The Good Neighbour

Angela had a meeting scheduled right at 9:00am this morning. She made sure she was able to get ready and leave her apartment a bit earlier than usual to make it to work in time for preparation. Thank goodness she didn't need to, nor did she want to, spend much time every morning on putting on an obscene amount of makeup just to impress others, especially at work. She might be young, but she took pride in endorsing traditional work ethics. She was a true believer that her job performance should be evaluated based on her abilities, not on how curly her eyelashes were or what colour she painted her nails. Angela, however, was not oblivious to how no one was truly immune to physical beauty either and how good looks could easily earn someone a higher rating on the likeability scale. And for that reason alone, Angela felt grateful that she was well-liked by most people.

Angela pressed the down button for the elevator and was ready to go on her day.

"Hurry up, Bella! Or we're going to miss the school bus again!" Angela heard a voice as she was still patiently waiting for the elevator.

John hated being late. He always had. He was the kind of guy who never failed to mention punctuality as one of his strengths at every job interview. Bella's tardiness could really get on John's nerves at times, but he could also never get mad at her seeing her cute sleepy face every morning. If anything, he had a lot of sympathy for Bella, no, not just Bella, for all the young kids, for having to get up so early every day for school.

Bella was the first to appear from around the corner, then followed by her father who made sure that their apartment door was securely locked. Since there was only one unit at that corner of her floor, Angela knew exactly which unit this father-daughter duo, as she assumed, lived in - 1806.

"Good morning." John barely looked up to greet the human figure in front of the elevators that was Angela as he was still focusing on Bella to make sure that she was presentable for the rest of her day. John knew that Bella wouldn't care, but he did.

"Good morning." Angela's tone matched John's perfectly: friendly, not overly enthusiastic and yet, energetic.

"Say good morning, Bella." Bella hugged John's thigh as she tried to hide behind his much bigger frame. Angela had yet to be a parent herself, but she could sense from Bella's doe eyes that her quietness was a by-product of her shyness, not rudeness.

"She's just a bit shy." John patted Bella on her silky-haired head gently. Not that John wouldn't have defended his daughter's seeming lack of manner anyway, but he wasn't completely certain either why he felt an extra need to ensure that his neighbour knew that Bella was not an ill-mannered girl. Or worse, that he was a bad father?

Angela smiled back with a subtle shake of her head, enough to reassure John that she was not offended in the slightest way. John's relief was evident in his reciprocated head nod and a smile that showed just a few of his top freshly-brushed white teeth. This very morning, John's face was painted with an overnight stubble, which somehow suggested no tiredness and if anything, only complemented his handsome yet boyish look.

That was the first time John and Angela actually looked at each other full-on face-to-face. This exchange was only momentary, but the briefness was not a true representation of the long-lasting, though unbeknownst to either of them at this point, very positive first impressions they made on each other.

Succumbing to good-looking men was not one of Angela's weaknesses, if anyone would like to call that a weakness to begin with. That was not to say, however, that Angela was unaware of John's appearance either. At 6-foot tall, John had always been confident in his physical attributes since his high school years but never weaponized them. His slightly oversized t-shirt and pair of athletic shorts that were clearly his pajamas indicated that John was not one who flaunted his decent physique every chance he got. Although, said physique was indeed decent enough to not be entirely invisible behind the fabrics either.

"Which celebrity does he remind me of?" Angela's wondering did not get further entertained as she quickly drew the conclusion that her neighbour was just good looking in his very own way.

Cute. Note to Angela's self. Checked.

"Did they just move in? I don't think I have ever run into them before. But I also don't recall the superintendent giving us notice about someone moving in on my floor in the recent past. Or maybe we just never left home or came home at the same time and today happens to be the first time," Angela thought to herself. "He's actually really cute the way he tends to his daughter. He seems so loving and fatherly. Well, at least he acts that way. But hey, a man who takes his daughter to school shouldn't need any special recognition any more. We're not living in the 1950's." The feminist in Angela excelled at finding opportunities to shine. "He has to be, what, only a few years older than me? Probably in his early or mid-thirties?" Is he a single dad?.... Hopefully?... Hopefully?! Okay, yes, I am single but I'm not that desperate. Pull yourself together, Angela." The feminist in her was rolling her eyes hard at Angela as a silent criticism.

