Like a Good Neighbor (RVJ94 and Whispered Desire)

Emily smiled at Josephs efforts to help her get the items unpacked and although he'd not be able to put them away for her, his un-bagging them and putting them on the counter helped her to get things done much quicker.
Emi couldn't believe her ears when Joseph said he'd prefer to go to the beach now. While it was true that Emi didn't swim, she still loved the beach or just being able to get into the water to cool off.

She'd already ate a little something earlier and even if she hadn't she still would have wanted to get to the beach as quickly as possible. She offered the suggestion then. "Maybe we should both get changed then, and I'll meet you in ten minutes outside of your place, if that sounds good to you?" The excitement in Emily's voice would still be apparant as she led Joseph to the front door after having agreed.

Once he was gone, it wouldn't even take Emily ten minutes to get changed into the one piece bathing suit that worked fitted her curvacious form perfectly although Emily knew that it couldn[t hide the flaws of her full figure. She frowned slightly as she looked in the mirror. She'd not been able to lose the weight that would allow her to look like the young girls that Joseph was probably accustomed to dating.

Get a grip Emi! Emily chided herself. Joseph was far too young for her, she reminded herself. With a sigh she took one last look in the mirror and headed out the front door, beach towel in hand. Exactly eight minutes later Emily was standing outside in her bathing suit, her black wrap around her waist covering her plump bottom as she waited for Joseph to appear.

Once inside his bedroom, he stripped out of his clothes and dug out a pair of dark blue swim trunks that ended just below his knees. He found a white sleeveless t-shirt and slid that on, and a beach towel in the closet, making sure to keep it folded. He checked the bathroom mirror, and gave a quick run-through of his hair, before grabbing a three-quarters full bottle of suntan lotion out from the medicine cabinet.

Before leaving, he went into the kitchen and threw a couple of bottles of his roommate's Pepsi, along with one of those Rubbermaid blue ice containers that he kept stored in the freezer, into his small cooler. A bottle of water was thrown in there also, in case she was a Coca-Cola kind of girl.

Lotion bottle and cooler in one hand, keys in the other, he ran through a quick mental checklist and concluded that he got everything taken care of, before heading out to meet up with Emi. When he left and closed the door behind him, she was waiting for him right there. He did his best to not make his double take so obvious, but he was sure she could tell.

"You look great," he blurted out with a goofy smile. Before even considering if he should've said something or not, it was already out. But he meant every word of it. All three of them. While she wasn't all skin and bones, she certainly carried herself well. The one-piece that wasn't covered up by the black wrap at the waist showed off her torso quite nicely, and offered a nice view of her chest. He made an effort not to let his eyes linger too long. "Ready to go?" he asked.

Emi grinned at Joseph's reaction to seeing her in her suit. Perhaps she'd been wrong, perhaps he didn't prefer his women to be skinny little toothpicks after all. Then she blushed as she realized that she'd just thought of him in that way again. Despite the fact that she knew that he was younger, she found him to be rather attractive, especially when he smiled in that manner that he just had, and she'd found his laid back quality to be equally attractive.

She blushed slightly. "Thanks, you look pretty good yourself." She noted that he had grabbed several items where as she'd only grabbed a beach towel. Frowning then she apologized. "I'm sorry, I was so excited to be going to the beach with you that I'd forgotten about grabbing lotion or anything." Maybe she should go back inside her apartment and grab her own things but then decided he'd probably not mind sharing his lotion and she could always buy a replacement bottle later to give to him.

"Sure, I'm ready to go!" she said. Thirty seconds later she realized what she'd just said to him. She was excited to be going to the beach with him. She really needed to start watching her wording lest she gave off the wrong appearance of her intentions although at this point, even she herself was beginning to question her intentions. She'd simply accepted his offer of help, and his offer to go to the beach after all right? And she'd offered him a meal in thanks for his assistance, there wasn't anything wrong with that, right? She tried reasoning with herself as she seated herself in his car and waited for him to head towards the beach, stealing a glance at him from time to time, suddenly almost being afraid to attempt conversation with him in case she stuck her foot in her mouth again.

