Neighbors

Part 4: The Pool

A/n: So the POV will switch with the different chapters, I will try to make it obvious but just have that in mind.

 

I don't know why I was so fast to invite the woman from the porch, Charlotte was her name I reminded myself, and her kids to come swimming. Maybe I was lonely... Maybe I wanted to spend some time with another person who was not Reece, nothing wrong with Reece but I was getting bored. The kids seemed nice, I do like kids I just never want to have my own. In another life I might have been a teacher or something. I always find it funny when teachers themself do not want kids, but it makes sense. You spend all day teaching children, maybe you don't want to come home to that. Maybe you want your vacations and holidays to be free of children, maybe you just wanted to be able to sleep in on Saturday and Sundays.

They arrived and I was introduced to Ben, he seemed nice enough. He has the energy of a man who works in tech if that makes sense. Reece was already out by the pool and I made the final introductions. The kids took to him at once. Kids always like Reece. I think that it is because he has a very unbothered way about him but he is so caring, it is kind or ridiculous how caring he is. The guys were in the pool with Julie and Chris, they were getting along great, you could think that they had been friends for years. They competed with the girls about who could hold their breath the longest and who could swim the fastest underwater. Both me and Charlotte had a great time watching them. After cheering and supporting them for a while we laid back in the sunbeds where we were seated and started talking amongst ourselves. She told me about work and the drama with colleagues. She told me about the struggles the kids had been going through lately. It hit me like a bat over the head, she felt as isolated as I did. Only real difference was that I had chosen my isolation, I could escape, she couldn't. I let her talk, I could have let her talk for hours. She smiled sometimes at her own little jokes and she scrunches her nose whenever she is about to say something clever.

I am attracted to women, I am attracted to Char but I don't want to make her uncomfortable in any way so I am very cautious about where my eyes are allowed to roam. I accidentally let my gaze wander to her chest.

"Char, I think you are getting a sunburn" I said. She was a pale ginger, I should have seen this coming. "Come with me" I stood up and walked inside, she followed close behind me. I could swear that I saw her eyes move up and down my body in the reflection of the huge glass doors, but that might mean nothing.

We had to go upstairs to the bigger bathroom, I had most of my stuff there and I knew that my sunscreen should be there as well.

"Here" I gave her the bottle. What do I do now, I can't just watch her as she puts it on, that is so fucking creepy. We just met and even if we knew each other well I don't think that you should stare as someone puts lotion on.

"I'm just going to wash my hands, then I'll leave you" I think that sounded believable and confident. She started to put the lotion on and as I was about to exit the bathroom she stopped me.

"Wait" I felt nervous. "Could you get my back?" She asked. That makes sense, she couldn't reach that herself.

"Sure, give me the bottle" I put some on my hand and tried to warm it a little before putting my hands on her back. "This might be a little cold, ok?"

"I'm tougher than I look" I hear her smile, it is a beautiful thing to actually hear someone smile when they speak. As I put my hands on her I hear her inhale sharply. I giggled.

"Tough huh?" I smile as I work the lotion in. I get to her shoulders and I can feel how tense she is. "You seem a little tense"

"What? No, I'm not tense" She says really quickly. I press down on a knot in her shoulder.

"Right here" I say slowly. She lets out a small moan.

"Ok, maybe I am a little tense..." She admits. I stay on her shoulders, just massaging a little bit. Then I move my hands lower and lower towards the small of her back. She has the cutest dimples at the bottom of her spine I think to myself.

"Ok I am going to do your lower back, you tell me if it feels uncomfortable" I really don't want this to be awkward or make her want to leave.

"I trust you" I froze up a little, she trusts me? I smile.

"I don't know Char, I might be an ax wielding maniac" She snorts, I feel weirdly proud of that, of making her laugh. I am not usually this worried about how I make people feel or how they perceive me, but I want her to like me.

"You called me Char" I can hear her smile.

"Well, you call me Mia"

"It's your name, what else could I call you? It just hit me that people don't call me Char anymore. I'm just Charlotte" I can no longer hear her smile. I put some more lotion on my hands and run them down and over her hips in a motion almost as if I am trying to pull her closer.

"I'll call you Char any day" It is almost a whisper, I don't know if I had inched forward or her backwards but we were standing closer. "I'll tell you a secret, Mia isn't really my name... It's not a dark secret or anything but my full name is Amelia, but I don't let just anyone use that" I say quietly. It was true, only Reece and my parents ever called me Amelia. It was personal.

"Maybe you are the one that is too trusting now. Amelia" She turned around and she slipped out of my hands. We stood too close and it was quiet, we just watched each other, it felt intimate.

"MIA!" I took a big step backward and turned to the door.

"What?" It sounded like Reece was standing just below the stairs, what on earth did he want now?

"I'm ordering Pizza for all of us, what do you and Charlotte want?" I look over at her. She looks a little flustered.

"Anything" She almost whispers.

"We will share the Italian, your order from Joe's, right?"

"Yeah, Joe's and I got it. Anything else"

"No"

I turn back to Charlotte. She had not moved a centimeter. I walked to her and took her hand and led her down to the pool again. We sat back in the sunbeds and it was as if nothing had happened. She kept talking about the kids and work and I listened. The pizza arrived and we sat down at the table and ate together. It was like we were old family friends, just two married couples and their kids. Given, me and Reece were not married and we didn't have kids but it felt like this might be what it would feel like.

That night as we were going to bed Reece asked me for the backstory, why did I invite them. I didn't have any good answer so I told him as much of the truth as I could. I had seen her from our balcony, she came over, the kids were nice so why not. I needed friends, right?

"So you want to be her friend?" He asked, I knew what he wanted to imply.

"Yes, I am all alone here. I want friends and I think she wants a friend to" I was honest, I was lonely and I wanted to get to know her. Reece took a deep breath and looked at me.

"She is married, Amelia" He didn't yell, it might have been better if he yelled, then I could have yelled back but now I just felt ashamed.

"I know that, I am just going to be her friend Reece" We looked at each other.

"Just be careful ok, they seem happy but I care about you too. I care about your heart" I stood up from the bed where I had been sitting and went over to him and placed a small kiss on his lips.

"I know" I whispered. He held me as we stood there together. I don't want to hurt anybody. I really don't. I don't want to hurt Char or her marriage, I really don't... I just want to be around her. That is all. I would just have to control myself and respect her marriage. I didn't even know if she liked women, and I shouldn't have wondered that. We will be friends, just friends.