Neighborhood Affair (terken and meomeo)

[terken]

Richard liked to tell people he went to the park for exercise, but that was only partly true. With his new tele-commute he actually made it to the gym three or four times a week, and he kept reasonably trim for a man in his mid-thirties. The truth was, he liked to clear his head, people-watch and sneak in a cigarette. That last part he kept from his wife. But they had been keeping stuff from each other for a while.

As the afternoon sun beat down on his dark brown hair he squinted up ahead. He should have probably shed his button down shirt and work khakis for something less informal, but the habit carried over from the office. He dressed professionally to feel professional, even while working at home. Maybe tomorrow he'd go later and change into shorts. Richard chuckled to himself, finished the last of his cigarette and stubbed it into the walkway below, still looking up ahead.

He had seen her before, hadn't he? He was pretty certain she lived nearby, perhaps just the next block over. Richard didn't consider himself old-fashioned, but there was something about her that made him want to tip his hat--- if he had had one. As people watching went, she was easy on the eyes. And there was no harm in watching, or so he thought.

 

[meomeo]

Mrs. Olivia Kingsley sat on the bench, her hazel eyes gazed blankly forward and her finely chiseled features showed not a hint of emotion, watching the gentle ripples on the glittering lake surface, the horde of ducks on the far side of the lake, the soft rustling of the tree branches.

Nature's gears turning soundlessly: a beautifully serene moment.

This will also be what Olivia regards as the high point of her day.

When a younger Olivia had dreamed of life as a 26 year-old, she had pictured life in a big city, a fulfilling job, meeting interesting people every weekend. But as with every young girl, she had also secretly hoped for a blissfully married life, being a fashionable young mother, and being set up for the rest of her life. Now 26, that second dream, except from the part about being a young mother, came true. Only if reality had held up its part.

It's not that Olivia hated her marriage to a young physician. It's the mundane life of a suburban housewife she could not stand. The endless repetitive chores, the petty worries, and the fact that she is surrounded, no, suffocated, by older neighbors. More than anything they made her feel the best years of her life are slipping away right before her own eyes. Having just celebrated their one-year anniversary last week, her well-maintained five-bedroom house already symbolized the hopelessness of her situation. That is why it is now a daily routine for her, after she finished up her chores, to drive to the park and sit and watch the lake. Just to get out of her house for a while. And soon it became an escapade she looked forward to every morning. She'd not told anyone about her own little secret hideout.

A sound on the pebblestoned path caught Olivia's attention. The pretty copper-skinned brunette, dressed casually in a long sweater top, black tights, and ballet flats, turned her neck and looked up the road. A man is there, finishing up his smoke. Olivia squinted her eyes... she recognized him from a neighborhood party a few weeks back... his name started with an R... but she couldn't recall the rest. "Now my memory is failing too, this place really ages people." she thought frustratingly.

Then she realized she was staring, quite impolitely. She quickly smiled and turned her gaze back at the lake, noticing a fluttering kite on the horizon.

 

[terken]

Richard smiled slightly to himself. They had both been staring, or so he thought. It was a source of pride to him, that he could still draw attention at his age, he had that kind of confident vanity. He took a quick look around him before advancing up the path towards her again. Was it Olivia? Lydia? Something like that. They had been introduced at a party where he had met about eight people for the first time, and he hadn't had a conversation with any of them since.

Richard generally didn't approach people in the park, although he was civil and sometimes even charming to anyone who approached him. This was his own private time, after all. But he wanted to make an exception in this case. It was too nice a day, and she had too nice a smile. Why not? It's not as if Sarah made any time for him, with her new job in the city.

He smiled as he walked up to her, holding out his hand. "Hi," he said. "I'm Richard. We met a few weeks ago, and I'm sorry to say I've completely forgotten your name."

Best to get that awkward stuff out of the way first. Richard had learned that in more than a decade in public relations and communications.

 

[meomeo]

Olivia can't help but feel a pang of excitement as she tracked the man approach her out of the corner of her eye. A girl such as herself is well acquainted with that purposeful gait, that unique glint in their eyes as men approach women. To be honest she had missed it, it must have been almost 2 years since she'd been chatted up without her husband by her side... all thanks to this little brand on her finger, she supposed. It's flattering to know she can still attract other men's attention... although Olivia is perfectly aware this could just be a courtesy call. Nevertheless she can't wait to hear what comes out of his mouth.

