by Jamie Knight
“Good night,” I said, walking toward the bathroom. I just hoped that he would stay awake long enough for the plan to happen.
After getting settled, I walked into the bathroom and turned on the shower. I got the water as hot as I could get it and the steam started to fill the air. I pushed the door closed, making sure to keep it open about a foot. I tried to peek around the corner, to see where Bradley was, but through the cloud of smoke and the darkness of the hallway, I couldn’t see anything.
Well, I could only hope that I put on enough of a show that he will be curious and come take a peek, I thought. I peeled off my clothes one piece at a time, being deliberate with each motion.
After I had taken off each article of clothing and had thrown them across the room, I put my ear to the door to see if I could hear anything. If he was standing out there, he was as still as a statue because I couldn’t hear a sound.
I sighed, frustrated that I didn’t know if my plan was working or not, but I decided to keep with it and see what would happen. I got into the shower and let the hot water cascade down my body.
The water felt glorious as it soaked me from head to toe. I put my head under the shower, feeling the hot stream covering my face. I peeked through the sheer shower curtain to see if I could see a shadow or a body standing in the doorway.
Still nothing.
I tried to think of what I could possibly do to get his attention. He might have already fallen asleep. My heart sunk thinking that he had. But I had already come too far to turn back.
I did the only thing that I could think to do. I started singing loudly. I was not a very good singer and I knew it.
In fact, I had had the terrible experience of having that confirmed at a very young age by a very candid classmate in middle school. I was at an age when puberty was not playing very nice. I was self-conscious about everything. My appearance. My personality. Everything. So, when our music class was preparing a show for a local nursing home, I thought that my voice would blend in enough with the rest of the class that my bad singing would go unnoticed.
Unfortunately, that was not the case.
We hadn't even gotten through the first stanza of You Are My Sunshine before Ricky, the class clown, who conveniently had been standing next to me, turned toward me and gave me a look of complete disgust, like I had puked on his shoulder or something.
“Oh, man! Your voice stinks!” he yelled loudly, plugging up his nose with his fingers and waving his hand back and forth as if he were fanning the air in front of him.
Everyone broke out in loud and obnoxious laughter. I remember being surrounded in a sea of laughing faces and feeling mortified. I ran out of the music classroom and hid in the bathroom.
On the day that we were supposed to go sing at the nursing home, I pretended to be sick and stayed home. I didn't want a repeat of that music class. After that, I made it a point not to sing in public anymore.
And yet, there I was, standing naked in the shower, with the door slightly opened, belting out loud, in hopes that my terrible voice would make Bradley round the corner, wondering what breed of animal might have been dying in the bathroom.
I sang about four songs, peeking out to check if I had acquired an audience. I still didn't see him. I was very disappointed that my plan didn't work. I felt kind of silly thinking that it would have worked in the first place. There was a reason why that waitress movie was a work of fiction. Because the characters in the story acted according to the will of the writer, not the way that they would in real life.
I walked out of the bathroom, completely naked, in the direction of my bedroom, in one last ditch effort to see if I could run into Bradley. I didn't, though. I could hear the drone of the TV blaring loudly from the living room.
I thought back on what I remembered of the movie. I kept going over and over what I remembered, to see if there was something that I missed.
Was it because I wasn't a waitress? Or maybe I was just too young to be trying to seduce someone like I was an experienced sexy woman? Maybe Bradley was on the phone right at that moment with my father telling him what his little girl was up to, and letting him know that he was on his way to the nearest hotel.
My mind raced and my heart beat fast as I turned over all the possibilities of what could have happened. Either way, I had to find out for sure somehow.
I found a sheer yellow dress with red polka dots that I had used as a bathing suit cover up and slipped it on, over my naked body. I didn't bother putting on any underwear.
I made my way to the living room, thinking that maybe I had been overreacting and that Bradley had just fallen asleep in front of the TV.
I almost had a heart attack when I walked around the corner into the living room and found him sitting there, wide awake, staring at the TV with his eyes wide open.
I screamed.
He jumped.
“I know that I must look scary, but sheesh,” said Bradley, clutching his chest. I could tell that he was joking, though. I forced out a laugh as I struggled to calm down myself.
“No, I just thought that you were sleeping and I came in here to turn off the TV,” I said.
“Nope, still up,” he said, looking at me and then back at the TV.
“Anything good on?” I said.
“Just a movie,” he said shrugging.
“Mind if I join you?” I asked.
“Sure,” he said.
He seemed very tense. I hoped that maybe watching a movie would help to lighten the mood, maybe bring back that same happy feeling that I felt when we were cooking and enjoying dinner together.
Considering my attempts at seducing him hadn't gone all that well, I could only hope that being near him might spark something.
A girl could hope.
Chapter 18
Bradley
“You know, I like a lot of the new movies that come out, but there's nothing like the classics,” said Natalia, with a sound of nostalgia in her voice that seemed to go beyond her young years.
“Oh really?” I said, genuinely surprised.
