It was around four in the morning when David's body refused to let him keep sleeping in as he'd planned for his first day off in forever. The energy needed to be burned off somehow and he wasn't the type to lie in bed on his phone until the light coming through his window made even that impossible to continue with. He tied on his running shoes and took off down the street. He'd have to get off the early shift soon, he thought, it was doing weird things to his circadian rhythms just because the company had a lot of guys going through school who needed the swing shift.
As the guy who'd marketed himself to the boss for "being available whenever", he was sure that getting jerked around between schedules would give him health problems sooner or later. Likely later, he still felt pretty good after getting back in shape after his brief stint in college; the bachelor's degree hadn't been so hard to obtain and just as soon as he got it, suddenly they wanted a master's for advancement. So fuck them. He'd probably quit when he finally had enough, get that advancement he wanted by putting himself out to similar fields with more self respect than he'd had four years prior.
He barely thought at all after the first mile. Coming back around the block, he saw his ex's place and began thinking again. Alright, she likely didn't still live there after a couple years, and he hadn't seen her since the breakup even though it had been mutually civil, but he was still a man. Maybe she'd appreciate how fit he'd gotten, jump into his toned arms and rub her head against his firm chest, fold her arms around his flat belly... He wouldn't have wanted her back if he though she was that kind of girl anyway, but it was a nice daydream.
Such a nice daydream that he was thankful his blood was all in his legs at the moment. He still hadn't visited one of
those
places yet, but there was always a temptation when you lived in the city and there was seemingly one every few blocks, if just a single booth...
David forced himself on for a few more miles, until his mind was crystal clear and free of impurity, frustration of many kinds. He arrived at the front door of his apartment building around six, judging by the position of the sun and the time of year, and his watch.
Down in the lobby, making him regret how drenched in sweat he was, was miss Palm, his neighbor.
Happily plump and curvy with proud laugh lines, miss Palm was the sort that sat quietly in the background of a red-blooded man's mind, waiting for a moment to strike on a lonely night. Seeing her with his blood already hot didn't help one bit. She turned to him with a lovely smile and a genial nod, then approached, and he had no polite way to escape upstairs.
"Mister Rheis, lovely to see that someone is peppy this morning." She grabbed his upper arm shamelessly and squeezed his bicep, nodded in approval. "Why, just the other day, I was trying to get myself out of bed with a crowbar, haha, joking of course, but with Ryan away, I feel like the housework can wait a few days while I sleep in. Do you keep your apartment very clean? I imagine you do." She did have a way of stealing people's responses and continuing the conversation with or without their input, so David simply pursed his lips in a tight smile and nodded along. "Oh, I've heard stories about how bachelors can be, but you don't seem the type to let your home get messy. Very clean, I say about you to people. What people? Well, you know, people who are interested. My church group wonders if you'd like to come to a service one of these days, not that we're going to be pushy about it since we know you're lapsed, and my knitting friends have seen you once or twice in passing. You know how old ladies gossip."
David made sure to cut in with a laugh. "I wouldn't call you an old lady, miss Palm. Early twenties, am I right?"
She playfully whapped his chest with a balled-up fist and wavered with her blush. "You're a cute liar, but I am still a married woman. And there you go with that 'miss' nonsense. Haven't we known each other long enough for you to call me Vivian?"
You still call me Rheis, but if that's how you want to play it.
"My bad, Viv. Anyway, I've got to go and wash up. I'll see you around?" He turned to start up the stairs before she gave her answer to a question that was really only a polite goodbye.
"Actually, Davie~" she said, picking up the ball, "I was hoping to talk to you today, if you have the time? It's a bit sensitive, so could I come up to your room-" she blushed still more rosy, "-once you've finished your shower?"
Oh no, oh fuck... Don't tell me this is that, now that her husband's out of town. Well, it's not like she isn't attractive, in a friend's mom sort of way...
David stopped on the first step, deep in thought for a suspiciously long time before breaking down. He could always turn her down gently if his morals held up to temptation once he was done cleaning up. And there was always that booth down the street if he
really
needed some attention today...
"Alright, Vivian. Should I call when I'm ready for you?" he said.
She grabbed his wrist and pulled him down from the first step, then raised slightly on the balls of her feet to kiss his cheek. "Viv. It's Viv; don't chicken out now, okay? And yes, just call me over when you
want me
."
Gulp
.