For the love of God Emi! She thought to herself quietly, it's an innocent trip to the beach. Find something to say to him!

Finally she looked over at him, offering another smile. "I haven't been to the beach yet since moving here. Does it take long to get there?" It wasn't much of a conversation starter, but at least she'd managed to say something without making herself look like a complete idiot.

Although Emi really couldn't swim, she was looking forward to being at the beach again and getting in the water to cool off as the day had begun to become rather hot. Suddenly she was glad that she'd at least remembered to make sure her air conditioner had been turned on for when they returned later that day.

"Thanks," he said with a sheepish grin. He was certainly not fat, but he wasn't also a chiseled gym rat either. He was defined, more so in some areas than others, but that's it.

"It's no problem. I got everything we should need," he said, and held up the items in his hands as to emphasize the point. He was a big believer in going into something as prepared as can be. They piled into his car once again, and he headed out, this time going in another direction compared to earlier that day. They wound up on one of the main boulevards of that part of town, a six-lane street that was full of weekend traffic.

He had driven only a couple of blocks, and realized that they were sitting there quietly. The silence was almost deafening, as the saying goes, and he was about to turn the radio back on for some background noise when she finally spoke. "Nah, it doesn't take too long. It's only about 20 minutes or so. And if you observe the scenery, you'll see that we'll be getting close."

Eventually, the six lanes gave way to four lanes with palm trees lining the median. With an occasional big-box retailer or grocery store on either side of them, most of the businesses were small mom-and-pop shops specializing in everything from sandwich shops and gas stations to cafes and barbershops.

The closer they got, not only could Emi see that the stores began to resemble those found at the beach, but she could literally smell the salt air. She smiled "We're getting close!" her enthusiasm at being there again evident as she leaned across the car and kisses his cheek "Thank you so much for bringing me." She never even thought about the kiss as anything but innocent when she had done it, but as she moved back to her own position in the car, her lips could still feel the warmth of his skin and she bit her lip. Perhaps she shouldn't have done that.

Once the car was parked and they'd made their way to the beach, she spread her blanket out and lay down upon it as she waited for him to make himself comfortable. She lay her towel folded up under her head as she stared up at the sky. The afternoon sun was becoming rather hot. She sat up then "We'd best get sunscreen on quick before hitting the water." She pulled her long tresses up from her neck and held it, smiling at him "Would you mind terribly putting some lotion on me so I don't burn?" She blushed then "It's just that, I burn easily."

"It's my pleasure," Joseph said with a shy smile. He was, in a small strange way, starting to feel like he was her boyfriend. Between being around her constant enthusiasm throughout the past few hours, the fact that he thought she was pretty attractive, and her kiss on his cheek being the icing on the cake, he was at the least starting to feel a stirring within himself and his mind. He wasn't starting to have a crush on her, was he? He had only known her for a whopping half-day. The idea didn't linger long, however. "It's never a bad idea to get away from all the work you have to do, every once in a while."

The heat was nearly at its peak now, and so was the number of people there. He had gotten himself situated next to her once they found a spot that wasn't filled with other beach-goers. The cooler sat in between the two of them, allowing each of their towels to be anchored by it. He sat down on his beach towel just in time to see her peel off her wrap, revealing two shapely legs, and a rump that was sure to draw some attention.

He didn't want to be rude, so he didn't stare too long. But it certainly wasn't easy.

He grabbed the bottle of lotion and squeezed it until a nickel-sized amount came out. Positioning himself behind her, he rubbed his hands together and began rubbing her shoulders in circles, reaching her neck and upper back. "We certainly don't want that," he said.

When Joseph positioned himself behind her and his hands touched her neck Emi literally caught herself holding her breath for a moment. Although Joseph was simply applying lotion to her, she hadn't expected the touch of his hands to be so pleasurable.