Natalia amazed me in so many ways. Besides being absolutely ravishing, she was smart, kind, funny, and interesting. I tried to act nonchalant when I was around her, but she had this way about her, a way that made all my hairs stand straight up. I tried hard to put her out of my mind, to control the excitement that coursed through my body whenever she came near me.
“Yeah,” she said, smiling her thousand-watt smile. “I almost feel like moving from black and white to color made them lose a lot of quality. The old movies were simple, full of life, imaginative. You would think that once they added color that it would have added more dimensions. But, a lot can be said about the value of a good story.”
I nodded with her. Those were thoughts that I had had often. It just sounded weird coming from someone her age.
In the Air Force, the recruits who were her age were into chasing girls, drinking, and doing other dumb things that could possibly put their good standing in the military in jeopardy. And most of them didn't really care. It was obvious that they went into the military, not to protect their country or do good in the world, but as an excuse to have a joy ride on Uncle Sam's dime.
I would get irritated when I saw them rough housing, laughing and joking in their own world, running into people and knocking things over like children. Because, really, that was what they were. And despite Natalia's level of maturity, one that I knew to be far beyond her age, I was riddled with guilt as I sat next to her.
I had done something very bad, something that I knew violated her trust. And if her father knew, it would be the end of our friendship. And I knew it.
I had heard her in the shower. In fact, from the moment that the shower was turned on, my focus and attention was on her and the bathroom. I tried to focus on the TV and get my mind off of the fact that she was only a few yards away from me, naked.
But, I couldn't. I kept imagining her silky smooth skin standing in the shower, her nipples p
erky and hard from the water pouring over her taut body.
I had peeked around the corner toward the bathroom door and saw that the door was open. My heart leapt up in my chest. Did I somehow push the door open with my mind? I had been thinking about seeing her in the shower so hard, I wouldn't have been surprised if I did.
I sat for a while going back and forth in my mind. I knew that I shouldn't spy on her, but my curiosity was getting the best of me. I had almost convinced myself to forget about her being so close and naked until she started singing. It was the worst singing that I had ever heard. And it was cute.
But, hearing her sing made it impossible for me to just ignore her.
I got up slowly and crept toward the bathroom door, making sure that I was as quiet as possible. I didn't want her to know that I was sneaking up on her, watching her in the shower. That would have creeped her out, for sure.
The terrible singing got louder as I neared the door. I peeked around the open door and saw her standing in the shower through the see through shower curtain. I did. I stared at her beautiful frame in awe. I totally fucking did.
She was more than I had imagined. The way that her back dipped into a perfect curve, her firm, shapely ass wagging behind her as she danced to the music that must have been playing in her head, made her even more sexy.
I stood there watching her for a while longer, until she finished singing. I saw her peek her head around the curtain, as if she were looking for something. I wondered if she could sense that I was there.
I thought about what might happen if she saw me.
Maybe she would scream. Maybe she would run to call her dad and tell her about the creepy old man that he had invited to stay in their home.
Or maybe she would like it and it would be the start of a fun and wild night.
I paused, turning that thought over and over in my mind.
I almost stepped out from my hiding place in the dark hallway so that I would have been standing in full view of her in the shower. But, right before I took that step, I stopped myself.
What was I thinking? How could I have thought that this was okay? Not only was it bad enough that I was violating her trust by standing there staring at her, but the idea of catching her off guard and making myself known to her was too much to even imagine.
I tiptoed my way back down the hallway toward the couch, hoping that she wouldn't catch a glimpse of me making my walk of shame away from the bathroom.
And to make things even worse, I sat back down and noticed that I had a giant erection. Right then, I heard the bathroom door open. Shit! I didn't want her to come into the living room and find me sitting there with my penis pointing straight up. Then, she might figure out that I had been spying on her and get uncomfortable.
I looked around to see if there was something that could cover me. I put a blanket over my lap. That didn't work. I only made my lap look like a tent. I jumped up from the couch and started frantically searching for something that would work. I ran into the kitchen, not even sure what I was looking for.
“Eureka!” I exclaimed inside my head, pulling out a big plastic bowl from underneath the sink.
I ripped open the bag of popcorn, threw the popcorn into the bowl, spilling some out onto the floor, and walked as quickly as my bum knee would let me back to my place on the couch. Just seconds after I had sat down, Natalia came around the corner and screamed, startled.
She asked what I was watching, and if she could join me. I told her that she could, but hoped that the black and white movie playing would be enough to deter her from wanting to sit for too long, maybe deciding to head off to bed instead. But the movie had the opposite effect. In fact, it seemed like she was more than excited about watching the movie precisely because it was in black and white.
So, there I sat, clutching a bowl of popcorn in my lap, hoping that she didn't notice that my dick was rock hard behind the bowl. And instead of making the erection go away, seeing her enter in a skimpy dress on that barely covered her good graces and was almost completely see-through only made my boner even more massive. Holding onto the bowl was actually starting to hurt.
“Can I have some popcorn?” she asked, plunging her hand into the bowl, before I had the chance to answer.
