An iron grey cloud passed overhead as Jenny skipped from the bus, kicking up the puddles from the earlier downpour. Just then,the 18-year old student with strawberry blonde hair tied in bunches realised her mistake: the bag visible through the window in the seat she'd just vacated. Waving frantically, the driver oblivious cut an oblique path into the line of traffic and sped off. Cursing under her breath, Jenny memorised the number plate before traipsing home dejectedly.
The first fresh spots of rain began to sprinkle as she reached the gate, praying someone might be home though knowing full well it could be an hour or more before either parent finished work. Her keys, mobile phone and a whole lot of other stuff gone with the bus, she shivered on the step, pushing the bell hard with her thumb as the heavens opened. Yet the house's darkness told its own story. It wasn't even as if she could take shelter, no porch above the front foor and a solid wooden gate barring access to the back garden.
****
Inside his adjoining house, 36-year old neighbour Mark switched on the light against the covering of dark, cracked open a beer and set himself down to watch TV. An anxious glance outside at the rain, any prospect of going for a run had been quashed by the storm.
Suddenly there was a volley of knocks on the door and he rose slowly to answer.
****
By now Jenny was soaked through and frankly desperate. Then she saw the light come on in the neighbour's window. Fairly new to the area, Jenny had seen the husband a handful of times on her way to college and he had always given her a smile without being talkative.
Mark lifted back the door to see the bedraggled teen rubbing her arms, rain streaking her face. ''Scuse me, I've locked myself out...'
He smiled. 'You'd better...quick come inside before you catch a death of cold.'
'Thanks,' she whispered. 'My mum'll be home soon.
Jenny closed the door behind her, feeling the sheet of warmth radiate down the hallway.
'You want to wait till she gets home?' enquired Mark, the words met by a nod. 'Let me get you a hot drink and a towel.'
'Thanks,' she repeated, following his eyes.
They fell to where her white shirt stuck to a bra that covered a pair of firm average size pear shaped breasts. In fact, Jenny could best be described as average all round: height, weight and pretty without lighting up a room. Not short of male admirers, she nonetheless remained a virgin, liking the idea of sex without being filled with desperation. Somehow though the boys her age did little to fire her imagination.
Suddenly she recalled the day these new neighbours moved in, watching from behind the curtains as Mark's muscled arms rippled as he helped carry the furniture. Jenny had gone all acquiver, especially when he glanced up and caught her spying.
As he turned and headed away, the student in his hallway admired the tight backside in the jogging bottoms. She heard the kettle flick on and the neighbour approach, holding a towel.
'I'm Jenny,' she smiled, the warmth of the house penetrating her arms and bare legs.