Angela has been happily single for two months at this point. Her current apartment unit had survived two of her ex-boyfriends. She was unquestionably grateful that she was financially independent enough to afford her own place and not have to deal with the hassles of moving following each breakup. She was content with her one-bedroom. It wasn't spacious enough for her to host all of her friends on special occasions but she would never complain about not spending hours each week just to clean. The only thing on her wishlist was a reading nook, but an absence of one wasn't exactly ruining her general reading experience either.

The sound of the parting elevator doors finally snapped Angela out of what felt like a daze.

"After you." John held Bella's tiny hand as they followed right behind Angela into the elevator.

Chivalry. Checked.

For some apartment building residents, a ride down from the eighteenth floor is likely enough time for an awkwardness to ascend between two parties as the elevator descends, but neither John nor Angela felt a compulsion to break the ice. Although, to be fair, neither of them felt that there was any ice to break.

Angela was holding onto her purse as John was still holding Bella's hand. "You don't have to initiate a conversation. Hell, you shouldn't solicit an unwarranted conversation. The pretty lady is just minding her own business." John's inner voice loved reminding him of proper social codes at all the right moments. What can he say, his mom raised him well. "Pretty? Her prettiness is irrelevant in this context. I mean, she is cute, like, really gorgeous, but the lady is just minding her own business." His mom actually had nothing to do with this one; this one was all John.

"Ground floor." Despite the robotic voice of the elevator, accessibility in this apartment building was actually one of the reasons why John picked this place. He wanted Bella to learn to respect people of all abilities (and skin colours, and sexual orientations, and religions etc. for that matter) from a young age.

John really was a good father.

"That's our floor. Say 'bye'." John looked down at Bella and naively believed that the 18-floor elevator ride was enough to cure her shyness. It did not. As they exited, Angela said "bye" to Bella in her childlike voice and then looked up at John and said "have a good day" in her normal voice. She wanted John to have a good day.

Angela got off at B1, which was the shortest route to the subway station.

On the subway to work that morning, Angela's mind was not exactly preoccupied with reliving her encounter with John (and Bella), but she was not trying hard to shake it off either. "He has to be married. No way he's not. Good looking, caring, fatherly, well-mannered, all these qualities scream married. And even if by the odd chance that he's not, all the hot moms waiting for the school bus there with him are probably dying to take a shot at him anyway." The feminist in Angela was seriously giving her a harsh look with contempt right now, "do I smell jealousy? My god. You don't even know his name yet!"

In fact, there were always these moms that were extra friendly with John whenever they waited for the school bus. John was not unaware. There were even random women in public spaces, like a restaurant, that would blatantly flirt with him even if he was in the company of others. Years of being popular in high school and college had trained him well enough to decipher these flirting codes. If he were a programmer, he could probably write the codes himself. John was just not interested. Not that he would have acted on it if he were interested in those moms or random women, but he just wasn't. The lady from his floor (aka Angela), on the other hand, was different. John couldn't put his finger on what the difference was or why at this point, but somehow she just... was.

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A few weeks had gone by before Angela and John (and Bella) ran into each other again in one of the mornings as they waited for the elevator.

Angela had been so curious about John's marital status that at this point finding out the answer to her wondering mattered more than the actual answer itself. Trying to apply the skills from Detective 101 that she did not take in college, as if it were a real course, she stole a glance at John's hand, more specifically, the ring finger. And there it was - a silver wedding band. It might as well have been a boxing glove that John was wearing on his fist to punch Angela in the gut.

Perhaps the answer itself wasn't as insignificant as she had led herself to believe.

