Part One:
My life had taken a turn for the better and I felt a thirst for it in a way I never had before. At 27, I had been divorced for about a year after a brief marriage to a douchebag. Luckily, I had been smart enough to see it before we were married for very long. And we had had no children, so that was also good. I was grateful for all these things and I caught myself grinning as I was driving home in the rain.
It had been a long week. I had begun my new job as a Certified Medical Assistant in a doctor's office, and it's never easy to be the new kid on the block. I had moved to California from Montana about three weeks ago, and I still hadn't gotten everything out of the boxes yet -- it was a slow process. There were just so many other things to worry about in a new place. But tonight, after a chicken dinner, I was planning to empty the boxes for good and call California my permanent home.
My dog, named Buddy, had been hanging around me when I initially moved in with my U-Haul. It looked like he didn't belong to anyone. Any pet owner knows what I'm talking about. You take to them very fast and they become a part of your family. Buddy was very outdoorsy and I took him in to have all his shots and on Monday was his big "operation" to nuke his manhood so there was no little Buddys running around, in case he was to escape.
I lived in a decent apartment complex and even had kind of a crush on one of the neighbors named Marty. He looked maybe mid-30's or so. He and I had talked several times, making chit chat, but I didn't know anything about him, except that I was very attracted to him. I wasn't even sure if he was single, but he began to pop up in my fantasies and dreams. He had the apartment above me, and I didn't hear any sexual activity, so I took that as a good sign that he was single, but still, one never knew for sure. But one thing was for sure, I had my big blue eye on him.
I popped in a Hungry Man dinner for myself in the oven (I never claimed to be June Cleaver!), took off my clothes and slipped on my bathrobe and began to unpack the remainder of my boxes as Buddy looked on with big, curious eyes, his tail flipping back and forth across the rug with interest.
Part Two:
The next morning was Saturday. I had hooked Buddy's leash up to his collar and we went into the elevator. The managers of the complex didn't mind dogs in the building as long as they were under 20 lbs. and Buddy was a small Beagle/Welsh Corgi mix.
Once outside, he liked to trot along, do his business and sniff at the twigs. I sensed someone was behind me. I shaded my eyes and turned and saw Marty coming towards us.
"Who've you got there?" He asked pointing to Buddy.
I smiled. "This is Buddy."
"Hi there, Buddy," Marty put his hand down so that Buddy could sniff it. "You look nice today, Melanie."
"Thank you," I said.
I was wearing a white, spring dress with a floral print on it that ended at my knees and a pair of sandals. Marty was wearing a t-shirt and a grungy pair of jeans. They looked like they could use a washing, but they also looked kind of sexy that way.
"So what are your plans for the day?" He asked.
"I don't know yet. How about you?" I asked him. Buddy wanted to go further up the walk, so we followed him.
"Not much. I was planning on doing some grocery shopping, but I think I'll put it off till tomorrow."
"You? Grocery shopping?" I tilted my head back and laughed.
"Why is that so unbelievable?" He asked.
I looked at him. He was dead serious. "Well, you made it this far on your own," I told him. "I guess it's not so ridiculous."
"Thank you," he said and rolled his eyes. "Jesus, you women are all alike. You all have the same mind."
"Nobody's making you stay here and talk to me," I said to him. "Go ahead and leave if you don't like it."
He stomped off, muttering something under his breath. After he was out of earshot, I muttered something to myself as well.
Part Three:
Awhile after I had walked Buddy, my new friend Caroline came over to my apartment for lunch, which I fixed with white wine. We talked about Marty and we agreed I had been rude to him and he deserved an apology. I was never good at apologies, and he seemed like a very sensitive guy, so I had to word it right.
Did I mention I liked white wine?
After Caroline left, I went to the liquor store and picked up another bottle of white wine -- this one was for Marty. I went to his apartment and rapped on the door. He opened it and looked at me defiantly. At 5'8", I was looking at him eye-to-eye. He was wrong if he thought he could intimidate me.
"Marty, I just wanted to apologize for making fun of you earlier. I bought this for you." I handed him the bottle of wine, or tried to, because he had the door open only partially.
He couldn't help but grin. "Oh? For me? Thank you." He read the bottle's label. "This certainly looks very fancy. I should go drink this now." And at that he quietly shut the door in my face.
What an asshole.
I stood there for a moment, laughing at my predicament. I was crazy-nuts over this kooky guy and here he was planning to get high with this bottle I had given him.
I went back to my apartment and did a little bit of cleaning, then went to my bedroom, lied down and watched some television. Buddy curled up to me, my trustworthy and loyal man. I fell asleep and woke up about an hour-and-a-half later. My bedroom was on the fourth floor and has one window and I heard a tapping on it. What the heck...?
I turned on the light and peeked out the curtains. There was Marty, drunk as a skunk, standing in the grass, throwing pebbles at my window! I opened the lower half of the window and yelled out from behind the screen.
"What are you doing Marty? Why didn't you just come to my door?"
"Oh, Melanie, Baby, I'm so sorry for the way I acted today," he held his hands over his heart and fell to his knees. "Will you please come town and dalk to me? I won't ever bother you for, like, anything ever again."
I groaned. "Oh, alright. Hang on a minute."
I took the stairs, as they would be faster, still dressed in my dress of that day. Marty tried to stand up when he saw me, but he fell back on his knees.
By this time it was dark outside. "Marty, come on, we should get you inside," I said, trying to pick him up under his arms, throwing one of his arms around my shoulders. He could pick up his feet a little bit.
"Melanie, ohh, I'm sick, I drank that whole damn bottle and I think I had some in my house, but I'm not sure."
Once we got in the elevator he seemed to be perfectly comfortable slumped over against the wall, so I let him stay there till we got to floor five. The elevator door moved to the side and I took him by his hands and slid him onto his floor, in front of his door. I searched the front of his jeans for his keychain. By this time he was out cold. I found the key and put him in bed, unbuckling his belt and taking off his boots. He was sure to regret this in the morning.
Part Four:
A few days had passed and I hadn't seen Marty. There were no antics at my window, no words spoken during my dog walks. I let him be, like I thought he most likely wanted and Buddy was recovering from his operation.
Marty was still the center of my sexual fantasies, even though I couldn't figure him out. He had gotten drunk on his ass and made a fool of himself to which Caroline suggested he was most likely embarrassed and hiding from me. I thought about this theory and thought it might be possible, but I wanted him more than ever. He was reckless, bad, rough -- the kind of man my father would warn me about. He held down steady work in construction and I had seen the size of his hands when we were getting our mail at the same time awhile back; they were nice and big. He couldn't have been any taller than 5'9" and he was out to impress no one (as the readers can gather.) And all these things made him the most erotic creature I had ever come across. He was of average weight, but I noticed his thighs were thick and strong.
The Thursday morning after his drunken stupor I was putting the finishing touches on my make-up while I was getting ready for work when I heard a knock at the door. I looked through the peephole. It was Marty. I opened it and smiled.