Neighbors

He grabbed a beer from the fridge without turning on the lights and headed out to the back balcony to look at the stars, then he heard the splash in the pool. He looked over the edge and saw her as she kicked fluidly from one end of the pool to the other, pulling her arms through the water as she swam. He couldn't believe it; the line of her body was gorgeous. The way she kicked at her ankles and twisted her hips as she flew through the water. He watched her swim several laps then she turned to switch to the backstroke. The back of her head was towards his balcony and she hadn't seen him. He watched when she arched her back as she windmilled her arms above her. Her breasts rising out of the water her suit stretched across her body. Her entire body seemed to glow in the moonlight. His body tensed as he watched her. He gripped the balcony rail tightly and pressed his hips against it to steady himself.

As she reached the other end, she twisted to swim the other direction and as she looked up she saw him. Her heart flew to her throat; she bent at the waist almost sinking into the pool, before she felt the anger. She straightened her back and kicked harder, swimming fast for the other end. All the while she had been swimming she had fought to keep him out of her head. She had thoroughly convinced herself that she would keep her distance from him. She didn't need to be distracting herself with thoughts of a man and a romance that was doomed to fail. "My god," she thought. "All he had done was smile and wave to you, and you've got romance on your brain." Nope, her new job was going to keep her too busy for any thoughts of this, and she didn't need the eventual heartbreak. Besides, someone like him would certainly have a girlfriend, and if for some reason he at the moment did not, he could probably pick the one he would want, and why would it be her? So she swam more peacefully, content that she had nipped this in the bud. Then she turned and saw him standing there. He was watching her swim, and the moonlight from behind him cast a long shadow across his face. She could see him holding the balcony rail, leaning into it. He had taken off the jacket he had been wearing and she admired the broad expanse of chest, his shoulders and arms covered in a tight dark T-shirt. She almost panicked. "What the hell was he doing?" she thought to herself. "How dare he!" was her second thought, and then she got mad. No one had ever looked at her the way he was, and she fought against the feelings that were rising in her body. She was both exhilarated as she felt heat course through her abdomen with the feel of his eyes on her body, but she also felt pissed off. "What a jerk!" she thought. She guessed he probably looked at a lot of women this way and she felt used. She thought for sure he had noticed the eye contact they had made when she turned around, before she had turned her eyes straight to the sky out of anger. She kept swimming, assuming he would leave, but out of her peripheral vision she could see he was still there. Why was he still watching? With every stroke she became more and more self- conscious about her body, knowing he could see in full view everything about her shape. When she first saw him, she thought he smiled, but now he looked serious, his eyes dark and his mouth tight. "Why didn't he leave?" she wondered again. Her mind begging him to leave so she could stop swimming and get back to her townhouse with any dignity left at all. She wouldn't give him the satisfaction of driving her from the pool. She wasn't about to climb out and walk before that gaze, especially the way she felt about her body in her swimming suit.

"Shit," he thought when she turned and saw him. He was caught, doing the very thing again, that he had wanted to apologize for. When she looked at him, he had tried to smile, try to make it all right. He noticed she faltered, bent her body in the water, but then she straightened it, and turned her head upward, consciously not looking at him. He stood there stuck, panicked. "Now what?" he thought. He couldn't move. "Think, think man... how are you going to get yourself out of this?" He kept watching her, she was so graceful, gliding through the water, he knew she must be able to see him out of her peripheral vision, but she was ignoring him, she just kept swimming. He should go down there. He should apologize right now. Try to explain. But he feared if he turned away she would bolt. Somehow he knew the reason she kept swimming was because she was waiting for him to leave. Could he get down to the pool before she got to her door? He had to try. He timed it so that when she turned the lap away from him he could get a head start. She wouldn't realize he had left the balcony until she turned around.

He raced through his bedroom. Hurdled down the stairs and turned to open the sliding door out to the backyard. He grabbed his leg as the throbbing pain of running into the coffee table full speed had almost knocked him down. He grimaced and pulled on the door. It was locked! Damn, by now she would have turned around and seen him gone. He tried to undo the lock; he fumbled and cursed in Hebrew. Finally it opened. He jumped out and saw her standing with her towel by the sun chair. He slowed himself, if he ran he knew he'd scare the death out of her, but now he knew she couldn't walk past him without at least acknowledging his presence. As he strode towards the pool, his mind raced, what in the world should he say?

