The Weather Outside is Frightful

The frost on the window was thick and it always amazed me how it forms in intricate swirls and designs. There was even ice on the aluminum frame inside. As I looked out on the white blowing snow, the glass vibrated from the heavy wind blowing against it. The sky was a low-ceilinged dull gray, and a steady falling snow was swirling continuously. The sidewalks I'd shoveled only an hour ago were filling up. In the background the local weatherman was standing in front of a colored loop of radar display showing a huge area of snow, and the "Blizzard Warning" icon was displayed in the upper right hand corner of the screen. An endless list of school and business closings crawled quickly along the bottom of the tube.

I'd got the call last night that the gang had made it as far as my folks house some twenty miles away before they decided it was better to stop and ride it out there since they'd already passed several cars and semi's in the median and along the side of the road they were on. Initially, I'd thought they should have pressed on through, but watching the weather deteriorate all afternoon it became clear they'd made a good decision. I'd already got the call from my boss that the office would stay closed at least tomorrow. We'd been sent home early in the afternoon. Oh well. Peace and quiet was the order of the evening.

It would be dark soon, and that means supper. I went to the kitchen and was assessing the possibilities when the lights flickered. They became steady and I sighed with relief, when they flickered once more and then went out altogether. "Oh shit!" I said out loud. I stood waiting for almost a minute and nothing. I'd better begin to make plans now for a night without electricity. Fortunately we'd put in a fireplace insert last year, a real wood stove. Soon, I'd brought in a pile of firewood from the garage, and had a nice fire going. I shut the glass doors and felt the cast iron begin to heat up.

Knowing that I needed to keep the heat around the central part of the house to keep all the plumbing safe, I made my rounds in the darkening house, shutting up all the bedroom doors. I grabbed a couple of pillows and blankets from my bed, and tossed them on the couch. I found the flashlight, and found several emergency candles. The flames flickered lighting the room. I settled down and was about to put my MP3 player's earphones in my ears when the dog began to bark. There was a knock at the door.

It was Diane, our neighbor from next door. She was bundled up in her coat and standing in almost a foot of soft snow on the doorstep. Inviting her in, soon she was stamping the snow from her feet.

"It's starting to get cold over there, and I guess I got a little scared. Thought I'd come over and get toasty by your fireplace if you all didn't mind. I smelled the wood smoke when I came outside. Where's everyone at?"

I took her coat and hung it on the pegs in the entranceway, and she tugged her shoes off and left them by the wall. She walked on inside and just stood by the fireplace warming her cold hands.

I told her of the present state of affairs with my gang as she turned around to warm up her backside.

"So you're a bachelor tonight, huh?" she asked with a smile.

"Yeah, guess so. Lucky me, huh?"

That started an enjoyable evening of conversation. Diane had been our neighbor for years, and our kids had grown up together. We'd never been socially close, but we'd been great neighbors. There was always a pleasant exchange, borrowing of tools back and forth, watching each other's houses when vacations came. Almost as soon as their youngest child finished high school, her husband filed for divorce. We'd only seen his car once or twice in the five or six years since. Often I'd be called over to fix this or help with that. Diane had seemed to bounce back, always cheerful, always busy.

"So going to be extra cold at your place, huh? Hope the pipes don't freeze."

"Me too, but nothing I can do about it. I hate bein' cold".

"Your welcome to hang out here 'till the power comes back on, Ms. D. It'll be on the cold side here too, but the fire will keep it livable. I told you about getting a wood stove for your place. Maybe now you'll believe me, huh? Was about to scrounge up some supper when you knocked. Wanna' give me a hand?"

Soon we had some hot dogs on skewers cooking over the fire. We'd opened the glass door and I had put more wood on. As we chatted up close to the warmth, I couldn't help but notice how the flicker of firelight erases a lady's little creases and smoothes her soft skin better than any lotion. I leaned back on one arm and admittedly got caught up watching the patterns of light and shadow moving softly over the lady's cheeks as she chattered on.

I'd always thought Diane was a pretty lady. From the first day they moved in I'd catch myself stealing a little look at her. The years had brought changes of course, but I still found her very attractive. Her blonde hair had always been worn in a simple cut, shoulder length and always moving. She was obviously a mother, but her soft curves always looked so inviting and warm, full-figured but in perfect proportion head to toe. Last summer she caught me one morning peeking over her fence as she was cleaning off her patio in a bathing suit. Embarrassed, I started to make up some excuse for my being there, but she good-naturedly joked it off. It seemed to me at the time though that she enjoyed my looking at her. I don't remember her ever appearing in her back yard in shorts or bathing suits more often the entire time we'd been neighbors. I began to enjoy her little obvious teases. I had hoped the cool fall would be slow in coming. But it did.

