"Hey, mister..."
I stopped and turned to face the opposite door. The voice was unfamiliar and sounded a little hesitant.
I live in an apartment building where everyone kept to themselves. No reason why... it wasn't a bad neighborhood. It was just quiet. I guess everyone liked it that way. Which was why I was a little puzzled as to why my neighbor suddenly felt compelled to talk to me.
At least, I assumed it was me. There was nobody around at that hour. I'd come home early from work that day because I'd decided I'd had enough of dealing with idiot bosses and even more silly customers. When I'd walked up to my apartment, I'd been looking forward to a nice rest of the day, with no one to bother me.
"Hey," I said to the half-hidden face peering at me from behind the door jamb. "Sup?"
OK, I'm not exactly young anymore, but I knew who I was speaking to, and I knew enough from my interactions with young people (customers and bosses) that its best to speak their lingo. At the very least, it would make my own utterances comprehensible.
My neighbor's daughter pushed the door open a little more and stood straight. She was a plain girl, not given to wearing make-up. I'd hardly noticed her till now, but as she adjusted the black-rimmed spectacles to sit more comfortably on her snub nose, I realized she wasn't that bad looking. I guess the other young girls with all their make-up (false lashes and all) would put this one in the shade. A pity, that. She wasn't a looker, but she was still quite sweet looking, once you got past the huge spectacles and the occasional blemish on the skin.
I suppose I should've asked her name or something, but like I said, the people who lived in the same building kept to themselves. We never asked each other questions nor even showed an interest in the goings-on in any apartment, regardless of what we could hear through the walls. After all, the loud arguments, crashing tableware, crying or screaming would end soon enough. And they never did last too long, anyway.
Maybe I was too surprised by the fact that she was actually speaking to me to do or say anything other than to repeat myself: "Sup?"
She looked a little nervous, like a kid with her hand caught in the cookie jar, except that she was no kid. At least, I didn't think so. She was quite tall, almost as tall as I was, and she wore her hair in a short crop around her pixie face. Her eyes darted up and down, looking me in the eye and down again at the floor as she spoke to me.
"Can you... help me?" she stammered, her anxiety and embarrassment quite apparent in her speech and behavior. Her legs were crossed beneath her, like she needed to pee quite desperately, and her arms were held behind her back.
I thought the better of returning her request with a snappy reply. She looked so unsure it was almost painful to watch. Instead, I said to her quite gently: "What do you need my help with?"
"I... ummm... there's something wrong. With our water. No one's home and... and I wanna take a bath. I don't know what to do..."
Hmmm. OK. For a brief moment, I wondered if it was a prank of some sort. The things the young people get into these days, it wouldn't have surprised me if it was. I suppose it was really dumb of me to dismiss the thought so quickly, but... well, she did look quite pathetic. Ignoring my initial urge to tell her to wait for her father to get home (so that I could go about getting the half-day off that I had been so looking forward to), I slipped my keys back into my pocket and stepped towards her.
She shrank a little back into her apartment, and I thought she would've slammed the door shut in my face if I'd been nearer to her, but she stood up straight again and pushed the door open.
"Do you know where your water mains are?"
"It's not. I mean, the problem is with our heater."
"Oh I see. Well, I don't know if I can help. I'm not a plumber or electrician, but I know a good one..."
"No. No, that's not... it'll take too long," she shook her head determinedly, her tone and demeanor surprising me. Maybe my initial impression of her as a mouse wasn't as accurate as I'd thought.
"I'm really not sure if I can help you, then."
"Oh. OK. I guess. Never m..."
"Oh alright," I said, feeling sorry for her. She really looked... I don't know how to describe it. She looked as if she was relieved and as if she was about to cry at the same time. I really didn't think I could help the poor girl, but I thought I should give it a try, if only so she wouldn't look so miserable. "I'll take a look at your fusebox to see if anything's been tripped."
She looked surprised, then a little pleased. And, to be truthful, I thought she looked a little afraid at the same time. Good grief. I opened my mouth to say I wasn't going to do anything to her, but closed it again. Not exactly a smart thing to say to a girl who looked afraid of you... and who was also inviting you into her apartment. Damn, I must be really tired, I thought to myself. Where was I going with these thoughts? She was just a neighbor asking for help, that's all. Nothing else to it.
A key turned in the gate separating the girl and myself, and the door swung out towards me. She had stepped back out of sight, but the open gate was an invitation to enter, I guess. Oh well. Putting the nagging doubts to rest in my mind, I slipped off my shoes and stepped over the threshold and into the apartment.
I realized I had been mooned (however inadvertently) the moment I stepped into the apartment. The girl had been reaching up to put something on an upper shelf. Because she had been wearing the kind of dress/blouse that young women like today - you know, the type that looks too short to be a dress yet too long to be a blouse - I had thought she was wearing a pair of shorts under that, as was the fashion today, but no, she was most certainly not. She was completely commando underneath. I had a good view of her ass cheeks flexing as she stood on tiptoe to reach the shelf, then returning to their lovely roundness when she was done. Her backside was vanilla white, along with the rest of her legs... it looked like she wasn't one to go swimming much... and was enticingly luscious enough without being too heavy.
I took all that in, in the few moments I got a look at her naked ass. Then she turned around and I wondered if she knew I'd noticed she wasn't wearing any pants. She looked a little embarrassed, but then again, she had been a little shy to begin with, so I couldn't tell for sure why she was that way.
"Uh. Ummm... the heater's this way," she seemed to speak to the floor between my feet. Then she turned and swiftly walked into a room.
"Hey... you forgot... Here, I'll shut the door for you."
"OK," her reply was terse, but her tone was still tentative.
I shut the front door, pausing before I walked into the room after her. She was waiting for me in what looked like her bedroom. There were plush toys on the single bed, and framed photos of a much younger version of the girl who stood in front of me on the desk next to the window. The curtains fluttered slightly with the slight breeze, and a young woman's scent - don't ask me to describe it, I only know it when I smell it - permeated the room.
"Wow. Nice room," I said, hoping to allay any fears she might have had about my being in her room.
"Thanks. I... ummm... this is my room."
"Uh huh. It's nice. Very you."