She turned her lap in the pool and saw he was gone. "Thank god," she murmured and kicked herself to the ladder to get out. She had assumed he had finally seen enough to draw his own conclusion about her and that would be the end of it. She never expected him to come down to the pool. She stood by the sun chair, using her towel to wipe the water off her suit and legs. She pulled the band out of her braid and tried to pull her hair loose. Then she saw him coming. She looked down at her feet. "Breathe," she said out loud. Panic racing through her body, there was nowhere to go.

He slowed as he stood at the gate to the pool. She wasn't looking at him, but he knew she had to sense he was there. He opened it up, as she finished wrapping her towel tightly around herself.

"Hi," he started.

"Hello," she answered, barely looking up.

"I wanted to apologize... I didn't mean to... I didn't think anyone was outside when I went out on the balcony... I didn't mean to... " He let it drift off. This was going oh so well... he thought to himself. She wouldn't even look at him.

But then, she stood upright and looked him square in the eyes. "I'm Abby." She stuck out her hand to shake his.

She was letting him off the hook and he knew it. Her eyes were difficult to read. They shined, with anger, he thought, but they were also cloudy. He smiled at her and hoped she would smile back. She did, but it was cautious. He couldn't blame her. "I'm Oded," he said as he took her hand in his. Her fingers were long and the back of her hand was lightly tanned. Her palm was cold, probably from being in the water this long; it was getting chilly out here. Her handshake was sure and confident but it was also brief. At least briefer then he had hoped. He cautiously felt his confidence returning. Maybe there was hope yet.

She didn't know why she had stood up and faced him. He had taken advantage of her. But here he stood, trying to apologize and doing a horrible job. She imagined he must have run from the balcony to get here this quickly and she smiled to herself, he really must have felt bad about watching her like that, or at least he felt bad about getting caught. Her mother and father had taught her to be forgiving, and it wasn't in her Minnesota upbringing to let people squirm unnecessarily. So she let him off the hook. When she looked up into his face her heart started to race. He was amazing. She was amused at what she saw, his eyes were dark and troubled and the way he was running his hands through his short hair and fidgeting from leg to leg made it obvious he was uncomfortable. "Good," she thought to herself, he deserved to feel uncomfortable. But that didn't make her feel any less nervous. Regardless, she swallowed the butterflies and extended her hand. Her voice actually came out of her throat sounding almost normal. All that training in the classroom had finally served her well. She could speak and hide her nervousness. He took her hand when she offered it. It was like she had touched fire. His fingers were longer than hers and his palms were broad and warm. He gently squeezed her hand and she could feel electricity run through her body. "Get control of yourself," she thought to herself, he had only touched her hand. Then she heard his voice. It was low and deep and slightly accented. It oozed with warmth and bravado. "Oded?" she thought to herself, interesting name. She pulled her hand away from his ever so slightly, and he let go. But the electricity in her body was still zooming up and down her spine, and in a very new and unfamiliar way she felt this intense heat pool between her legs. She shivered as she looked up at him.

He watched her and saw the shiver and goosebumps on her arm. "You must be getting cold," he said. "It's getting chilly out here." He smiled that million-dollar smile.

"I guess I am." She hugged her arms around herself. She smiled back at him. "Who was this guy?" she thought to herself, standing here apologizing to her of all people. She didn't think she had ever seen anyone like him before, let alone have him smile at her like that. She suddenly felt very warm inside as the goosebumps disappeared. "I should probably get into some dry clothes." She half turned towards the gate. She had no idea what she should say to this man.

He stopped her. He actually reached out and put his hand on her bare shoulder to stop her from leaving. He couldn't let her go yet. But his heart was racing as fast as hers was, and his brain was cloudy. His body ached to touch this woman. The feel of her skin under his fingers startled him. She was strong, but her skin was as soft as silk. "Wait... Please?" he asked. "I was wondering... " He paused. He seemed to have no control of what was coming out of his mouth. You'd think he had never spoken to a woman before. "Come on 'ded," he thought to himself. "Get yourself under control." He took a breath; she was looking at him, expectantly, patiently as he held her shoulder. Her eyes now sparkled.