I grunted in pain as the bowl pushed against my groin. She was completely oblivious to the fact that she was just inches away from a giant erection. I could feel the blood racing in my head and my ears were pounding. I thought that I would suffocate from the desire that was mounting within me, just from her sitting so close to me.
I needed to put some distance between us, or else I was afraid that I would explode. I moved over a little to try to get some room so that at least we weren't touching each other. She moved over closer when I moved, closing the gap between us. She looked at me, slightly confused.
“Where are you going?” she asked, digging into the bowl for another handful of popcorn. “You can't keep all of the popcorn to yourself. That's a big enough bowl that we should be able to share, silly.”
She laughed. I was embarrassed yet again.
“Oh no, it's not that at all,” I said, looking away. “You're more than welcome to have as much of it as you'd like. It is your popcorn, after all.”
I thought that, maybe if I didn't look at her, I could manage to halt the raging heat I felt. I wished that I could have just handed her the entire bowl of popcorn, so that she would know that I’d never withhold anything from her. But, unfortunately, the bowl of popcorn was still helping to hide the erection that didn't seem to be going anywhere. I couldn’t let go.
The movie was going off. As we sat, watching the credits roll and the music playing, Natalia frowned.
“Awww. It looks like the movie is over. I guess they didn't have a lot of time back then for super long movies, huh?”
She was leaning on me, her elbow resting easily on my thigh. I froze, trying to get my tongue to work so that I could do more than just sit there, staring at her dumbly.
“Uh, yeah. I guess not. But, hey, we can always start a new one.”
I sat holding my breath, hoping that my suggestion would encourage her to get up. I desperately needed to shift my body away from her.
“Okay. What are you in the mood for?” she asked with her eyes towards the TV. Then, she sprung up from the couch. I sighed, relieved.
“You know, why don't you pick something,” I said after her. “With your taste in classics, I’m sure I'll like whatever you pick.”
She did a little happy dance, jumping and clapping gleefully.
“I'm so glad that you said that,” she cheered, racing to the entertainment center where the TV sat. She flipped through the movies lined up neatly, no doubt by James’s precise hand. She hunted like she was looking for something in particular.
“It really doesn't matter what you— ” I started to offer.
“—Here it is!” she screeched, opening the case of a Blu-Ray movie. “Sleepless in Seattle. You seriously can never go wrong with a classic.”
She put in the movie and came back to sit down on the couch. She leaned her body against mine. I could feel her leg pressed against my thigh, warm and soft, the slippery sheer dress rubbing against my rough khaki pants. I closed my eyes as I imagined what it would feel like to have her leg pressed against mine without any clothes to separate us. Just the two of us, sitting next to each other, our bodies connected.
But, then, I thought about what that would mean. If our skin was touching, that meant that she would have a full view of my skin, scars and all. The way that my skin was warped, lines like those on a monster brought back from the dead, would be sure to make her recoil in disgust or, even worse, in fear.
She was so beautiful, loving, and gentle. Sharp as a whip. I wasn't sure how I might feel if she were to react in a way that made her not want to be around me. I was struggling to contain myself when near her, but I would hate to be kept apart from her—or to have her avoid me. I was sure that if she saw my unsightly scars
, she would try to get as far away from me as humanly possible.
She surely wouldn't sit next to me, so close, rubbing up against my scars like she was at that very moment.
I shuddered, thinking about her eyes widening in horror as she looked over the mess that was my skin, looking melted and burned as the result of the accident and doctors’ efforts to repair the damage. I imagined her covering her mouth, running away in disgust as she attempted to find the bathroom before she upchucked the contents of her stomach.
The shudder coursed through my body so hard that it made me flinch, making me throw the bowl of popcorn onto the floor in front of me. At that exact moment, Natalia moved to grab more popcorn from the bowl that had been sitting in my lap.
My boner stood unshielded.
Everything seemed to be moving in slow motion. I didn't have a chance to move fast enough before her hand landed on my lap, her hand gripping my rock hard dick.
I froze.
It took her a moment to realize exactly what her hand was touching. Even laying there in the dark, I could see the look of confusion register on her face. She slowly realized that it wasn't popcorn that was within her grasp as she had anticipated, but something else. When she couldn't quite figure out what she was holding onto, she looked over. Her eyes bulged out of her head as it began to sink in that she had wrapped her hand around my dick. And it was hard.
“Holy shit,” she mumbled. Her cheeks turned a bright, crimson red and she looked really embarrassed. It was like she was frozen. And so was I. I didn't know what to think, do, or say. So, I just sat there, dumbly waiting to see how the moment would play out.
Chapter 19
Bradley
After a few more moments, Natalia shook her head, and then casually returned her hand back to her own lap. She turned, staring at the TV screen silently. The air was thick between us.
We sat in complete silence, staring at the TV screen. The movie played in front of us, but I was almost certain that we didn’t pay attention. I didn't dare move. I hardly breathed. Staring, I just sat there, wondering what she might have been thinking.