(David)
I loved spring nights.
It was one of those perfect endings to a day. The air was warm and smelled of pine from the nearby grove. I was sitting on my balcony back porch sipping a whiskey and coke while looking out over the city. Since my house was on a hill, I had a perfect view of the skyline. The buildings were all lit up like Christmas trees and stood out sharply against the night sky. I was one of the first houses in a new housing project so I had very little light pollution and only a few neighbors which allowed me to enjoy these moments in peace and quiet.
I had a few hours to complete my task so I sat there enjoying myself. After a few minutes a light snapped on in my neighbors back porch, seconds later a dark-haired shape opened the patio door and stepped outside. In an unusual situation our back yards were at a 90-degree angle from one another. She had the last house on her block and then the road curved up and around a few hundred yards to my cul-de-sac. This placed my yard higher than hers and because I had a balcony on my two-story house it let me see perfectly into her yard. We were both at the edge of the tree line so nobody else but me could see into her backyard and the houses on the other side of her were angled better and restricted my view so I only had an unobstructed view into her yard. She had a nice patio and a lagoon style pool with a built-in spa.
A surge of annoyance passed through me as I saw her light and she stepped out. I disliked her intrusion on my solitude and hoped she would be gone quickly. She had moved in a few months ago and I’d seen her around the neighborhood but had never made contact other than a head nod or small wave. She was beautiful, with exotic looks and long, glossy black hair and golden skin.
Right now she was wearing a black pencil skirt and a white blouse. I looked at my iPhone, 10:47. It was a little unusual to see her dressed in business casual so late on a Wednesday night but then again, I had no idea what she did, I just know I’d never seen her out this late before. While I watched she reached behind her and unzipped her skirt.
Yikes! I quickly realized what she was about to do, for a split second I was tempted to let her continue and I paused as she slipped out of her skirt and stood there with her bare legs showing. The shadows and angle prevented me from seeing too much but it was still exciting knowing she was standing there in her panties. Reason overcame me and I shook my head as I reached for the light switch on my back porch. I flicked on the light and her head immediately snapped to look in my direction. For a moment we stared at each other, then I realized I was silhouetted so she probably couldn’t see me as well as I could see her. I reached over and stroked the Cannon camera mounted on a tripod next to me, her face moved slightly to track the movement and I can only imagine the thoughts racing through her head as she saw a man in the dark with a camera and an obvious giant lens mounted on it. After a second, I pointed to the skyline and her head turned to look. Thankfully the blood moon was easy to see, photography was a side hobby of mine and tonight I was photographing the blood moon in 30-minute intervals against the skyline. Later I would make a composite image out of all my shots in order to create a poster that would have multiple moons combined with the city nightline.
She watched the moon for a moment and then turned back to face me. She gave me a brief nod of her head before she turned around to head inside. I barely had time to wonder why she left her skirt when her back lights turned off. Immediately her inner pool light came on and seconds later she stepped back outside. Now her backyard was only bathed in the moonlight giving everything a silvery angelic look. She looked up at me as she walked to the pool. For a second, I was unsure of what to do but then a subtle understanding came to me and I reached over and switched off my own light. We watched each other for a few more moments before she nodded her head and turned away from me. In the dim light I watched as her blouse was quickly tossed off, in the dark I couldn’t tell the color or style of her bra and panties but in seconds they’re lying on the patio with the rest of her clothes.
With the moon behind her the only other light cast on her skin was from the glowing pool. I’m awestruck as she mounted the steps and proceeded to slip beneath the water. The ripples and light all combined to give me tantalizing glimpses of flowing hair and golden skin. Nothing ever came directly into view but it is all displayed, it is probably the most erotic thing I’ve ever seen. She swam back and forth unconsciously as I watched from afar. I looked at my camera, indecision arising in me. She’s displayed a level of trust and implied good behavior from me and I didn’t want to break that seeming unspoken understanding. We were neighbors and I planned on being here a while so I didn’t want to cause any negative feelings between us but the level of beauty in front of me was astounding. I was torn by my artistic side and moral values. After a few seconds I grabbed my camera and focused on her backyard. I reason that I’d rather have my camera in hand just in case than regret a moment lost forever. I come to a quick moral compromise and prepare myself.
