Shannon O'Reilly sighed as she shifted her legs, tucking them underneath herself as she sat on the couch, mindlessly watching a soap opera that was playing on her television. She lifted her phone that was laying beside her and checked the time. It was only a little past 12:30 in the afternoon, and Ryan wouldn't be home for another six and a half hours. The 5'6 housewife was dressed up and ready to head to the gym, a way of not only trying to stay in shape, but to also kill time. The 39 year old didn't have much to do since her husband was the only one with a job. She didn't want to be bored at home doing nothing, but Ryan convinced her that she didn't have to work. He said that she was just fine being free from it and that he made more than enough money to support the entire family. He did, but that wasn't the point. But she wanted to make him happy, and her not working seemed to be something Ryan was proud of. That he could take care of all three of them. The third being their daughter, Julie, who was going to graduate high school soon and head to college, leaving her more lonely and bored than ever before. It didn't help that Shannon's friends all had jobs and couldn't really relate to her.
Shannon sighed again.
She got up from her spot on the couch and grabbed her keys from the coffee table in front of her. She headed over to the door, but before leaving she looked herself up and down on the body length mirror that was right next to it. She scrutinized her appearance, twisting and turning to look at every angle. She just shrugged, holding a little bit of belly fat that was something she wanted to get rid of, something that never quite went away after Julie's birth. Shannon was a curvy woman, not fat, but not thin at all, weighing in at about 140 pounds. Ryan would make a comment here and there about her weight and it would make her a little embarrassed about herself. It's another reason she worked out. Her natural, long red hair was tied in a pony tail and her black sports bra covered her 34-D sized breasts. She played a little bit with the waistband on her new tight, white work out leggings she bought, which also helped accentuate her ample bottom like all her other leggings, yoga pants, jeans and shorts did. Shannon looked pretty damn good for someone months away from 40. If anything she looked like she was a year away from 30!
She was always a looker. With her wide brown eyes, immaculate pale skin, adorable freckles and her curvaceous figure, Shannon got more than her share of looks from men, young and old. As imperfect as she felt, there were a lot of things she liked about her figure. She just wanted Ryan to feel 100% content with her.
She finally tore herself away from the mirror and exited her home. Stepping out, she noticed a couple of moving trucks at the house next door. 'Oh yeah', thought Shannon. She remembered that the house had been sold recently. She wondered who bought the place. She witnessed a couple of movers come out of the back of a truck, struggling it seemed to hold up a fairly large dining room table. Shannon slowly walked towards her car while still keeping an eye on the men trying to move the table, arms looking like they are about to fall off.
"Hold up, I got y'all!", came a loud booming voice.
Shannon watched as an incredibly tall, and from what she could tell from this distance, extremely well built, black skinned man jogging out from the front of the house. Wearing only basketball shorts, sneakers and a muscle shirt, the dreadlocks having black man rushed over to help the other movers. With little to no effort it seemed, the man easily lifted the middle of the large mahogany table and was able to much more quickly move it into the house. It looked so simple after he arrived. After a little bit of time passed by, Shannon found herself foolishly still standing beside her car like she was waiting for something. She shook her head, thinking how silly it was for her to still be standing here. She had to get her workout started. She lifted her keys up to unlock her car, when she heard the man's voice again.
"No problem y'all, just glad we got my damn table in. That thing is a pain!" The man spoke, his bass infused voice massaging the insides of Shannon's ears. She looked and saw the workers, looking exhausted, walking back towards the trucks. It seems like they still had a few things left to grab. She moved her attention back to the striking black man, hands on his hips, smiling as he watched the men work. Her eyes stayed on him for a little too long and eventually he looked over to her and his smile got bigger, exposing his bright white teeth. The man waved at her.
"What up there, neighbor?" He added, surprising the red head.
"Uh, hey!" She responded awkwardly, before giving a quick wave and entering her car as fast as she could. Shannon started the vehicle and drove off as quick as she could, trying not to look back. Why was she so spooked, she wondered. Her heart was rapidly beating and her face even felt hot. 'Strange...' she thought. She shook it off and decided not to think to much of it. She was probably just feeling embarrassed for being nosy and getting caught. Yeah, she will get over that. But...
A black guy? In our neighborhood? That was not something that she expected. She shivered a little at the thought. Shannon didn't think of herself as racist, certainly not as skeptical about black people as Ryan was, but she didn't have all that much experience with people like them. She was a white girl from the suburbs through and through. But these days, diversity is a big thing, and she guessed it wasn't right for a guy like him to not be able to live in a nice neighborhood like her. Shannon figured she would have to get used to it.
She shoved those thoughts away from her mind and continued to drive towards the gym.
At around 3:30, Shannon's car pulled back into her driveway. She stepped out, wiping a small drop of sweat from her forehead and began heading towards her door.
"Hey there!" She heard a voice call out to her. She swung her head and saw that the black man from before was jogging towards her. She froze and felt her heart beat like she was working the elliptical again. What was he doing coming right towards her?! She kept herself from panicking and stood her ground, watching as the huge black man ran right towards her. He finally arrived and stood right before her, wearing the same thing as he was earlier. And my god... was this man huge up close! She gave a quick up and down and guessed that he must have been close to 6'8 or something like that. His skin was much darker than she noticed before and from what her eyes saw, she wasn't the only one on the block that went to the gym. Oh no, this man looked like a guy that played football or something. The muscles that made up his arms were unreal, and his calf muscles were no joke, either. His wide shoulders and pecs looked pretty much at home with his bulging biceps/triceps. And wow, those dreadlocks of his really were long and thick! Shannon was not used to seeing hair like that... anywhere!
"Sorry to run up on you like that... just wanted to say hi, you know, get to know the neighbors. I'm new here, so I gotta make sure I'm all well acquainted and everything. Names Lennox Walters, by the way, nice to meet you." He asked as he extended for a handshake.
"Oh... um..." Shannon started, blanking at first for a response. "I'm Shannon O'Reilly, nice to meet you too." She took his hand and watched as it engulfed her much smaller pale skinned one in his grip. It was a tight hold, but it didn't hurt. He applied just enough pressure to her dainty hand. And boy did the contrast of their skin tones really jump out at Shannon. Her hand was like light slicing through the darkness. It was eye catching. She kept her head tilted upwards to talk to this massive man. "So, um, just moved in?" She asked, unsure of what to do next.
He nodded while letting her hand go, smile intact. "Yeah, just finished up getting most of my things in. I have a few boxes in the Cadillac but I can get those later." He answered, looking down at her much shorter frame.
"Oh, okay." Shannon nodded. "Well, I do hope you enjoy it around here. It's pretty quiet most of the time, as I'm sure you can tell." She shifted her gym bag on her shoulders and gave Lennox a small smile.
"Fine by me." The man chuckled. "Tired of the city, too much noise and I done made enough cash to get out and buy up a nice new home." He said nodding his head over to his new place. He gave Shannon a quick look, taking in the wonderful sight of her well built, curvy body. He grinned. "I think i'm going to like this place, Shannon. I really do."
