Total pages in book: 27
Estimated words: 25416 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 127(@200wpm)___ 102(@250wpm)___ 85(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 25416 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 127(@200wpm)___ 102(@250wpm)___ 85(@300wpm)
I hear grunting, the scraping sound of furniture against the floorboards, and the springs of a mattress. It hits me that this is one of the shared walls between the two duplex units.
And on the other side of this wall, it seems, is Lucas’ new bedroom.
My heart pounds as I climb quietly onto my bed and press my ear to the wall, and listen. I can’t make out much beyond the rushing of my own blood at first, but after a few seconds, I can hear him, Lucas, moving furniture around his room. I hear him lift things onto the mattress, hear him make up the bed with some of the linens we procured from the estate sale—the ones Gram definitely did not die on, according to Simon’s sister. I can hear him open drawers, maybe put things away.
And I’m captivated, just by the simple mundanities of his life. I want to be a part of it, want to be a part of him. I’ve never felt this way before, and I don’t understand it. If I’m honest, I’m a little afraid of it.
I hear him grunt with the effort of moving something, and I feel a twinge between my thighs. He left so quickly, just now. I didn’t have the opportunity to discover where things might go after the kiss. I’m not well versed in the realities of romance. A virgin at twenty, I’m an anomaly among my friend group, most of whom have been having sex since our sophomore year of high school. I guess I just wasn’t that eager to grow up so quickly. That, and I was a very awkward tween. But something is awake in me now, and I am eager to explore it.
Maybe it’s the sense of safety that comes from having a wall between us that makes me feel bolder than usual. Biting my lip, I glance at myself in the mirror. My hair is styled, my makeup minimal, aside from my signature pink lipstick that matches my hair color. I’m wearing my favorite high-waisted denim shorts and a white peasant blouse.
But I can do better.
I open my dresser drawer and find the prettiest bra I own—white lace, classic—and tug my shirt up over my head. I get rid of the lightly padded tee-shirt bra, and don the lace, admiring my full, heavy breasts in the mirror above the dresser. There’s a matching set of panties somewhere, but they must be in the wash because I can’t find them fast enough for what I have in mind.
I grab my phone off the desk and then pad over to the window overlooking the backyard. Lucas and I exchanged phone numbers after his haircut, just in case he needed directions to my house or had to cancel, or whatever. So far, the only texts we’ve exchanged have been purely perfunctory: meet you outside at 10, looking forward to it, etc.
But now…
I hold my phone aloft in selfie-mode and snap a few pics. They’re suggestive without being downright pornographic, and I like how perky and plump my breasts look in the bra. I grin, my heart racing, as I send the photo to Lucas, along with a short message.
Still thinking about that kiss.
It’s almost instantaneous, the chime of his phone notifying him of my text on the other side of the wall. I scurry back to the bed and press my ear to the wall again, just in time to hear him groan lightly and mutter, “God damn,” under his breath.
I look down at my phone and see the three little dots that mean he’s typing. One minute they’re there, dot, dot, dot…and then they vanish. I sigh heavily and drop down onto my bed. He is not just going to leave me on read like that, is he?
Then I feel my phone buzz in my hand. Relief and trepidation ripple through me as I open the text message.
Lucas
I can hear you through the wall, too, gorgeous.
My face flushes with fire, and I don’t know what to do. I’ve been caught. But I don’t have time to consider my actions before another text from Lucas appears.
Lucas
Send me another, this time without the bra.
I grin, moving as quietly as I can, setting my phone down to shrug out of my bra. There’s something about Lucas giving me orders that makes me want to comply with his every command. I snap a few more selfies, my nipples erect in the cool air of my bedroom, and examine them with a much less generous eye than I had for the first set of photos. I’m suddenly self-conscious. What if he doesn’t like what he sees?
Another text arrives, as if he can read my mind.
Lucas
You are the most beautiful creature I’ve ever seen, and I want to see more of you.