Photography is all about the moment, the capture. That one second where everything is just right and you see magic. If you’re lucky you get a shot that shows people the magic you noticed. Some photographers stage these moments and sometimes they happen on their own. I’d hoped to capture one of those natural moments. I quickly adjusted my camera settings, focused on the pool and waited. The lens I had on my camera was a telephoto and was made for seeing long distance objects. At this range her pool filled my view, I could see as if I was standing next to her but the light and water ripples prevented me from seeing anything too sexual. I got quick flashes of silvery golden body parts, lean limbs and flowing dark hair.
Then it happened, the moment. I pressed the button on my camera and held it down. Multiple shots snapped off in rapid succession, after the moment passed, I continued to watch her hoping for more magic. After 30 minutes or so she moved toward the steps to get out. I snapped off some last shots and raised my head from the camera. Dripping water, she left the pool and moved to pick up her clothing. She quickly grabbed all her clothes, turned her head toward me, gave me a quick wave and without waiting for a response moved into her house without a backward glance.
I sighed as I thought about what just happened. I returned to my planned shoot but was distracted throughout the night.
*****
The next week went by kind of slow. I felt guilty for the photos I took and I didn’t want to download or look at them, I just let them sit in my camera. Multiple times throughout the week I almost deleted them but something held me back. I didn’t really know my neighbor but I still felt like I’d betrayed a trust between us. At the same time, I justified the pictures to myself with thoughts like, “I’m artistic,” and “I’m not a pervert,” and the ever popular, “I didn’t plan on it, she’s the one who came out swimming.” Despite these justifications I knew in my heart that what I did was wrong on many different levels. I couldn’t decide what to do so I did nothing. I hoped that future actions would tell me whether to delete the pictures or to download them.
Every night I glanced outside my window hoping to catch a glimpse of her. The next Friday a glimmer of hope went through me as I looked outside and saw a few paper lanterns hanging up in her backyard. I assumed this meant she was planning on being out back. Rationally, I knew she probably wouldn’t repeat the skinny-dipping scene but I didn’t care. I went to work and found myself preoccupied throughout the day wondering what she was planning. When I got home, I peeked into her backyard and saw it empty, I paused for a few seconds to examine my thoughts. Realizing I was becoming a little obsessive in my feelings toward her I knew I needed to calm down. The glimpse I had into her life was just that, a glimpse. It probably meant nothing to her and she’d most likely already forgotten about it. Resolved to put her out of my mind I made myself dinner and relaxed. I turned on the television to a Lakers game and settled in for the night. After a while I got up to grab a Blue Moon beer out of the fridge, I glanced out the window and noticed a glow from her backyard indicating her lights were on. I stood there for a moment contemplating my resolve.
Just a quick peek I told myself.
Yeah right! So much for resolve.
I went to my back window and glanced outside, darkness had fallen but her backyard was filled with soft glowing light from the lanterns and her pool light was on again. She had her back to me and was talking to two men, all three were dressed up as if they’d just come from a night on the town. The two guys were each wearing black slacks, one had black hair and was wearing a white dress shirt, the other was blonde and wearing a turquoise dress shirt. Both were lean, clean cut and looked like they belonged in a fashion magazine. My neighbor was wearing a dark red summer dress that had spaghetti straps and ended mid-thigh. It was sexy and elegant without being over the top. She was wearing black high heels and had her hair piled on top of her head in stylish curls while falling to either side of her face. The shadows made the muscles on her body stand out and from where I was standing, I saw the definition in her legs and arms. She looked like a toned version of Kim Kardashian. After a few seconds her head turned and looked at my window, she only glanced for a second before she turned back to her friends. Was she looking for me? I knew with no lights on inside it would be impossible to see me.
I wondered what they were doing down there. Was it a friendly gathering? Were others coming? The sight of the two guys cooled my lust a bit, surely one of them was hitting on her. Just as I decided to turn away, I saw her friends move into the house and she looked back up at my window again.
Strange, why was she so interested in my house? On impulse I reached over to the light switch for my porch. I flicked it up and held it for a second then turned it back off. The effect was instantaneous, she smiled and turned to face her friends who had just come back out. They handed her a fresh drink and then stood there chatting.
