Since I was 13 years old, the girl next door gave me fits. She was 2 years older than me, tall like her father, lean, athletic, but with all the right curves. She was on the high-school volleyball team, and jogged, and ran, and swam. Her hair was shorter when she was 15, but now, five years later, it was down to her waist, raven black. Her face was heart-shaped with that perfect little nose that everyone complains about Hollywood glamorizing; a cupid-bow mouth that always managed a warm smile, and bright blue eyes.
She made me ache.
And it wasnât just her body. She was beautiful, friendly, outgoingâŚShe always said hi to me, always treated me like a friend, always flashed me that smile that made me want to taste her lips and see if she tasted as good as she looked. The way she moved wasâŚdynamic. Just watching her made me feel alive. I loved to hear her laugh, to see her happy. I loved the way she stood when she was happyâher back straight and royal, her face alight with energy, all her weight on one leg, the other lifted teasingly off the ground just a little.
It didnât matter what she woreâShorts, that showed off the soft muscular curves of her legs, tight jeans that highlighted the shape of her hips and butt, tee-shirt, sweat-shirt, blouse, or something more revealing; Sometimes, if she wore shorts or pants, I could see the top of her thong peeking out over the hem. Sandals, pumps, tennis-shoes, boots, Somehow all managed to accentuate her elegant shape. She always wore the same color of nail-polish, on her fingernails and her toe-nails.
Every little detail.
And when she wore a swim-suit, it would keep me up nights. The one time I saw her in a black leotard and panty-hose, I had to go inside andâŚtake matters into my own hands. Sometimes I would catch glimpses of her in a sarong. What drove me crazy about the sarong was that I knew
exactly
how to take it off. I always wondered what she wore under it: panties? A swimsuit? Nothing?
Some summers she would sun-bathe in her back yard. She would come out in a towel, or a sarong, or a robe. Just seeing her remove it, whatever it was, was enough to set me aflame, even knowing she always had something on under it. It was the act of undressing.
Iâd see her read, lying on her stomach on her bed by her window, her legs kicked up behind her. Iâd see her sitting at her computer, stretching after a long day of homework.
But she was unapproachable. At school, there were few brave enough to ask her out. She spurned all of them. But she was kind, caring. She always loaned me a pen when I needed it, or gave me paper. Iâd hear her laugh at something someone said, her girlfriends, or a friendly guy. I never had the courage to try to make friends with her, but on all the occasions we had to interactâwhich were quite a few considering we were neighborsâshe treated me like a friend.
I made a little more progress for myself the week she sprained her ankle. My heart did flips when I saw her on crutches. My beauty was injured! She came in from the cold that morning, before school started, in her usual jeans and tucked in tee-shirt, leaning on wooden crutches, on her left foot a tennis-shoe, and on her right nothing but an Ace bandage, accentuating the curves of her foot like everything else she ever wore, and showing her pink nail-polish.
That week, I got closer to her than I ever did until later, by carrying her book-bag for her. She seemed relieved to have the help, and told me I was sweet. So went with her as she hobbled from class to class, answered friendly inquiries about her ankleâ
âHowâd you do that?â âOh, playing volleyball. I landed on it wrong.â âOuch. That sucks.â âYeahâŚâ âSo how long are you on crutches?â âThe doctor says another week at least.â âOhh. Okay.â
We talked a little. She always remembered me kindly after that. It was something of a disappointment to me when she came to school without her crutches. It meant I had no further excuse to talk to her.
Her existence made me hurt. I spent a year and a half longing, aching to see her naked, imagining her showering, or changing clothes, or even just sleeping in the nude. When I finally got my wish, it was like a religious experience.
I used to follow her into the woods behind our house. Thatâs where she went jogging, I presume because there she could be alone.
Ours was hot territory. She would always work up a sweat on the jog. It glistened on her skin in the sunlight that filtered through the leaves. She wore short shorts, tennis-shoes, and a sports braâlittle else. That sports bra looked so soft, stretched tight over her firm breasts. On some days, her nipples tried to poke through. The whole set-up made me want to touch them with the open palm of my hand, to feel them, to honor them with gentle massaging. I dreamed about it at night. She made me feel good with a smile, with a look, with a laugh. I wanted that for myself, and I wanted to make her feel good with a touch. I wanted her to feel the relief of my longing. I wanted her to feel loved
This all started when I found where she went when she went jogging in the woods. There was a little waterfall down into a clear pool that emptied into a creek. I waited, up in that tree, motionless for her every afternoon the summer she turned 17.
She jogged up to that pool, glistening with sweat, sat down on a log, and I watched amazed as she unlaced her left shoe.
Oh, that was how it started. One shoe. Then, one sock, revealing her perfectly formed foot and pink nail-polish. She flexed her toes, and her ankle, rolling it a little, rubbing her instep, and the ball of her foot.
Then, the other shoe, and its sock.
And then, she looked around furtively, and crossed her arms over her chest. I couldnât believe my eyes when her fingertips flexed under the hem of the sports bra and lifted, slowly, revealing the soft white flesh of her breasts.
I was in awe. They were perfect. There was just the faintest sheen of sweat on them, and her tiny nipples stood out just a little, reflexively tense at the touch of the air, and the caress of my unknown gaze.
And then, her thumbs into the hem of her shorts. Down they came, slowly, revealing a pair of thong panties that matched the sports bra.
And then she removed them as well.
There she stood, naked in all her glory; she was relaxed, confident, strong as she had always been. Here, she was queen, and the world was hers. My eyes could not resist focusing on the curve of her buttocks, or her breasts, or the mystery contained within the soft silky tuft between her legs. I wanted to cup my hand over it, to squeeze it like a peach, pet it like a kitten, all while drinking love from her mouth in soft moans.
Into the pool. My imagination cavorted there with her. For that afternoon, she was mine alone. For that afternoon we were married, and we shared her world.
She never knew.
I spent many hot nights of passion with her she never knew about. Once I had seen her, I wanted more. I waited at that pool, and she did come back some-times. All the while, I planned, set up, worked, and schemed. I saw her sleep. I saw her lounge. I saw her shower. I saw her change clothes. I saw her examine herself in front of her mirror. I sympathized from my hiding heart when she was sick, wishing I could hold her, make her feel better. I learned the songs she sang when she was alone. I saw her in her greatest strength, greatest weakness, Happiest, saddest, most confident, and most afraid. I saw her laugh. I saw her cry.
I was sixteen when she went off to college. That night I drank much of the Baileyâs my mother kept in the fridge. I pined for herâmy imagination, while good, was not as good as she was. How I wished for her.
I watched for her at family gatherings: Thanksgiving, Christmas, the summer, EasterâI was disappointed, time after time, not to see her. I kept my ears open though, and was grateful every day I didnât hear that she had a boyfriend, or a fiancĂŠ. Apparently, she was staying as unapproachable in college as she was in high-school. StillâŚI longed to see her again.
And then, the summer she would have turned 20âI was 18âI happened to be outside raking the leaves in the 110 degree heat when a car pulled up outside her house. I had to look twice to believe it.