I see them almost every day. June and David occupy the apartment across the hall from mine so we usually bump into each other on a regular basis. A sweet woman in her fifties, June Roberts still manages to keep attractive - to me anyway. Her hair remains jet black with no trace of grey and her figure, while fairly buxom, curves in all the right places. She is always pleasant to me - more than pleasant really - much to the chagrin of her most distasteful husband. David Roberts is not an agreeable person; large in stature and short in personality and humanity, his wife seems to live in almost perpetual fear of him.
As usual, I had been out early to collect the morning newspaper. With the paper under my arm I was just about to put my key in the lock when I heard the Roberts' door being opened.
"Morning, June!" I called as I saw my neighbour. It was still early and she wore a simple, light blue housecoat that hid her curvy form from my eyes.
"Hi Harry. You ok?"
I had known June and her husband for the eight years since they had moved into the building and I could tell now that she wanted to chat. I popped my newspaper inside my open door and walked across the hall to where June was tying her garbage sack. As always, our conversation flowed easily. We talked about what was in the news that day, June smiling up at me almost constantly. I guess we had been chatting for about ten minutes when I heard the rumbling voice of David from deep within their apartment.
"What the hell is taking you so long?" he shouted, "Jeez! I bet your flapping away to that creep from across the hall, aren't you? Come on, You haven't made breakfast yet!"
I stopped talking expecting June to disappear back into the apartment, but she simply sighed deeply, looked up into my eyes and continued her conversation. When he obtained no response, David shouted again and then quickly appeared on the doorstep beside his wife.
"Come on you," he said angrily, "come inside. NOW!"
I could see that June was a little frightened by his tone but stood her ground defiantly.
"In a minute." she said evenly. "I'm just talking to Harry - and he's NOT a creep!"
And then it happened. The inevitable. I think I saw David raise his hand before June did. The blow was open-handed, but the noise as his palm connected with June's face still resonated around the hall. I saw the tears form in June's eyes - more from shock than anything else, I think - all the emotions began to build up inside me. All the times David had moaned about this thing or that, all the snide jokes and sly digs that he constantly made and all the whispered secrets behind people's back's suddenly came flooding back to me. As my fist connected with his jaw, David fell backwards. It all seemed to happen in slow motion - the fall seemed to take minutes rather than a second. It all seemed surreal until I was quickly brought back to reality by the sickening thud of his head hitting the floor. I expected June to hate me. I expected her to go to her husband and never speak to me again. But that didn't seem to be happening. June simply stood there and looked down at David as he lay unconscious on the floor, a vacant expression on her face.
"Christ, sorry June. I didn't mean to hit him that hard. It's just that..that.."
"I know...It's okay, Harry. Trust me, he had it coming!" She replied, her voice soothing.
"Maybe we should call an ambulance?" I said
Her response was quick. Too quick, really. "No! He'll be okay. I'm sure. If there's one thing that bastard's got, it's a thick skull! And anyway, this is the first time we've been alone together."
Now I was confused. David Roberts was lying on the hall floor completely out of it and, rather than nurse him, his wife was making an obvious pass at me! It wasn't difficult to know what to do - I disliked David Roberts as much as anyone else in the building - including, it seemed, his wife. I stepped forward and into their apartment closing the door behind me. June looked up at me, those sweet, blue eyes almost pleading with me. Her arms snaked up around my neck and she stood on tip-toe. Her head tilted upwards as she pulled me down towards her. Our lips met for the first time. She was hot, very hot. Her tongue darted into my mouth as we kissed and entwined with my own. I held her close as the embrace intensified and felt her shiver slightly under the housecoat. When our kiss finally ended, we looked at each other both slightly out of breath.
"I want you." June said simply. "Help me get David onto the couch, he's just cluttering up the place!"
With some difficulty, June lifted her husband's feet and I took his arms as we bodily dragged him along the hall and into the lounge. To my eternal gratitude, the sofa was low and long and we managed to tip the unconscious man easily onto it.