Weird, I’m not sure what silent communication passed between us or possessed me to let her know I’m watching but I sensed that she wanted me too. I quickly grab a bar stool and cracked a window so I could hear, then sat down to watch.
With the window open I heard the distant murmur of music softly playing from her back yard. She continued to chat with her guests and I was starting to get the impression that it was only the three of them and nobody else was coming. I heard a light laugh and saw her reach out a hand and place it on the arm of blondie. After a second her fingers slid off his arm in a trailing manner. Lucky man, I guessed he might be the chosen target of my neighbor. Just as that thought crossed my mind, I heard another laugh and watched her playfully slap the arm of dark-haired guy.
Interesting…
I watched for a few minutes as she flirted with both men but I quickly got bored, I wasn’t sure what I was supposed to be watching. Who knows, I may have imagined the whole unspoken communication thing between us. Just as I set my feet on the ground to go back to my basketball game, she turned her back to them and walked to the edge of the pool. Slipping out of her high heels she looked back and said something that they both laughed at. She turned back toward the pool and with her back to them so that they couldn’t see, blew a kiss in my direction. She correctly assumed I was still watching. Spellbound, I watched as she reached into her hair and pulled out some pins letting it fall free. Turning her head she said something to her friends and without hesitation she reached down, grabbed the hem of her dress and pulled it over her head and off. In a second, she was standing there wearing only a pair of purple panties.
Wow! Both men couldn’t take their eyes off her and I couldn’t blame them because neither could I, she let the dress fall from her fingers to the concrete and stood there for a minute. I couldn’t take my eyes off her chest, her breasts were large and firm with light brown nipples. Moving to the edge of the water with a small smirk on her face she dove in. Both guys had their jaws dropped as she came to the surface facing them. She laughed and said something and instantly both men started taking off their clothes. Swimming back toward them she climbed the steps, now I can see her panties are a string bikini cut and the backside barely covers her ass. I can see most of her cheeks and half of the crack of her butt. While her friends are looking down as they shuck out of their pants, she looked over her back toward me and wiggled her butt. I smiled and reached toward my light switch, checking to make sure neither guy is watching I quickly flick my light on and off again. Smiling, she looked back at her friends, they still have their heads down while stripping down to their underwear. Quickly my neighbor girl reaches behind her, hooks a thumb in her panties and pulls the backside down to below her butt. Then went back to chatting with her friends with them being oblivious to the fact that she is mooning me. Despite the fact that she is flashing me her butt I’m jealous of the up close and personal view each of them is receiving. With the lanterns and moonlight, I can only see her body in partial light and shadow, it’s a maddening tease. Her butt looks spectacular even from a distance and I’m fascinated by the water gleaming off her cheeks. I chuckle to myself as I realize how crazy this girl is.
Her friends are finally in their underwear, each one wearing a black sport short and walking to the pool. She backs away and her hands surreptitiously pull up the backside of her panties as she eases back into the water. Her friends jump in and they play around for a few minutes, with each of the guys chasing her and trying to grab her while she keeps moving away and laughing. Finally, they work together and manage to corner her. Dark haired guy manages to grab her and pull her toward him for a kiss, her arms go around his head as she melts into him and kisses back. For a second everyone freezes and the only sound is the music playing softly, they’re standing in water that just reaches the top of her panties. Blondie slips up behind her and hooks his thumbs into her panties and then submerges and pulls them down below the water, a second later he surfaces with her panties in his hands. He tosses them to the side of the pool and runs a finger down her back. She breaks the kiss with dark haired boy and turns to face blondie, cupping his cheek and then pulling him in for a kiss. Dark hair keeps his hands on her hips as the other two kiss and I see blondie stroke the front of her body with his hands. Soon enough she breaks the kiss with blondie and then looks back and forth between them. They talk and she nods her head and they all wade to shore, in their eagerness both men are ahead of her as they reach the steps, then my neighbor girl looks back toward me and quickly waves before either guy notices. She steps out of the pool and I have one last look at her beautiful ass before I watch all three of them walk into her house.
