I’d mentioned my love for writing to my parents once but that hadn’t gone over well. My mom had said my time would be better spent looking for a suitable husband and my dad wanted me to work a proper job, preferably take over his vet practice at some point.
“Does Jared have the early shift again?” I asked, remembering Amy’s comment about Jared taking care of Bruno. Jared was doing his residency in a hospital two blocks from here and had been gone most evenings and nights in the last few weeks.
“Yeah, he left around five.” She and Jared were high school sweethearts. I didn’t think there still existed couples like them. She always got me back on my find-true-love wagon. They'd been together for six years and were nauseatingly happy. If I didn’t like her so much, I’d probably hate her for having the perfect boyfriend. Though at this point in my life, I’d probably even take the asshat boyfriend.
Maybe she knew the blond man. I could ask her. I bit my lip anxiously and wondered how I could broach the subject without being too obvious. I could hardly tell her that I'd watched him having sex. Though, again, Amy probably wouldn’t find fault in that.
“Uhh...Amy...” Wow. Wasn't I the epitome of eloquence?
She smiled at me, her expression curious.
“I saw a man yesterday...and he lost his...umm...”
Think of something!
“I-pod. I want to give it back to him. Do you know who he is?” I watched her hopefully.
She started giggling and I felt heat rise up into my cheeks. “You haven't even described him to me. My Spidey sense isn’t that good.”
I grinned sheepishly. “Well, he was quite tall and he...”
...had a mouthwatering chest.
“...had blond hair, almost golden, good looking, maybe in his late twenties and he seems to live in the building across from ours.” I nodded toward my window. I decided not to give her the detailed description of his bedroom. That would have made me sound like a creep.
Amy gave me a knowing smile.
Was I being that transparent? I wasn't a good liar, I knew that, but apparently it was even worse than I'd thought.
“Golden hair and good looking? Well, that might be Adrian Black. Jared and he go to the same fitness center,” she said thoughtfully. Maybe I should start working out.
She was watching me searchingly for a moment. “Be careful, he's a womanizer.”
“I'm not interested in him.” I stared down at my cup, avoiding Amy’s eyes, and shrugged. “I just thought I should give him his i-Pod back.”
Amy grinned at me. “I think you need to get dressed, and I have to clean the mess that’s my apartment,” she said as she rose from the chair. I stood as well and hugged her. She grinned at me widely when she pulled back. “See you tomorrow morning!” she called over her shoulder as she walked out of my apartment.
I chanced a look at Bruno who was sitting next to my leg, watching me with his tongue wedged between his teeth. He probably wanted to go on his morning walk. It was almost ten o’clock by now. If I didn't hurry I wouldn’t manage to walk Bruno, go grocery shopping and head into the park to get some writing time in before I had to be ready for work at 5. I rushed towards my dresser, all the while trying to untangle my messy hair, and put on jeans and a white blouse. Grabbing a granola bar for breakfast, I put Bruno on his leash and hurried out of the apartment with him.
We got into the elevator, which smelled of pee and vomit. I’d been trapped in the thing twice before but I was too lazy to walk down the stairs. The air was crisp when I stepped out of the building, and I shivered in my thin blouse. I’d have to fetch my jacket before I headed towards the grocery store later. Bruno was sniffing the ground and raised his leg every few feet, as if he owned every inch of this place. My eyes kept darting up to the window of Adrian Black. Amy had said he was a womanizer. I wondered how she knew and what exactly it meant. I tore my gaze away, chiding myself for my irrational behavior. This obsession had to stop.
A few minutes later, Bruno was strapped into the basket at the front of my scooter, his doggy goggles protecting his eyes and his tongue lolling in the wind as I meandered through traffic. A few cars honked when I cut in front of them, but I ignored them. I wedged my scooter in the narrow gap between two cars in front of the small grocer. After I’d brought my groceries to my apartment, Bruno and I spent a few hours in the park. I was worried that thoughts of a certain man would stop me from working on my book, but I was actually able to ban him from my mind. Most of the time at least.
Now and then, my mind wandered back to what I'd witnessed the night before but most of the day I was too immersed in my book and later, during my job in the bar, I was too busy evading the groping hands and leery comments to think of Adrian Black.
This changed, however, the moment I returned into my apartment at 1 o'clock in the night.
My window seemed to taunt me with its mere presence while I changed into more comfortable clothes. I glared at it and pulled the curtains shut. Better safe than sorry. I didn't want to be tempted.
I made a midnight-snack salad of Avocado, tomatoes and lettuce for me, and ate it at the kitchen table. Bruno was pressed against my leg, but except for his breathing and the sound of my chewing, silence crowded the room. I wished Amy was here to talk about one of the new superfoods, but she was probably snuggled against Jared. Living alone, without my parents’s constant supervision, had felt like a dream come true when I first moved to New York. But after three years, I was so over it. I hated the way the walls closed in on me at night, how a cold bed greeted me when I came home from work.
Maybe I should just take a peek through the binoculars.
No.
I would resist. I wouldn't look. He probably had his curtains drawn tonight anyway. I wouldn't turn into a perverted peeping Tom.
I lay down on the small sofa pressed against the only free spot left in my apartment – between the stove and the bathroom door. Its flowery fabric smelled of dust and staleness. I turned on the TV to distract myself, scared to glance at my window and succumb to my silly desire. This unhealthy obsession had to stop. Maybe if I told myself that often enough, I’d really start to believe it.
That night I fell asleep on the sofa and the next morning my neck hurt like hell. But I decided it was worth it. After all, I’d resisted, even though my dreams had been made up of naked chests and golden hair.