Picture This

Discovering Something New About Herself

Laurie lay in bed with the covers pulled tightly up under her chin. She was in 'one of her moods' as her friends might say, but she didn't care what others thought. Daniel had broken up with her, or at least she thought he had. The text had read "We need to see other people," and she knew what that meant. It was relationship speak for "I'm already seeing someone else": it was clear to her that the time had come to move on.

Daniel had always been a pretentious man. As they became more familiar with each other, Laurie had tried to call him Dan only to be corrected every time that his name was Daniel, not Dan. Laurie now felt that she should have seen that as a sign, but, at the time, she was enamored with him and just accepted the rules.

She began taking inventory of the "signs," as she called them: the signs that things weren't going to work out as a couple, which she felt she should have seen. "I guess I should learn from this," she said out loud to the empty room. Laurie was that way; after a burst of tears and questioning, she settled into the "Logical Laurie" that her friends always accused her of being, but that she had vehemently denied.

Crawling from her bed, Laurie wandered through her apartment to the kitchen. Filling a wine glass, she leaned against the counter; sipped and thought.

"I should have seen this coming. He was a lousy kisser." Laurie giggled a little at the shallow thought, but it was true.

She once thought Daniel was afraid to kiss, or that her lips tasted bad by the way his lips would tighten and by how quickly he would retreat from her. Now, she saw his actions as a flaw in him. She liked to kiss, he didn't; his loss. Laurie paced around the apartment.

"He was a neat freak, and I hate that," she said, bending to pick up her clothes from the day that were lying in small piles trailing to the bedroom. She tossed them onto the couch and kept strolling.

"And he was so . . . skinny." Laurie had always thought Daniel was an attractive man, but he was rather thin.

In the few pictures she had of the two of them, they made something of a "Mutt and Jeff" couple. Laurie wasn't fat, but she was "Rubinesque" at five feet six inches tall and a size 10. She had curves and liked how she looked, seeing no reason to change. Daniel, however, was nearly six feet tall and weighed no more than one hundred and fifty pounds. He was skinny. Laurie once joked that she liked his frame because it made "other things" seem larger by comparison. Daniel always reacted poorly when she would make those remarks; he was so damned conservative when it came to things like that.

Laurie placed the glass on the dresser and fumbled through the drawer a moment. She retrieved her digital camera and powered it up. Scrolling through the pictures of this birthday party and that gathering, she found what she was searching for, a picture of Daniel she had snapped one day as he was getting out of the shower. He didn't know she had taken it. It was one of the rare occasions he had left the bathroom door open. Laurie was feeling frisky that evening and, on a whim, grabbed the camera and waited in the darkened bedroom. As he climbed from the shower and threw the towel over his head to dry his hair, she waited for just the right moment and snapped the shot. Laurie stood at the dresser and stared at the picture for a long moment. She looked at the ribs that lined his chest, the pointed hipbones, and his cute round behind; she always thought that was his best feature. She looked at the rest of his naked frame.

"Yeah, it was a perspective thing," she thought before clicking the features button to find the delete button.

Just before hitting the button and sending the picture off to oblivion, she paused. With a little smile, she turned the camera off and placed it on top of the dresser without having deleted the picture.

Laurie wandered around the apartment for a few more minutes before refilling her glass and walking toward the sliding glass doors leading onto the deck. The apartment was one of two in the building. It would have been called a duplex if it was nicer, but, in reality, it was half of a ranch styled house out in the middle of nowhere. The other half had been vacant for a few weeks, and she had been enjoying the peace and quiet. There were no houses in sight, and the long drive that lead to the house allowed for a lot of privacy.

Knowing the other apartment was empty and the fact that it was well past the time of day that the landlord might show up, Laurie didn't bother to grab a robe before opening the doors and walking out onto the deck in the nude. The heat of the summer day was moderating into a cool evening. It wasn't dark, but the sun was hidden behind the ridges that surrounded the valley. Laurie walked around the deck a bit tentatively until she looked to make sure the other apartment was still completely empty. Once she saw that it was, she relaxed and strolled from one end of the deck to the other. She started to sit on one of her deck chairs until she felt how hot it still was from the day's bright sunshine. Instead, she just kept leisurely moving around the deck.