*****
My earlier doubts were erased from my mind. Even though I knew I shouldn’t have taken the pictures of her she really didn’t seem to mind me seeing her. I would see what I had and give her any good shots that I captured. The next day I went through the shots from the previous week and worked on my blood moon composite forcing myself to ignore the other shots I’d taken. After a few hours of highly distracted work I finally had a composite of the blood moon skyline that I downloaded and made into a canvas. I paused to look at my camera card, the moment of truth, nervously I downloaded the rest of the images of her into a separate folder. I felt like a kid at Christmas and my heart was beating rapidly as the computer told me it’s downloading, tapping my foot as the bar went from 18% to 39% to 53% to 82% to 97%. It paused at 97% for a few seconds and I had to resist the urge to scream. Finally, it signaled all downloaded and I quickly opened the files and drop them into a browser. I scanned through them all and then went back to the ones that I thought would be best, clicking them open… WOW! Sometimes I am a damn good photographer and sometimes the image is just so beautiful any idiot can make it awesome. These shots were a combination of the two, I had caught her beauty perfectly. One was a full shot of the pool but showed her under the water, she had just pushed forward and her arms were by her side, her hair streaming back to just past her shoulders. The pool and moon light had combined perfectly to give her an otherworldly glow and the ripples had smoothed to just the right moment to allow you to see a fairly clear shot of her entire body, like looking through shadowed glass. Her ass was beautifully defined and she looked a goddess in her element, it was extraordinary.
Happily I scrolled through the rest of the shots, some were good, some were not. Then I hit one of the last ones and found gold once again. On the second shot she was halfway out of the water on the steps, water streamed off her body and once again the glow of the pool and moonlight turned her body ethereal. Her black hair clung to her back and most of her butt was above the water. She had just glanced to the side so you could see the profile of her face and a small smile played on her lips. In my mind I imagined all the emotions that she may have had, whimsy, seduction, playfulness. All these feelings and more crossed my mind and I got hard imagining the different scenarios that might have happened due to that smile. In each of these improbable scenes we ended up in the water writhing in ecstasy.
After indulging in my fantasy for a few minutes, I cleaned up both images and added them to the folder with my moon poster. I went to a website that prints canvasses and quickly dropped them into a work folder. After ordering a giant canvas of the skyline for my house I ordered one of each of the other shots sized 20×30. I sent the moon picture to my house and then put in her address and sent her a note to accompany her order.
“I’m leaving the originals of all the pictures I took on a CD in your mailbox. I’m sorry if these pictures upset you. You were just too beautiful.”
I pressed send, then I burned her pics to a CD and deleted all the files on my computer. I decided to wait till my own picture was delivered and then leave the CD in her mailbox. Satisfied I’d met my own moral compass while satisfying my artistic urges I closed my laptop and got up to make myself a meal.
The next few days I couldn’t get my mind off the neighbor. The images of both nights were imbedded in my mind and I was constantly looking out back but never saw her. I pulled into my driveway three days later and had a package on my doorstep, given the shape I knew it was my photograph. I backed my black Ford Explorer SUV out of the driveway and drove back down the street. I could see the two canvasses I sent her on the doorstep. Stopping the car, I reached into my center console and grabbed the CD. I dropped it in her mailbox and hurriedly get back into my car and drove back to my house. My mouth was dry and my heart was pounding and I stayed in the seat as I parked in the driveway and shut off the engine. I was getting really nervous as I thought about the situation. At the time I was caught up in the moment of what had happened. In my mind I imagined a playful and friendly personality that coincided with mine. What if that wasn’t the case? Jesus Christ! I had taken pictures of her naked in her pool. By any definition of the word, most girls would find that creepy if not outright criminal. What the fuck was I thinking? She can call the police and have me arrested. I sat there banging my head gently against the steering wheel and contemplating all the ways this scenario could go bad. Fuck the police, what if she sick’s her two boyfriends on me? That’s all I need is two idiots banging away on my doorstep and clamoring for my blood. I decided I’d better not chance it, I needed to go back to her house, steal the CD and pictures from her doorstep and pretend none of this ever happened. I started the car, backed out and drove back to her house… just in time to see her holding the mail in one hand with the pictures balanced against one knee and unlocking her door.