John and Angela greeted each other with just a head nod this time. "Say 'Good morning' to..." John all of a sudden became very conscious of the fact that he did not know his neighbour's name this whole time. This being only their second encounter did not make John feel any less embarrassed.

"Angela." Being no foreigner to proper social cues herself, Angela picked up on that right away and volunteered this (long overdue) information.

"Good morning, Angela."

"Good morning..."

"John."

"Good morning, John." Did knowing his name alleviate any of the pain that Angela felt from the gut punch earlier? She wasn't sure. But the smile that accompanied her "good morning" most certainly did not give away any signs of pain she felt.

Bella hid herself behind John's thigh just like last time, but she also peeked her head just enough for Angela to notice that she was looking at her with a more than subtle lift at the corner of her little mouth, which Angela would gladly call a half-smile, and a win.

John looked down and picked up on Bella's reaction too. "She seems to be warming up to Angela," John thought to himself. This fact mattered to John. A lot.

The rest of the elevator ride was just as quiet as the last time. However, both Angela and John felt even more at ease in each other's presence now that they knew each other at least on a first-name basis. Again, not that they felt awkward at all to begin with.

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It was another couple of weeks before Angela and John ran into each other again.

The universe seemed to have favoured their encounter frequency in the following weeks, but it was indeed fascinating how that happened when neither of them felt like they changed their morning routines drastically, at least not on a conscious level. The usual classics like "good morning", "how you doing", and "have a good day" were in order. They were both very good at adhering to their learned social codes.

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"Hi you."

Angela looked up from sorting through her mail to confirm the identity of the familiar voice. It was a pleasant confirmation. "Hey John."

"Fancy to see you at this hour." Indeed, neither of them would have expected to see each other at 3:47pm on a random Friday afternoon, though waiting for the apartment building elevators together was starting to become a cliche for them.

"You look like you had a nice workout, or maybe a run?" Angela noticed John's mildly flushed face with a few visible beads of sweat on his face. His handsome face. And as if the sweat wasn't enough clue to John's recent athletic activities, the half-circled sweat stain right below his neck and between his collarbones on his sleeveless cotton shirt would make anyone look like an idiot to think otherwise.

"A little bit of both actually. I am well aware of my privilege to be able to work from home and hit the gym in the middle of a workday," John stated with a cute chuckle. Cute to Angela, not so much to John.

Self-awareness of privileges. Checked.

"What about you? You look very.. summery." Angela really appreciated John's comment not only because she did pick a baby blue summer dress with thin shoulder straps that should accurately be described as summery, but also because he made said comment as a matter of fact without any creepy lingering stares like some of those that she received on the subway ride home.

"I took a day off and went downtown for lunch with a few of my girlfriends. And now I'm home." The mentioning of "home" synced perfectly with the opening of the elevator doors.

From the perspective of an outsider, it might have come across as if John and Angela forgot how to converse once they stepped inside the elevator. Unbeknownst to each other, they were both just thinking about how sexy the other person looked at that moment. John's fitted sleeveless shirt allowed his muscular arms to be on display but also hid his fairly toned torso that left enough room for imagination. Angela did not think John smelled like a rose garden; they were not living in some cheesy romance novel. But she certainly did not find his scent pungent whatsoever. She even started to find herself responding a little bit down there to his post-workout scent. John knew very well how violating it could be to a woman for a man to keep staring. With the height difference between them (his guess of Angela's would be 5'5", 5'6"), he could have easily turned his head towards Angela just slightly and been able to check out the modest cleavage that was peeking through the neckline of her dress. John didn't want Angela to feel any discomfort around him, ever, so he consciously exaggerated his looking up and forward motion to offer Angela a psychological promise that he was not leering. Except, the eyes in his mind kept tracing along Angela's silhouette through the shape of her summer dress. He kept taking mental notes of how attractive she looked in that dress. And how she would look out of that dress.