Smiling, she thought of how Daniel would have reacted to this. Laurie never gave much thought to being without clothes; as long as things were under control, she had no problem being nude. She admitted to him that she enjoyed the feeling of the wind and sun on her body. Daniel was just the opposite; he wouldn't even get undressed unless the room was completely dark. "Another thing I should have seen as a sign," she thought. He had once chastised her for wearing just a long tee shirt when she walked to the end of the driveway to get the mail. Now she was standing on the deck completely nude. She giggled. "He would have a heart attack."

Laurie placed the now empty wine bottle on the railing of the deck and stepped off into the yard. She walked out to her car and retrieved her cell phone. Purposefully, she had left it there after Daniel texted her, not wanting to see anymore words from him. Checking the phone, she saw that he had texted her twice more. Laurie paused a moment before deleting them without reading.

Closing the door of her car, Laurie walked out on the drive a few yards. She realized that she had forgotten to get the mail when she came in and started walking down the driveway. Laurie had enjoyed five glasses of wine and had been outside long enough to become slightly oblivious that she was nude. She stood at the mailbox, flipping through the handful of flyers and bills, when she became suddenly aware of that fact. Laurie glanced up and realized that she was more than a hundred yards from the apartment. In one hand she clutched a handful of papers and her cell phone, in the other was a half full glass of red wine. None of which would serve as adequate cover should a car come barreling down the road. Laurie took a few hasty steps up the slight incline of the driveway before slowing to a more normal pace. "The trees will hide me," she thought as she continued up the drive. The tall maples along the drive would have provided minimal cover, but just enough that anyone driving by would only have the passing thought of having seen a person walking up the drive, and they might have been scantily dressed. That was good enough for Laurie.

Back inside, Laurie tossed the papers onto the dinner table. She put the empty wine glass on the counter and crawled onto the couch. The rest of her evening was filled with fictional drama instead of her own personal drama. She fell into a deep sleep.

Over the next week, Laurie received 5 texts from Daniel, and she ignored every one.

"You screwed up, buddy. I am moving on," she said aloud as she drove home Friday night, deleting yet another message.

Sitting in her driveway, gathering her things, she heard her phone buzz to life once again. Looking at the screen, she saw the name of her girlfriend Brianna. Before she could hit the button to answer, the call went to voice mail and Laurie shrugged.

"I'll call her back later." Laurie put her purse on the table and put away the couple of bags of groceries she had bought.

Laurie walked out of the house to get the mail. Normally, she would have stopped before coming up the hill to the apartment, but her ice cream was melting and she had hurried by. Standing at the mailbox, Laurie looked around to find the source of the sound of a weed eater. She spied the oldest son of her closest neighbors trimming the grass around the end of their driveway. The young man was a hundred yards down the road from her but stopped and waved when he saw her looking. Laurie waved back and stared a moment before walking back up the driveway.

Sammy had been away at school and had just returned for the summer. Laurie was only three years older than Sammy but had always seen him as a kid. A few steps up the driveway, she stopped as he went back to work and reconsidered that position. Watching him swing the weed eater around, she stared as the muscles in his arms tightened and relaxed. His shirtless chest rippled with the movements, and his tanned legs flexed as he balanced on the slight hillside. Sammy was twenty three years old and was well on his way to becoming a lawyer.

"Smart and good looking, heck of a combo," Laurie thought as she walked up the drive.

After fixing dinner she, sat down at her desk to go though her bills and emails when her phone buzzed once again.

"Hi Bri! What's up?"

Brianna sounded a little flustered. "Where have you been? I've been calling for the last two hours!"

Laurie was taken aback by her tone. "Well, I was at work, why?"

"Do you have your laptop?"

Laurie took it from her case and sat it on the table in front of her. "Yes, why?"

Brianna took a deep breath and started to explain. "Well, earlier today I was cleaning up around the house and I cleaned off Bobby's desk..."

Laurie knew that Brianna was strictly forbidden from messing with her boyfriend's desk. It was off limits.

"And he caught you?" Laurie asked with an accusatory tone.

"No! It's not that... Anyway, I was getting the cans and junk off the desk when I accidentally hit the mouse and his computer came out of sleep."