The grating sound of the pebbles stopped. Olivia stood up, frustratingly still unable to recall the man's first or last name, so she merely smiled and offered her own hand for a handshake.

Her smile had drove hundreds of boys crazy, and Olivia did it without trying: the perfect set of dimples on either cheek; the warm spark in her lively eyes that partly gave a sense that she'd heard the best joke ever, and partly a hint that she's about to tell you a dirty secret; and the soft curve of her lips showing just a glimpse of her pearly whites in between. Her hand was dainty and felt boneless, her nails were painted a dull silver with a bracelet of matching color on her skinny wrist. As they shake hands she could feel his large hand envelop her tiny one.

"It's Olivia. I'm Dr. Kingsley's wife." A pause. "I've gotta admit I have also forgotten your name."

She let out a short, embarrassed laugh. But, whew, what a relief.

 

[terken]

Richard chuckled a bit, her hand still in his. "Well I'm sure you're much more than just Dr Kingsley's wife, Olivia," he said, holding her eyes in his gaze. "Me, I'm a bit more than Mrs. Richard Mendoza." His own eyes sparkled a bit, as they usually did in the company of attractive women. His expression was inviting without being intrusive, another thing he had picked up in his years of dealing with new people on a regular basis.

He was still smiling after he released her hand-- having held it perhaps a fraction longer you normally would--and as he reached for his cigarette pack. Richard jerked his chin in the direction of the water as he pulled out a stick. "Nice spot you've picked here," he said. He did manage to limit himself to two a day, and wondered if she would object to his second. Perhaps her doctor husband had her living healthy.

"I hope you don't mind...." as he said as he indicated the pack. Then on impulse, and with a quizzical expression, he offered her a cigarette. Part of him kicked himself. Olivia was quite the looker, and the last thing he wanted to do was offend her in some way. So many people didn't smoke these days. But it was too late for that now.

 

[meomeo]

Olivia studied Richard as he spoke. He is definitely not the boyish, moppy-haired type which are all the rave these days. His facial features are all sharp-angled and finely chiseled. His gaze, deep-set and piercing, displayed a quiet confidence, and the man carried himself with an old school elegance that some might deem borderline arrogant in this age. The kind of men who make women's knees weak even without trying, including Olivia's at this moment. She had no idea why she'd forget the name of someone like Richard in the first place.

She politely withdrew her hand from the handshake... had she held it too long? Or was it him?

"Yeah. It's so peaceful, really helps me clear my mind." Olivia said in response to his comment about the scenery. She can feel a cool breeze, causing the number of ripples to multiply on the lake surface, and her hair to dance backwards across her face. Olivia instinctively held up a hand to pin down her tresses. She wondered why Richard would have the leisure to fit in a stroll at the park in the middle of a weekday, but decided that question would be too prying and shelved it for later... if she has the chance.

It was then when Richard offered her a cigarette, silently. Olivia cocked her head in a girlish way and gave an abashed smile, as if to say "I really shouldn't..." But then he held the pack right there for a lingering moment, and, whether it was an appetite for naughtiness, or because of Richard's innate persuasiveness, Olivia's hand reached out, cat-like almost, and pulled a smoke from the pack. She placed the cigarette between her pinkish-red lips, and from the way she held it one could tell that it is not her first time. In any case, her husband won't be pleased.

 

[terken]

Richard's smile grew slightly wider when Olivia accepted the cigarette. So, she was probably a closet smoker too. The world around him, already pleasant, became just a little bit more beautiful. How much else did they have in common? He hoped he could find out.

He whipped out a gold lighter, lit her cigarette first, then his. He took a puff and looked out over the lake again, taking in the scenery once more before turning back to Olivia. It might be nice, he thought, to spend more of the afternoon in her company. And not just because of the way she looked. You had the feeling that she was also playing a kind of hooky, like him.

"My wife doesn't know I take walks so I can smoke," he said, smiling ruefully at her. "I mean, there are other reasons I take walks"-- and here he gave her entire form an appreciative glance-- "but it's mostly because I want to smoke." He chuckled and shook his head, then touched her eyes with his as he took another puff.

"Sorry to be a bad influence. Not going to get you in trouble, am I?"