He dropped his hand from her shoulder. She felt the cold night air on her skin where his hand had been and missed his touch. She waited while he struggled to get the words out. She had hid her nervousness much better than he was hiding his, and she almost laughed to realize she had caused him this much confusion.

"Abby," he started, "let me try this again... I'm really sorry if I startled you from my balcony. I really didn't know you were swimming down here when I went out there. I realized when you looked up at me, that I probably had scared you. Up until now, I've been about the only person to use the pool, I was surprised to find anyone else in it." He told her mostly the truth... but somehow he didn't feel like he was getting to the point. "What was the point?" he wondered to himself. He was punting here and not doing very well. But at least she was looking at him and didn't seem to be upset.

She interrupted, "That's okay, but you're right you did startle me a little..."

"I actually had tried to come over to your place earlier to introduce myself, offer to help you unload your car, but you must have just finished."

"Really? I didn't hear the door."

He knew where this was headed and quickly decided he wasn't going to go down that path. He wasn't about to bring up the shower. "I was hoping to welcome you to the neighborhood, and offer to make you dinner." Whoa, that had slipped out before he could take it back. "Smooth 'ded, I'm sure that won't scare her off," he thought.

"You cook?" she asked, perhaps a little bit too surprised.

"Yes...Why? Don't I look like I can cook?" He noticed she seemed to be relaxing, she didn't have her arms wrapped so tightly around herself anymore, and her hair was starting to dry around the edges and fly around her face a little. She was truly beautiful. She had light sun kissed blonde streaks, against the darker blonde of her natural color. "Natural color?" he thought, he couldn't remember the last time he had met a women with natural hair color... he could never predict what their roots would really look like. And she also had a touch of gray. "Yep," he thought. "She's definitely not just out of college."

She decided not to answer his question about whether he looked like he could cook. "Dinner would be nice, thank you," she replied. "When?"

"Tomorrow?"

"Sure... can I bring anything?"

"No, no... besides I don't even know what I'll make yet." He chuckled. She smiled at him again.

"Well then, until tomorrow," she turned again to leave... "What time?"

"5:00?" He realized a little late that this was on the early side for dinner, but he knew he wanted to have as much time with her as he could. He blushed a little.

"Fine... " She looked at him, was he blushing? She thought he was, but that olive skin and the darkness around them made it hard to tell. She smiled inwardly, and although she didn't realize it, a little outwardly as well, as a blush of her own crept up her cheeks. "I'll see you tomorrow... Oded." She turned and walked to the gate. With shaking fingers she lifted the latch and walked up the sidewalk, letting the gate close behind her. She wanted to turn around to see if he was watching her, but she didn't need to, she could feel his gaze and knew he was. She had to try hard not to skip to her door as her feet felt like flying.

He smiled as he watched her walk away. He had seen her blush at the dinner invitation and the little smile on her face as she said goodbye and had said his name. It sounded different coming from her mouth. It sounded soft and warm. He liked that. He liked her. He had hoped after thinking about her all day that she wouldn't turn out to be like all the other women he had met and been involved with, and he knew now that she wasn't. She seemed almost shy, and he could swear there was some innocence about her he had not sensed in other women. It was almost as if she wasn't even aware of how attractive she was, or what effect she must have had on a lot of men in her life. He sat in the sun chair after she went in the house, and looked up at the stars for a while. Thinking about how their first conversation had gone. He was usually much more charming he thought, he certainly hadn't swept her off her feet. He hadn't even asked her last name, or found out anything about her. At dinner tomorrow he would dazzle her, he thought. Or at least he would try very hard to not make an ass out of himself. He rubbed his leg gingerly and pulled up his pant leg to look at his shin. He was going to have a nasty bruise but the cut had already stopped bleeding. "Serves you right," he thought to himself. He smiled as he thought about her. He wondered what she was doing. Probably in the shower he thought. But he wasn't about to tempt fate again, although he did allow himself to lay his head back against the chair and relive the fantasy he had had earlier about helping her wash her hair.