Laurie was getting a little frustrated at the immediate nature of Brianna's call, yet the torturous speed at which she was getting to the point.

"Aaannnddd?" Laurie tried to push her to a point.

"Well, Laurie, I think I saw you."

Laurie was very confused. "What do you meansaw me?"

"Well, not you. I mean, I'm not sure it was you. But it sure looked like you."

"Bri, you aren't making any sense. Slow down and use little words."

Laurie could hear Brianna take a deep breath.

"I hit the mouse on Bobby's computer and the screen came to life. He had been looking at a website that features pictures of women."

"You mean a porn site?"

"Yeah. He looks at them all the time and I don't care. I've never cared. Heck, no woman could keep up with his sex drive. Anyway, that's not the point. The site he was looking at was one of those ones that have lots of home videos and pictures and stuff, ya know?"

Laurie smiled at Brianna's embarrassment. "Yes, I know. So?"

"Well, out of curiosity, I sat down and clicked the back button a few times just to see what he had been looking at, and there you were, at least I think it is you."

Laurie finally understood what she had been getting at. "You mean you came across pictures of someone you think looks like me on a porn site?" Laurie opened her laptop to let it begin starting up.

"Yeah, the pictures are from kinda far away so the face isn't really clear but it really looks like you!" Brianna sounded a little shaken.

"Thanks, Bri, for telling me, but trust me, it isn't me. I have never let anyone take pictures of me, probably just a coincidence. What's the website so I can go look?" Laurie typed the address into the bar as Brianna read it off to her.

"And then go to page 16. It's the one titled, My Hot Neighbor."

"Ok, I'll have a look, but trust me, it isn't me. I'll call you tomorrow, ok?"

Laurie said goodbye, sat the phone down, and began hunting the pictures.

Laurie scrolled to page 16 and started searching the list for the title.

"There we go!" she said as she clicked on the post.

Laurie sat in utter disbelief as she saw eight pictures. One of a nude woman who stood by a mailbox holding a glass of wine. The rest in various stages of movement as the woman walked across the road and out of sight.

"Oh, my god," Laurie said aloud.

She was in shock. Closing the laptop and standing up, she walked around the room and voiced that shock to the empty room. "Who could have taken those? Where were they hiding? Does anyone else suspect it's me?"

She turned, sat back down, and opened the laptop again, looking carefully at each picture. None of them left anything to the imagination. She remembered the day and knew the pictures couldn't leave anything to the imagination because she was completely nude. Laurie felt embarrassed beyond belief, but she decided to try and calm down before dealing with the situation any further. Grabbing a glass of wine and walking onto the deck, she stood there and drank, calming down.

"At least I looked pretty good, and someone thought I was hot," she said to herself.

Then it dawned on her. As she flew back into the house and flipped up the screen of her laptop once again. "My hot NEIGHBOR" she nearly yelled.

The house Laurie lived in was one of four on the road. Two were far at one end, more than a mile from hers. The other one was only a couple hundred yards from hers through the woods, and the driveways for each house came down to the road at opposing angles, ending only a hundred yards or so apart. Laurie shuddered at the thought of Mr. Williams seeing her nude. Then she saw the posters nickname "YoungLaw," and she let go a relieved sigh. It had to be Mr. Williams, Mr. Sammy Williams. Laurie thought a moment and remembered that he liked to run most evenings and, just by happenstance, must have been running when she took her nude mail stroll. The pictures were probably taken with his cell phone.

"He thinks I'm hot!"

Laurie, while still quite embarrassed, was pleased and flattered at the thought that the handsome, soon-to-be lawyer believed she was hot. She was even able to admit that the thought of him seeing her nude, albeit accidentally, turned her on considerably. Laurie looked closely at the pictures. Fortunately, you couldn't see the name or numbers on the mailbox, largely because of her breasts. The pictures were taken from far enough away that you couldn't make out her face well enough to identify her. Overall, there were no identifying markers in any of them, so she relaxed considerably. Also, they were rather flattering pictures, if she did say so herself. While she was no runway model, everything was where it should be. Even though she hadn't really given it much thought before now, she believed that she looked pretty good naked.