 

[meomeo]

Olivia took her first drag of tobacco smoke in years... the first since her college days in fact. Her throat took some time to get re-adjusted with the hot and thick smell of nicotine and it caused her originally pale face to blush for a passing moment, and her lips pursed as she tried to hold back a cough. There was strange feeling of liberation as she exhaled and seeing the smoke disperse into thin air. This little act of rule-breaking, if you can even call it that, is just the jolt of excitement which she so sorely missed in her life. She smiled cryptically up at the man. "Thanks." she said, for the cigarette.

"My wife doesn't know I take walks so I can smoke, I mean, there are other reasons I take walks... but it's mostly because I want to smoke."

Olivia kept her eyes on the view, pretending not to notice his - is that flirty? - glance. Now apart from having a forbidden cigarette, she felt another tiny jolt of electricity through her body. Here she was, in the company of an attractive, suave older man in a deserted area of the suburban park... and he was telling her about secrets he kept from his wife. And that glance. Her head says she should leave... her heart says otherwise.

"Everyone keeps secrets from their partners, I suppose." she said, feeling stupid immediately. Compared to Richard, what does she know about relationships? At just 26, she must look like a baby in his eyes.

She took another drag of her cigarette...

 

[terken]

"Everyone keeps secrets from their partners, I suppose." she said.

How true that was. Richard smiled at that, although underneath he did feel a pang of regret. Ten years ago, he couldn't have imagined keeping secrets from his wife. Now he seemed to do it more and more. But that's not something he wanted to talk about. At least, not just yet.

So he looked at and nodded ruefully. "Unfortunately, I think you're probably right," he replied. Then he grinned. "But don't let me bother you with my secrets," he said expansively. "It's far too nice a day."

He took a seat next to her, without being invasive of her space. After another drag of the cigarette, he spoke again.

"You know why I come here," he said. "Are you able to get out here often? Or is today just my lucky day?" He touched her eyes again with his, and smiled that inviting smile. Part of him wondered what he was up to. But part of him wanted to see where this could lead.

 

[meomeo]

The idyllic nature scenery backdropping the chance meeting of a smart-dressed, gorgeous couple .... the whole encounter looked fashionably noirish...

Olivia took another drag from her cigarette, she could feel a simmering tension just beneath the surface of their seemingly everyday conversation. "Are you able to get out here often? Or is today just my lucky day?" Is he flirting with her? But if she felt taken aback she didn't show it. Their eyes met again, just for a split second, before she turned her gaze back towards the lake. But his sparkling, mischievious eyes had burned into her mind.

The honest answer to his question would be "I want to get away from my house which feels like a prison and reminds me that I'm wasting away my life". But of course Olivia did not say that. "I... um... enjoy a bit of fresh air every afternoon, y'know?" she replied, deliberately, turning back to him and giving him a wholesome smile.

It was not like Olivia never got flirted with. Even after her engagement, and subsequent marriage, she is still often chatted up when she goes out with her girlfriends. But she had turned them away adeptly, making the poor boys feel foolish even. But this man, by his looks he must be 10 years her senior, has a quality that holds her fascination. She could feel her band on her finger urging her to make up an excuse and go... but she couldn't. A rebellious streak she thought was no longer in her springing into life.

But unbeknownst to her she had betrayed her fraying emotions. The instinctive actions of a self-conscious young woman: tugging a strand of hair behind her ear, crossing and uncrossing her legs, licking her lips between puffs of smoke...

"And this view..." she continued, gesturing to the lake, "... makes me keep coming back."

 

[terken]

"I want to get away from my house which feels like a prison and reminds me that I'm wasting away my life".

It was what he wanted to hear. Even if he wouldn't admit it to himself consciously. Her body language warmed him, too. Maybe she was just dying to take that extra step with him. Although what that meant still didn't register in his conscious mind. Deep down of course, he knew exactly what he wanted.

"And this view..." she went on, gesturing to the lake, "... makes me keep coming back."

He only gave her a half-smile in response to that. But his eyes bored into hers, looking for some sort of acknowledgment, or connection. "In that case I might have to come back here, too," he said softly. "For the view, of course."

He turned away and took a few more puffs, sitting with her in companionable silence as they both enjoyed the view. When he finally broke the spell he did so lightly, in a different tone of voice. He had finally crossed over the threshold and made a conscious choice. Had she?

"This neighborhood might surprise you," he said, blowing out smoke. "You know that new bistro, on 5th Street?"