I sat down with a heavy sigh of relief as my brother and I dropped the last, huge, brown box in front of our new couch. He heaved out a long winded breath of his own as his wiped his forehead with the back of hand.
"Shit, I'm glad we're finally finished moving all of this useless junk..," He irritated mumbled as he smacked a pack of Newports against his palm and pulled one out of the pack, along with a plastic lighter.
"AH!" my mom cried out, swatting his head as she briskly entered the living room. "Jamie! This is a new house...our new house..don't even think about smoking in here...go to the back patio if you insist on continuing that disgusting habit!" I let out at small giggle at my middle aged mother practically wagging her finger at my twenty three year old brother. He rolled his eyes as she hurried to the kitchen, eager to unload our dishes packed in numerous boxes of varying sizes.
"C'mon," he said slapping my knee as he began for the sliding glass doors that lead to our small back yard. I followed him outside, absently thinking about our old neighborhood and house, which we had lived in all our lives until this point. I had just turned 18 a few months ago, and would be finishing up the last half of my senior semester in a completely foreign school. I wasn't looking too forward to the prospect of having to assimilate to a totally new place with totally different people, in a town much smaller than the outskirts of the city which I had been raised. My friends back home assured me I would be fine, flattering me with compliments about how personable, pretty and popular I was, but I still felt uneasy as any teenage girl would in my position.
I sat across from my brother on one of the metal patio chairs as he lit a cigarette and exhaled a puff of smoke. Our backyard was small, with growing weeds that needed to be trimmed and a decaying wooden fence around its edges. I didn't really see the need for the fence, considering both houses on both sides next to us could easily see everything in our yard from their second story windows.
"Mom's really tripping about the divorce..," my brother suddenly stated. I shrugged, picking at the grass between my bare feet. I hated talking about the divorce, which is why we had moved out here in the first place, but it seemed like Jamie picked at it like a scabbed over wound. Sensing the uncomfortable aura surrounding the subject at hand, he quickly spoke up again
"So, what do you think about starting school here in Bradybunchville?" He quipped. I smirked and pulled my legs into my chair Indian style, about to respond before he suddenly waved a hand at me, stopping my comment midway and starring like a hawk at the house behind me. I turned to see what had caught his attention just in time to see the flash of a curtain dropping back into place at the second story window. It was obvious that someone had been watching us.
I turned back to look at Jamie, who still starred at the window as he exhaled another long trail of smoke.
"Who was it?" I asked in an almost whispered tone, feeling as if we were still being watched. Jamie shrugged and flicked his cigarette, relaxing his posture into a slouching position again.
"Probably some horny housewife that wants deez nuts!" He shouted, making a vulgar gesture with his hands and mouth. He then laughed as I rolled my eyes and glanced at the house behind me once more.
The next day, I woke up around ten to find my mom and brother already gone. I figured they had gone job hunting together as I padded to the kitchen rubbing the sleep away from my brown eyes. I caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror as I walked past the bathroom and stopped to study myself for a moment. I was wearing a white tank top and a pair of blue boxer shorts and my shoulder length brown hair was sticking in every direction. I smoothed it back, figuring I would take a shower after I ate breakfast. I then turned to look at myself sideways in the full length mirror. For eighteen, I felt that I looked younger than most everyone my age. I was about 5'3 and was just starting to develop any sort of curves. I turned back to face the mirror completely and cupped my own breasts in my hands, pushing them together to give the illusion of cleavage, and decided I needed a serious push up bra for my barely B-cupped boobs. I continued through the living room just long enough to see the mail truck passing by our mailbox and decided to see if any of our other belongings we had had shipped through the mail had arrived. I walked outside, first glancing at porch to see if any packages had been laid there, and then made my way to the mailbox. I pulled out the stack of letters, shuffling through them and studying the print of our new address on the white envelopes.
"Hello."
I jumped and let out a small gasp as I looked up to see a man standing only feet away from me at the mailbox next to mine. I blinked as he chuckled, opening his own mailbox saying, "Sorry, I didn't mean to startle you...you must be the new neighbor." He gave a warm smile and extended his hand that wasn't filled with mail. I stood silent for what seemed like forever, starring doe-eyed at this handsome stranger. He looked like he was in his mid thirties, with a handsome, chiseled face and pronounced strong jaw. His hair was trimmed extremely close, almost shaved and seemed like it could be a sandy brown color if it were grown out any length. I followed his well toned, tanned arm down to the hand presented to me and suddenly snapped out of my daze, shifting the letters from one hand to the other and took his hand as he gave me what seemed like the sexiest hand shake I could ever remember receiving. It was hard to look him straight in his eyes, which were a brilliant shade of blue and extremely intense.
"I'm Adam DeLarge I live next door to you, obviously," He grinned letting go of my hand. I nodded stupidly as my brain tried to command my mouth to say something..anything!
"Katie...I-I'm Katie Sellers," I replied before shaking my head and giving an embarrassed laugh. "Sorry, I just woke up...I'm still in a bit of a daze..," I smiled, rubbing my hand through the back of my hair. It was then that I realized that I was standing in my tank top and boxers, with my hair a ratty mess and no make-up. I wrapped my arms over my chest suddenly and began to walk backwards down the driveway to my front door, still facing Adam. I could feel my face growing hotter as I blushed self consciously. "Well um..nice to meet you Mr. DeLarge...see ya later!" I turned on my heels and darted back into my house but not before hearing my neighbor call out, "It's Adam...call me Adam!"
Later that night I got a call from my best friend from back home, Ashley. I was sitting out back on one of the lawn chairs as she described her latest sexual encounter with her boyfriend. She was completely outspoken and told me everything about what was going on with life, including her sex life.
"...and then he asks, 'Well what if I just stick a finger or two in your ass?' And I'm all like, 'Ew! What the fuck?!'," Ashley chatted away as I listened absent mindedly, letting my eyes slowly wander back to the window next door with the red curtain. I blinked as I realized I was starring at Adam's house. Had he been the one watching my brother and I yesterday?