The image of John lightly coated in post-workout sweat and musk filled the rest of Angela's day. Her arousal only escalated as the night went on. She was alone at home after dinner with her parents but she did not feel lonely, as she knew the thoughts of John would keep her company. Lying in bed in just her bra and panties, she was enjoying roaming her hands all over to tease herself. One hand grabbing her tit, the other one sliding down into her panties. Her index and middle fingers formed a V to create a perfect instrument to rub her pussy. She loved feeling her pussy lips getting puffier and puffier in response to not only her own physical stimulation, but also to the mental stimulation from imagining herself sucking John's hard cock. She really quite enjoyed giving head, and she believed she was a skillful one as well, given the lack of complaints and the number of occasions she was able to orally induce orgasms (and fast). She wasn't fully aware of it herself, but her mouth was making sucking motions as her imagination of tasting John's cock continued running wild. She started squirming in her own bed and not long after, she allowed herself to be completely bottomless. Her legs were now bent at the knees and spread wider. Her V-shaped fingers had now transformed into the "I L(ove) U" sign in American Sign Language. If she didn't know how wet the thoughts of John had made her before, she certainly did now as she inserted the two folded fingers into herself. Angela had to settle with her well-lubricated digits for now as she pretended that those were John's rigid cock. She continued to pump her fingers in and out, in and out, fantasizing how John would pleasure her pussy and how she would reciprocate. Her other hand semi-violently pulled down one side of her bra to set free that one tit. She was pinching her stiff nipple harder and harder as she sensed herself bringing on the orgasm she had been wanting to experience "with John". She arched her back as her lips (the other pair) released a barely audible "fuuuuuuck". Her fingers were generously coated in her own juices. Angela celebrated her self-pleasuring success as she tasted herself on those shiny fingers.

On the other end of the hallway on their floor in Unit 1806, John was definitely having a less fortunate night. Not only did he not have the same luxury of being by himself (after all, he did live with his family), he was practically inflicting self-agony by thinking about Angela all night long. It didn't feel like to John that he had complete free will as he felt like he was under some kind of spell. He was constantly carrying a semi hard-on, and a full one at times, to a point where he found himself using the washroom more often just to take a leak that he didn't really need in hopes of making his penis less swollen. Sadly, he couldn't do much to relieve the sense of urgency in those round, saturated balls of his. Fucking his wife that night would be a sensible alternative, except that he didn't want to. Not because he was now only attracted to Angela, but John simply did not want to give away his orgasm, that particular orgasm, to someone else when it "belonged" to Angela. He wanted that orgasm to be for/"with" Angela.

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"Hey, how's it going?" A couple Sundays later John ran into Angela again on their floor.

"Hey! Good. What about you? You heading out? No Bella today?"

"No, her mom took her to her friend's birthday party for the afternoon and since most dads apparently wouldn't be there, I was released from my parenting duty for a few hours. Are you heading somewhere yourself?"

"Yea, I'm just taking the subway down to Charity Village to meet up with some friends."

"Oh? Mind if I join you for the subway ride? I'm actually taking the subway too myself."

"No, not at all! Where to?"

"Just this bookstore. I like visiting there sometimes to check out some of their hidden gems." They continued their conversation on the way down to the subway station.

"I didn't know you like reading too." A pretty obvious implication that reading was also one of Angela's favourite leisure activities.

"Oh yea, love reading. And The Spectacle is just such a cute bookstore."

"That's the one you're going to? Oh my god, I love that place! It can get a little too crowded at times, but the store itself is just so cozy and homey. And it smells grrrreat inside, haha."

Many of her friends shared a variety of interests with Angela, but reading wasn't one of them. She did not find a need to complain as reading was very much a solitary activity for her. That said, she was also excited that she and John actually shared a common interest (other than in each other).

As they got in the subway car, Angela and John continued to share stories about their times at The Spectacle from before and some of the books they liked and disliked. They might not think that they were on a date, and they weren't. Except, everyone on the subway picked up on the vibe that this beautiful pair was.