The following is a work of fiction. All characters are at least eighteen years old.
Windows
âThrow you my lighter?â John had to repeat the request to make it more real. She expected him to toss it between the gap of their buildings and into her tiny fourth story window? And he would have to do it while hanging out of his slightly larger window, while trying not fall into the alley below.
âCome on, just throw me your lighter. You can make it easy,â she pleaded as she sat on the sill of her window with a cigarette dangling from her long, thin fingers.
âWell shit,â he thought. He was fairly sure that he had an extra lighter in his apartment if the aerial exchange did not go as planned, and he would love some company as he smoked his first after-work cigarette. God, he thought he was done with that dirty habit, but since the divorce he found himself craving the cancer sticks again. One of the highlights of his suddenly empty life was sitting on his window sill and smoking a hand-rolled cigarette while enjoying a beer, or more lately a glass of fine scotch.
She was someone he especially would love to talk to. He had noticed her as soon as he moved into his downtown apartment. She was quite a sight, with her brightly colored hair, wild outfits, and tall thin figure, that he imagined looked amazing out of her clothes. He guessed she would be considered a punk girl, or maybe emo, he wasnât that up on the styles of kids today. Shit, kids. She was probably in her early twenties, and he in his mid-forties felt like those days were just a blink of the eye ago; however, so much had happened in the twenty-five or so years since he was a bohemian college student. Two divorces later, he was now living on his own in a downtown loft near the office where he worked.
This last divorce was real tough. He thought they had a great relationship, and then suddenly one Thursday over dinner, she calmly informed him that she had been having an affair for three years, and she was finally leaving him. Actually, she said she was leaving his âboring as fuck assâ. He never saw it coming. Sure, he realized that their lives had become full of routines: Friday movie night, sex on the weekends, dinner at six every night. But he just figured that was what happened in all relationships.
So he moved out, got an apartment downtown near his work, and had fallen into a different set of routines.
Her voice broke up his thoughts. âCome on. Throw me your lighter, please. I need a smoke bad, and I am out of matches.â
âOk, but move out of your window. I donât want you to fall out trying to catch it,â he said as he prepared to hurl the lighter.
âOK, Dad,â she teased with a grin as she hopped off the ledge and into her room. She moved as if she didnât weigh a thing, and her bright pink hair seemed to hang in the air as she hopped down.
Her tease made him smile as he tossed his lighter underhand towards her window. He must have been worried that he wasnât going to throw the lighter hard enough and over compensated, because it clanged loudly against the top pane of her window and began to fall into the abyss of the alley.
Luckily her hand shot out of the window with cat-like reflexes and she closed it around the prize. Her rainbow colored nails gripped tightly around the lighter.
Immediately she flicked the lighter and lit the cigarette, now dangling from her lips. She took a long drag of the cigarette and exhaled with a large sigh that sounded like the weight of her day being released in one simple act. Her eyes were closed and head tilted back as she enjoyed the onrush of nicotine.
âYou could have fallen out of the window, diving after the lighter like that.â
She opened her eyes revealing two huge dark pupils, and focused on John as if it was the first time that she was seeing him. A coy smile crept to her black lips. âDonât worry Dad. I am a very careful girl,â she responded as she took another long drag of her cigarette.
She was wearing very short jean shorts that were dyed red and frayed at the bottom. Her black wife-beater tank top was hugging her torso like a second layer of skin. God, she was so thin; âHeroin chicâ is what the magazines called it. Her breasts seemed so large compared to her torso even though they were probably B cups, maybe small C cups he figured. There was no way she was wearing a bra either. Fuck, she looked hot. Even on this hot summer day he could see the bulge that her nipples were making in the thin fabric.
âI just wouldnât want to see you fall, thatâs all.â He took a drag from his cigarette and then raised his glass to his lips, relishing in the strong burn of whiskey on his tongue.
âMy name is Alice by the way. Whatâs it been, like a couple of days since you moved in?â
âActually, a bit over a week. My name is John.â
âSo whatâs your story John? Middle age men donât just decided to move into an apartment in this neighborhood.â
âWell when your wife decides to have a long term affair and tells you about it, your options are limited.
âBummer! I wonder what happened. Looks like you keep in shape, and you donât seem like a major asshole.â
âShe said that our relationship had gone stale. It was her not me she said, but enough about me. What is your story? Pretty young girl living on her own in a giant modern apartment like that. Not a lot of girls your age can afford this neighborhood.â
Alice took another drag from her cigarette and then stared off into the night. âLetâs see. Rich dad that makes up for his lack of quality time with money. Young girl who has no pressing need for a career, so she is experimenting with any and everything she pleases. As for the neighborhood, itâs close to lots of good bars and I love these old buildings. I think I would go crazy in a house. I like to be able to look out and see what people are doing.â She reached out the window and pointed with her cigarette to the apartment above John. âFor example, the lady above you is cooking dinner wearing panties and a T-shirt.. You canât get that kind of entertainment living anywhere else.â
John looked from window to window. He saw a man sitting watching T.V. in the apartment above Aliceâs. Above that a couple was dinning. He could see into at least eight different units from his window.
âFYI if you havenât noticed yet, you can see into both of our apartments perfectly from each side. So if you want to continue sleeping in the nude, and you donât want me to see you get up and go pee at night, you need to turn off the light from your TV, or close the drapes.â
âWhat?â John was suddenly stunned into silence.
âItâs a nice cock by the way, and you got a real cute ass too, for an old guy that is.â She smiled, took another drag and blew the smoke in his direction.
âWelcome to apartment life.â She tilted her head and laughed. âItâs a two-way street. Are you saying that you havenât seen in my apartment?â She studied his face.
He had seen her. In fact, one of the reasons he enjoyed his nightly cigarette breaks was the fact that he got to see if she was home and up to anything exciting. So far, his favorite had to have been her hour long yoga session. Or was it the time she came out of the shower wearing a towel on her waist, her perky breasts exposed along with her tight stomach? No, the yoga was the best because it lasted the longest. He even dared to turn off the lights and rub himself while watching her. He did not cum, but he got his cock so hard while watching her contort her tight little body wearing next to nothing.
âYes, I have seen you. And you have the most amazing body, I must admit.â
Her smile grew with his honesty. She took one last drag of her cigarette and then snuffed it out in the old coffee cup she used for an ashtray. âWell, you might actually get some pussy if you didnât just work all day and then come home and spend the night reading and watching TV.â She flashed him a kind smile.
âI got to run, let me toss you your lighter back.â