It was my first time living alone. I had finished college, and after a bit of searching, found a job that was good enough that I didn’t think about quitting every week. Since the job was remote, I could pick where I wanted to live – so I chose a small flat on the bottom floor of a housing estate. (I had a job, not a fortune.)
Anyway, it was the summer, it was hot, and I had spent all day dragging boxes from my car into my new flat (I kept calling it “my new flat” to make it feel more comfortable, at least for the first while), so I decided to relax in my small, walled-off garden. It was small, about enough room for a vegetable patch if you were inclined, but I was not.
I took one of the loungers I had taken from home, and laid it on the grass, completely completely. I was going to lie down, maybe consider sunbathing while the sun was still up. I looked around at my new miniature kingdom. This was a new kind of independence I hadn’t had before – I could do whatever I wanted, as long as it wouldn’t lose me my security deposit. I could bring girls over. I could bring guys over! The world was my oyster, and I decided to celebrate.
Thinking that the small garden was essentially private, I decided to get an “even tan.” I grabbed a book and a towel from indoors, and undressed. I hesitated before taking off my boxers, double-checking to look around. The walls were more than 7 feet tall, so no one was going to spot me by accident, I thought. After a smile to myself at my new freedom, I dispensed with my boxers, lay down on my stomach, and began to read.
I had gotten pretty invested in my book, so I’m not sure how long I lay there, but after a while my back started to get stiff. Just as I was about to roll over and sun my chest, I heard a voice.
“Well, *hello* there.”
I froze. Suddenly everything felt very breezy, and I was immediately insecure. I tried to look around without moving my lower half, not wanting to flash my unwelcome visitor any more than I probably already was. Eventually, I caught sight of a head, just above the wall to my right.
There was a woman. She was a few years older than me, and she looked good for it. Well, her head did – that was all I could see. She, on the other hand, could see almost all of me. *Almost.*
“Uh, hi,” I said, a little shakier than I wanted to.
“I saw a new car outside, and I wanted to say hi to my new neighbour,” she said, as if my state of undress wasn’t an issue. Her greeting had been wry, but now we were just talking. She had a soft voice – she wasn’t soft-spoken, but her words flowed nicely.
I shivered. “That’s kind of you.”
She laughed, a smile on her face. Neither of us said anything for a moment.
“I should probably let you get dressed,” she said, “then we can greet each other properly.”
Before I could agree, her head disappeared beneath the wall.
I swallowed, and waited a few more seconds to make sure she wouldn’t pop up again. I quickly got up, and got dressed, turning away from that wall. I hoped to God that someone else wouldn’t pop up behind the wall I was facing, and thankfully no one did.
After getting dressed back up, I looked around. Was I supposed to wait for her to come over? I grabbed a stone from the garden, and put it against the right wall. I stepped up onto it, and looked over into this stranger’s garden.
She was sitting in a wicker swinging chair, one of the half-egg shaped designs, slightly angled toward my garden. I’m sure it was always angled that way…
She was looking off towards the sun, the breeze blowing her chair gently back and forth. I didn’t really know what to say, so I cleared my throat. She looked over, and when she saw me, she smiled. She stood, and walked toward me with purpose. She hopped on top of a small gardening stool next to her wall, so we were face to face. Because we were both hanging on to the wall, we were only a few inches apart. She had nice eyes – they were kind, and had a light to them that I liked a lot.
“Hi,” she said.
“Hi,” I echoed, perhaps a little too quickly. I blushed.
“I’m Marie,” she said, reaching over the wall to shake my hand. I reached back, and we awkwardly shook once. She had an air of determination about her that I liked. She seemed like the kind of person who never entered a room without knowing what she wanted from it, and maybe even how long she’d be there.
“Sorry for…” I gestured vaguely toward my lounger, trying to apologise for being naked in my own garden. She shook her head.
“No need. What you do in the privacy of your own garden is your business – I was the one intruding. What are you reading?”
“Um, *Dracula.”*
“Oooh, vampires,” she said, and bit her bottom lip, revealing her teeth. She laughed, in a way that could’ve been nervous if I didn’t know better. “Thoughts so far?”
“It’s a little slow, but I’m getting into it. I want to try reading more old books, open my vocabulary more.”
“Smart man,” she smiled, and raised an eyebrow.
She looked really sexy when she did that. I swallowed, and smiled back shyly.
Suddenly, she startled. “I should make you something, like a housewarming casserole or something. People do that, right?”
“Uh, I guess so.”
“Yeah, I’ll do that. It’ll give me an excuse to check you out more.”
*I’m sorry?* I thought.
“I’m sorry?” I said.
She blushed at the faux-pas. “I meant as a neighbour. See what you’re like.”
“Oh,” I said, simply.
“Though don’t sound too disappointed. What I did see was more than intriguing.”
*What?*
*”*Honey?” a voice called from inside her house.
“Yes, love?” she called back.
A man walked into the garden. He was well-dressed, and good-looking. Better looking than me.
Oh.
“There you are!” he said, and walked over. “Bothering the neighbours again?”
“Welcoming the new ones, more like.”
“Oh, you’re the new car outside,” he said, pointing at me.
I shrugged. “That’s me.”
“I’m Lou,” he said. He stood up on a stone, and we shook hands. “Listen, if you need anything, don’t hesitate to ask. Actually-”
He reached into his pocket, and took out a small business card. “Here’s my number. Just text me if you have any questions about the neighbourhood, where to get good food, stuff like that.” I took it.
“And-” Marie reached into her pocket and grabbed a pen. She took the business card from me, and wrote something on it.
“If he doesn’t respond, here’s my number,” she winked as she handed me the card. Lou didn’t notice. “He never checks his phone,” she fake-whispered to me. He shoved her playfully.
I took out a small slip of paper from my back pocket, and I used Marie’s pen to write my number on it.
“If I’m being too loud, or too anything, don’t hesitate to let me know,” I half-smiled. I wanted to be a good neighbour, since some of my college neighbours had been assholes to me.
“Why thank you,” Marie said, taking the paper. She turned to Lou. “We’d better get started on dinner if we want to make it to the cinema.”
“Yes!” Lou said, emphatically. He reached out and shook my hand again. “Nice to meet you.”
“Yeah, nice to meet you too,” I said.
“See you soon,” Marie said, giving me another surreptitious wink.
They got down and went inside. I blew air out of my cheeks. He was nice enough, but I really couldn’t get a read on her. It didn’t help that she hadn’t really addressed what she meant by “more than intriguing”…
An hour or two later, I was in my living room, unpacking boxes, when my phone buzzed in my pocket. I took it out, and saw there was a text from a number I recognised as Marie’s.
*I have a job for you.*
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[Hi everyone! I’ve never written original smut before, and I wanted to make something that was a bit more longform and developed than the usual stuff I see here. I’ll write a Part 2 at some point, but if you could let me know what you think with comments and votes, and we’ll see where we go from there! I’m thinking of keeping physical descriptions vague so it’s easy to project what people want, but I know how we all love a good description of hot bods. Let me know what you think!]
Source: reddit.com/r/eroticliterature/comments/oeyyrr/i_have_a_job_for_you_mf_part_1_cheat_but_maybe
Waiting for part 2