After days of figuring stuff out, trial and error, starting from scratch and almost giving up hope, the engine finally fired up. Wrenching on your own stuff is very satisfying, but it's fucking frustrating at the moments that your fix doesn't work. I tried once again whether my fix really had worked. I pressed the starter button and... Yes! With a loud roar the bike sprang to live. I twisted the throttle a few times, just for the hell of it. Satisfied I wiped my hands on my jeans and exited my workshop to get a well-earned cup of coffee.
"Was that really necessary? Making that much noise this early in the morning?"
Just as I was entering my garden I heard a woman's voice calling over the fence. Despite living in a quiet neighbourhood, my garden did share its back border with student housing. Normally that's not really a problem. Even though they like to have a party from time to time, most of the time they were model neighbours. Yesterday there had been such a party, I heard noise until 2 at night. I know how it is, I've been a student myself, sometimes you just need to party and make some noise.
"So? Can't you keep the noise down?", a blonde face stared at me from over the fence.
"Sorry neighbour, but it's..." I peered down at my watch, "eleven AM. It's not my problem that you partied all night long. But no worries, I was just heading inside to grab a cup of coffee. So I can continue making noise the rest of this afternoon." The last bit was said with a kind of cocky grin. Screw her and her complaints.
Without waiting for her reply I turned around and headed for the kitchen door.
The college girl had probably been sunbathing in the garden. She and her housemates often did that. I could see into their garden from my office window. Last summer, tight female bodies in bikinis were a regular occurrence in their garden. Every time I noticed that I was peeping I kinda felt like a dirty old man, despite the fact that at 28 years old I really was not that much older than them. Summer was almost over, and with it the view. Apparently this neighbour had decided to take advantage of one of the last few nice days left.
The rest of the day passed quietly, I finished my coffee, made a few sandwiches for lunch, fiddled with the motorcycle a bit and, following the example of the preppy neighbour, put down a lawn chair to enjoy one of the last sunny afternoons of the season. I put on some music in my earplugs and closed my eyes to relax.
Ouch!
Soon I was roughly snapped out of my relaxed state by something hard landing on my chest. I opened my eyes and saw that it was a bottle cap. As I watched another cap sailed over the fence, hitting me right between my eyes.
"Hey! What the fuck?!", I yelled.
"Oh sorry, sorry, sorry, I called but you didn't respond, so I wanted to get your attention." It was the same college girl who had been complaining about my motorcycle. She was a little sweaty, I saw a pearl of sweat slowly disappear from her collarbone over her sternum into her cleavage. With her blonde locks wild in her face, she actually looked pretty cute.
"Well you succeeded in attracting attention, what do you want?" I was annoyed at the dampener she had put on my big win on my hitherto stubborn motorcycle.
"Sorry neighbour, but you're very handy, aren't you? Can you please help us? The washing machine suddenly stopped working." She tried her best to smile innocently. Something that she was very good at. To my chagrin, she had found my weakness, blondes with innocent eyes. I got up and put on my shirt. Just before I pulled the shirt over my head, I saw that the student let her eyes wander over my naked torso. I do try to stay in shape by exercising regularly, but ever since I got an office job I noticed that regular exercise became increasingly difficult. Getting attention from a pretty student was a nice confidence boost. I was about to say no, but after that ego booster I guess I could try to find out what was wrong with their washing machine for a few minutes.
"What's your house number? I'll grab my tools and see you there."
A few minutes later I was ringing the bell of the student house. The same student opened the door. Still dressed in just a bikini. With no fence to obscure her I had a better opportunity to appraise her. Long blonde hair to just past her shoulders, green eyes, a nice full mouth and modest breasts. Apparently I hadn't been very subtle in my appraisal, because when I returned my gaze upwards I saw a small smile in the corner of her mouth. She held out her hand, "You're really helping us out! My name is Emily by the way."
I shook her hand, "Sam."
"Follow me, the washing machine is upstairs." Emily turned to lead the way. As she walked up the stairs I had time to admire her back. Beautiful long slender legs that ended in two perfect buttocks. Not too thick, but nice and round, just the way I liked them.
Even if she realised that I was admiring her body, she didn't show it. At the landing she led me through a narrow corridor with three closed doors to a small room. "Here it is."
After a few minutes of fiddling around I realised what was wrong, because of all the vibrations a pin on the circuit board had come loose. After I put the pin back in place, I tested the washing machine. Just after the machine made some sounds, Emily happily came my way. "Oh neighbour, great! Now I can finally do my laundry. Did you know this bikini is about the only clean clothes I had left?"
I couldn't help looking at her again, this time she definitely saw me, I decided to take my chance and said, "I can't say I have anything to complain about."
She just chuckled and turned around. "And the back?"
"Even less to complain."
"Can I get you anything to thank you?"
"Oh, no need, it only took a few minutes."
"Just a beer then? That's the least I can do."
She led me through the cramped hallway into a combined kitchen and living room. It was clear that they had been partying here yesterday, the room was still full of empty beer bottles and the floor was sticky from spilled booze. In the corner, a coffee maker sat lazily evaporating the last of the coffee.
"Make yourself comfortable"
I looked around, the only available seat was a spot on the sofa.
After a few seconds Emily came back with two beers. She looked around for a moment and then sat down next to me on the same sofa. "Sorry about the mess, we had a party yesterday."
"Yeah, I heard the noise, it was hard to miss. Looks like it was a good party."