curtains and blinds, but it seems that you and I both like the light so we each leave them up so that we can see out across the city.
I remember noticing you when you moved in. You were in jeans and a t-shirt, and I enjoyed looking across the pool area, and following my eyes upward into your windows as the movers brought in boxes and you directed them to place one here and another over there. It was just an average day for the movers, but for me it was a form of introduction. A new neighbor who was attractive in the penthouse across the pool in the next building.
I wondered how you could afford that place. You live alone and it isn't inexpensive. The apartment was decorated in modern furniture with abstract expressionist art on the walls. There was a beautiful nude painting that took center stage in the living room. Was it you, I wondered. Surely not, but it did look like your body, at least your body as I could imagine it through your jeans and that t-shirt.
Months passed and I became used to your comings and goings. Sometimes I would walk into my own apartment and see you across the way. I would always stop and just enjoy the view. I thought that you noticed me sometimes, but you never acknowledged me. In the same way, I saw you look in my own direction a time or two, but I was hesitant to raise a hand in greeting. Not knowing you, I didn't want to do anything that might cross a boundary. Mostly though, I didn't want you to close the shades. It was nice to have a neighbor in the penthouse next door, and I could enjoy watching a movie or a ball game and periodically look up to see you through the window. And sometimes, when I was lucky, there you would be - barefoot in your favorite jeans and a T, reading a book or watching cable.
Did you decide to tease me - that night when you wore the robe? Was that intentional?
It was late, and because you were in the back area of the living room -- far away from the windows - I'm certain that no one could see you but me. You were sitting on your couch in a white robe, and I was instantly mesmerized. My hand instinctively reached down to the buttons on my jeans, and I touched myself for a moment. I know you saw me because I realized you were looking directly at me. I released my grip on myself, but I couldn't move my eyes away. It was strangely intimate and yet also, being in two separate buildings, somehow quite safe. With a pool between us, and a concierge in each of our buildings, you knew that your home was also a well-defended castle. I didn't have any intentions of doing anything but look, and perhaps you realized that as well. You walked into the hallway and disappeared, while I stood transfixed. A minute passed -- it seemed much longer -- and you reappeared in your preferred clothing: the jeans and the t-shirt.
That was when you waved and smiled at me. We had broken the ice.
Our separate lives went on, but the two windows of our mutual penthouse apartments seemed to disappear. I became comfortable knowing you looked at me, and it seemed to be the same on your side.
That autumn, the days began to get shorter, and I remember the dark Sunday morning of daylight-saving time.
I awoke early, and it was still dark. Your lights were on, and you appeared in the robe with a coffee cup in your hand. I found myself in a dilemma. If I didn't turn on my own lights, I would be a peeping tom, and I didn't want to be that. It was important to be, well, consensual, and I wanted you to know I was there. And so, I switched on the light to my bedroom. Those windows face you as well, but this time I opened the curtains. And then I took a shower.
I remember returning with my towel around me. Normally I wouldn't of course, living alone. Who cares if I'm naked or dressed when no one is around. But this time, with the curtains opened, I decided it best to be discreet and wore the towel as a covering.
Imagine my surprise when I saw your bedroom lights on as well! And your curtains open. And you, standing in the window, in your robe, looking out across the way, through the beginning of the dawn light, with your eyes fixed on me.
You opened your hand toward me, inviting the next move.
An eternity passed in about a second.
I realized that this was the moment of decision, and without more thinking, I simply dropped my towel. I looked up at you expectantly and you smiled. Then, to my utter delight, I saw you applauding and clearly laughing out loud. Ceremoniously, I bowed. It was so ... so ... unexpected. The jeans and t-shirt girl had just changed the whole script!
And that began our mutual voyeurism and exhibitionism: You dressing and undressing yourself as you went about your life, and me doing the same. Two exhibitionists/voyeurs playing with each other by simply changing clothes across the no man's land of a swimming pool.
And then came last night....
