On the Fire Escape

"Where are the glasses?" Mark called from the kitchen, his voice slightly muffled by a cabinet door.

"They're above the sink," I called back without looking at him. I was headed towards the fire escape, preoccupied by what I hoped would be waiting for me.

"What?" he said as he swung one cabinet door open after another. I didn't answer.

I opened the window and crawled out, gripping the window frame as I stretched one leg out and then the other onto the rusty metal slats. I brushed the dust from the windowsill off of me and pulled up the camisole strap that had gently slid off my shoulder. I could hear Mark call out "Found them," from inside the apartment.

I stretched out my hands on the railing and tiny bits of paint cracked off, dropping down to the neglected patio below. My apartment was at the back of the building and faced another apartment building across the way. I scanned the windows on the opposite side of the courtyard below. Some were lit up, blinds down, or up. Some had billowing gossamer drapes that breathed with every gust of wind. Some were dark and empty. Some revealed people walking back and forth inside. Or just sitting and watching television. My eyes moved across the windows quickly until I found the one that I was looking for. He was there. The light was dim, but I sensed him sitting there at his window as he so often did, peering out at whatever his eyes fell upon. I placed my hand delicately on my chest and began to play with the pendant that hung lightly around my neck. I stared through his window intently, searching for his face. I wondered if he could see me.

"Sara, take these," Mark's voice on the opposite side of the window woke me from my daze. He reached out two glasses of red wine to me and I took them, breathing deeply with disappointment. He maneuvered himself awkwardly out the window as he asked, "Why the hell did you come out here?" He wasn't expecting an answer and I didn't plan on providing him with one.

I watched as he dusted himself off, his hands brushing against his crotch, his thighs, his ass. I reached out to hand him his glass before he was done. He looked up at me and took the glass as he made one last swipe at his pants. I turned back to the man's window. I was sure I saw movement. A leg slid apart from the other. An arm reached for something. I wasn't sure.

I'd seen him before, sitting at the window looking at nothing in particular. I wondered if he was a writer looking for inspiration from his neighbors. Or an artist searching for a model. I'd caught him looking at me several times, although caught may not be the right word because he never looked away when I spotted him. He never turned his head or shifted his gaze embarrassed. He would continue to stare at me as though we were competing, testing each other to see who would cave first and look away. I always lost.

It became a habit for me to take a quick glimpse every time I passed the window to see if he was out there. When I came home from work I would open the shades so that he could see me. I liked to feel him watching me, those dark eyes following me. I would try to imagine what would happen if I bumped into him on the street. I wondered if he would recognize me, if he would say anything.

"What are you looking at?" Mark's eyes traced the curves of my body. He wasn't paying any attention to what was across the way and he didn't care what I was looking at. I could feel him look at my neck and almost instinctively as though he'd touched me, I tilted my head away from him. He took this as an invitation and leaned in to place his lips on the spot where my neck meets my shoulder. His lips were warm and a pulse of heat passed through my body. My eyes never moved from the man's window. Was he watching me? My thighs began to feel as though they were swelling. I arched my back as Mark assaulted my skin with his hot mouth. He slid the strap of my camisole off my shoulder and his lips moved lower to the newly uncovered flesh. He now had one hand on the small of my back and the other moving up to my breast.

Another flash of movement from the man's window. He's watching. I could feel it. I bit my lip slightly and let Mark's large hands move across my body. I put my glass down near the edge of the fire escape and I could hear Mark take the opportunity to do the same. I turned towards him and kissed him ravenously. One of his hands slid up underneath the back of my camisole and the other moved over the swell of my ass. With my eyes closed I imagined Mark's straight, dirty brown hair was the man's dark brown waves.

I backed up to the brick wall and turned so that my back was against it and I could see the man's window over Mark's shoulder. Mark's mouth moved from mine, down my neck to my chest and then to my breasts, moving the silky material of my camisole out of his way. As his tongue tickled my hardening nipples. I had a clear view of the window and I caught another glimpse of someone moving inside. Suddenly, I saw his face move out of the shadows into the path of the moonlight. He had been watching. His eyes stared straight into mine and my body shook as if electricity had passed though it.

I leaned down to Mark, my eyes never leaving those of the man across the way, and whispered into his ear, "Fuck me."

Mark stopped suddenly, surprised by what I had said. Nevertheless, he eagerly complied. He stood up straight and reached up underneath my skirt to pull my panties to the side. I could feel him unleash himself from his pants and then press me, hard, against the wall. He flipped up my skirt and slid into me. I let out a quick gasp and continued to stare at the man across the courtyard. His eyes glittered in the darkness and I watched his lips, imagining them touching my skin, his hot flesh against mine. Mark began to thrust deep inside me. I moaned loudly. I wanted the man to hear me. It was his hands kneading my breasts. His thighs rubbing against mine. His cock buried deep inside my burning, wet pussy. I could feel his eyes consuming me.

Mark continued slamming into me, the brick wall leaving impressions on my back, scraping my shoulder blades. But it didn't matter. It felt too good to stop. I felt my body begin to tense. He banged harder and my body surged. He let out a groan and I felt his body get rigid. His cum shot deep inside me and oozed down my inner thigh as he slid out of me.

Mark smiled and kissed me on the mouth, zipped himself up and headed back through the window. I stood there a while, his juice trickling down my leg, my left nipple just barely peeking over the edge of my camisole, and stared at the man across the way. I couldn't hold back a sly smile.

"Aren't you coming inside?" Mark called after me.

I sighed and watched the man's face disappear back into the shadows. "Be there in a minute."