Chapter Two

Laurie got up with the sun. She had always been an early riser and it didn't change on the weekends. After a cup of coffee, she slipped into her riding shorts and a zip up top, and she hopped on her bike. Since the weather had warmed, Laurie had taken to going for a ride on the weekend mornings. She knew she could stand to loose a couple of pounds, but mostly, she did it because it was fun. Riding along the main road, she turned onto the side road she had made part of her routine. For over an hour, she would travel in a big circle that amounted to a leisurely eight miles. As she was coming back down the main road toward her driveway, she glanced over and saw Sammy clearing some brush from the large wooded patch between hers and his fathers' house. She slowed slightly until she caught his eye and waved and smiled at him. He returned the smile with a wave; she could see in the little handlebar mirror that he stopped what he was doing and watched as she peddled away and up her drive. Laurie couldn't help but put a little more wiggle into her peddling as she climbed the hill and went out of his sight.

She took a shower and ate some breakfast on the deck as the sun came over the edge of the hill. Laurie listened to the birds and squirrels start their day, as well as for the sound of small trees and brush being hacked away a couple of hundred yards away. She sat in her robe, thinking about the day ahead. For the first time in weeks, she didn't have anything to do. She was weighing her options of going to the gym, a swim, a little shopping, or, and it was the most appealing option, laying around the house and not doing a thing of importance.

As she sat on the lounger, she allowed her robe to fall open slightly, enjoying the warmth of the sun of her exposed skin. Suddenly, she became aware of the lack of a sound. The birds were still chirping, but the hacking sound was gone. Without any startling movements, she sat up and gathered her robe around her. Laurie grabbed her coffee cup and stood. She leaned against the rail and listened while she sipped the cup. There were the neutral sounds of nature for the longest time. Then she heard it. The unmistakable sounds of someone trying to ease, possibly even sneak, through dry leaves, and the sound was getting closer.

"Young Mr. Williams is coming for another peek, I think," she whispered.

Laurie walked nonchalantly back into her apartment. Once inside, she hurried to her bedroom and slipped into a two piece bathing suit. From her bedroom window, she watched the edge of the trees for movement. The area between the houses was a hump of trees. It was possibly six feet higher than her deck where the trees ended and the grass began. Something she had never considered before was the fact that it was a good vantage point. She watched intently until she saw what she suspected. Just in the line of trees, near a clump of underbrush, she could faintly make out the shape of a person. Laurie was sure it was Sammy. She watched as he settled into a position that would keep him hidden, yet allow him to see. She could see that he was shirtless and covered in sweat. He obviously had no idea how reflective he was.

Laurie considered her options. She should stay inside until he left and then go on with her day, but her heart was pounding too hard for that. Laurie walked onto the deck with a towel, a drink, and some lotion. She spread the towel across the lounger and lay it down to the flattest position. Taking a seat on the edge of the lounger, she was careful to put her back to her audience. Without making a show of it, Laurie applied the tanning oil to her arms, legs, and midriff. She squirted it on her shoulders and rubbed it onto her back as best she could before laying face down on the surface. Once in position, she squirted a little more of the liquid into her hand and carefully rubbed it onto her behind.

Laurie was enjoying the sensation of knowing that he was watching. She carefully rubbed the oil into her skin, being ever so mindful of pushing the bottom of her suit over the mounds of her round behind, exposing as much flesh to the sun as possible. She lay facing away from her audience for several minutes before reaching around and untying the strings of the top. Taking the ear buds of her mp3 player and putting them over the backs of her ears, she made it appear she was listening to music; the tiny headphones hidden by her tumbling hair.

Settled again, she began to listen to the sounds of nature again. Once he was sure she was lost in a world of music, Laurie heard him shuffle slightly. Sammy had done well to stay as still as a church mouse for as long as he had; Laurie could hear him moving gently. After a couple of minutes, Laurie heard what she expected. The artificial sound of a camera shutter seemed to split the quiet of the day, but Laurie didn't react. She kept up the appearance of listening to her tunes. Three more times she heard the unmistakable snap of his camera phone. Several minutes passed in silence, and then a final snap. Laurie listened for him to shuffle again before she started to turn over to her back; hearing Sammy frantically move to assume his cover again as she moved to reposition.