With her hands still holding her hair up from her neck, she leaned her neck forward allowing her head to drop down slightly as she felt Joseph's hands moving over her skin. The immediate thought that went through her mind was that he had really great hands and she bet he would be great at giving massages too but she didn't voice the second opinion to him.

Instead she took in a few deep steady breaths "You've got great hands" she said very lowly but quickly changed the topic "It looks like this place gets busy fast, I'll have to remember to come early in the day or later in the evening once my car's fixed."

The day was warming up rather quickly and although she couldn't really swim she loved walking in the water or even wading out into it as long as she wasn't surrounded by a lot of people splashing and swimming around her. In some ways, her need for privacy sometimes even bled out into all areas of her life but this was different. She wasn't holding herself above others, she simply had a fear of water and limiting her interactions in the water was her way of controlling her fear.

She lifted her head up, in doing so also straightening her back as Joseph rubbed the lotion into her skin with his warm hands and it occurred to Emi then that perhaps it should have felt odd to her that she was enjoying his touch upon her skin so much but it didn't in the least feel odd to her. It felt...comfortable. Everything about the younger man felt comfortable to her although she'd only known him for some short time. But after all, he was too young for her anyhow, right? Emi released her hair and allowed the long locks to fall down her back, turning and smiling at Joseph as she poured some lotion into her hands and began to rub it onto the fronts of her legs.

She looked up at the sun, musing out loud. "It's a good day for a walk down the beach." She grinned over at him then "Wanna come?" She said the words as she stood up and began to rub the lotion across her shoulder and collar bone and down to where the top of her bathing suit began.

"There's nothing like walking in the water barefoot when it's hot out." Emi's enthusiasm was often times considered to be contagious by some people but Emi had never viewed it as enthusiasm. She just loved life and all of the experiences it had to offer, even if all of her life experiences so far hadn't all been exactly good ones.

His hands worked the lotion on her shoulders and back, reaching for as much exposed skin as he could without getting any onto her swimsuit, or reaching into areas that might make her feel uncomfortable. As the lotion penetrated and disappeared from view, he observed at how firm she was. At least, the portions of her that he made contact with.

It had been a long time since he had given any woman a massage, or did the whole suntan-lotion-rubbing thing. He really hadn't had any chances to do so lately, but he never turned down the opportunity to do so, if one presented itself. It was something that he genuinely enjoyed. He enjoyed the touch of a woman, especially one that was built like Emi. And to have a woman feel good at the work of his hands was somehow gratifying to him.

"Thanks," he said. She continued talking before he could crack a joke about his hands. Probably for the best, though, as it was sure to be lame. "There are several places to go, if you want to hit the beach in the afternoon but with less crowds. Here, it's more easily accessible to the public, and quicker to get to. Add the weather and time of the week, and that's why you have so many people here."

He pulled his hands back, once she released the grip on her hair, only making very brief contact with it. Indeed, it was a good day for a walk.

"I'm ready when you are," he smiled, standing up.

Emi leaned down and picked up her towel, slinging it over her shoulder before they set out for their walk just in case they decided to cool off in the water as it was getting rather warm. She nodded and began walking, at first not talking but then looking over at Joseph and smiling.

"Thanks for coming along." She said quietly, then offered "I'm not huge on large crowds and sometimes when I'm at the beach I just like to walk, and listen to the sounds of the water lapping against the shore. Emi headed down closer to where the water met the beach and began to walk along the edge of the water in the wet sand, carrying her flip flops in one hand.

After walking for a short while, she playfully began to use her foot to splash Joseph with the water, laughing as she did so and moving ahead of him slightly not in a run, but distancing herself enough that he'd likely not be able to splash her back.

She walked in front of him and to his side, but kept tossing a glance his way to make sure that he didn't intend to reciprocate with splashing her. Being playful around the younger man felt comfortable to her, there was something easy going about him that she simply was beginning to realize, she absolutely adored and she could still feel his touch upon her skin from rubbing the lotion on her.

Emi tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, a smile tugging at her lips as she looked his way, reminding herself that he was simply too young for her.