After we'd finished eating, it was obvious the rest of the house was cooling down. The thermometer on the hall thermostat showed it dropping below 60 degrees, but holding steady right there. I pulled the coffee table aside and with Diane's help we pushed the couch closer to the fireplace. I'd tossed a couple more logs inside, and shut the glass door. Diane was arranging a blanket on one side of the couch with pillows and making a comfortable seat for herself on that end. I just watched her as she positioned her body to get comfortable, bouncing around and getting the pillows "just so". She looked up and saw me standing there just watching her, and she smiled.

"Know what would make this even more comfy, hon?" she asked.

"No, what?"

"A nice glass of something warm."

"You might be right. Let me go look."

We very rarely drank in our house. I'd have an occasional beer when out with the guys, but that was the extent of it. Once and awhile a glass of wine at a nice restaurant with dinner. I remembered a Christmas gift from last year, and soon found the little soft bag in the top of a cabinet behind the mixing bowls that held an unopened bottle of "the good stuff". I felt for two juice glasses in the darkness, and finding them, returned to the warm circle of light in the living room.

"Will this do?"

Diane looked up and made believe she was examining my offering with a connoisseur's knowing eye. "It will do" she finally said, looking at me and grinning.

Soon I poured a little bit into the glass she held up.

"Stingy, are we?" she asked in a teasing tone.

"No", I laughed, "but we have to make this last. We could be stuck here for a long time. But I'll try to keep your glass filled."

She took a first sip and I could see her face squint as she swallowed the first little bit. Obviously, Diane didn't drink liquor often either.

"I don't really think you'll have to pour too much more. This little bit will last a long time. Besides... you wouldn't want me to get even a little tipsy now, would you, Steve?"

I had folded a blanket up in a nice square and tossed it on the floor in front of the couch, and had sat down on it, leaning back against the other end, my feet stretched out towards the fire.

"And why would I want to get you 'tipsy', Ms D?"

"Well, because. I always get a little... you know... when I feel a little buzz coming on."

"Is that so?" I asked with a grin, reaching in jest for the bottle and holding it up in her direction.

She giggled. I turned and sat it back down out of the way.

"Yeah. I get adventurous sometimes. How about you?"

"Oh you know how we males are, don't you?"

"Yeah, I at least remember how males are." She sighed and I watched her look back at the fire and lazily swirl the amber contents of her glass, her eyes becoming lost as she watched the flames. Suddenly she looked at the glass, and took a long, slow sip. She quivered as she felt the warmth slip down her throat and into her chest. She turned and fought off a whiskey-induced cough. She turned enough to reach around to set the glass down on the floor beside the couch. "At least I think I can remember. It's been a long, long time since I enjoyed the company of one." She lifted herself up and settled back down in her "nest".

"You haven't found 'Mr. Right' yet, have you, hon?"

"I haven't looked for him. One heartbreak is enough for this ol' gal."

"You're far from old, Diane. If he ever finds you, he's one lucky gentleman".

"You're too sweet. But no, with grandkids still coming and plenty to keep me busy, I wouldn't have time for dating... or for breaking in another man. You all are hard to house break, aren't you?"

I saw her relaxing as we talked, her sock-covered foot lazily rocking back and forth as she stretched out on the couch. She playfully put her toes up on the back of my head and kicked it forward softly.

"Yeah. You'd be especially hard to domesticate, wouldn't you, neighbor?"

She giggled again, more freely. She was a long way from intoxicated of course, but either the drink or the thought of the drink had made her relaxed and mellow. I just leaned back and took a first sip from my own glass. Yes, it had been a long, long time since I'd tasted whiskey. But it felt nice and warm going down. I pulled my knees up and wrapped my arms around them as I watched the fire, still holding my glass in one hand, and seeing the liquor move in little patterns within itself as the firelight flickered through it.

"I think I'm pretty well domesticated, Diane. Been here in the same house on the same street for almost twenty years."

"Yeah, but..."

She paused as her toes now lazily rubbed up my neck.

"Yeah but, what?" I asked looking around at her.

"Nothing" she answered, pulling her foot away.

"No. You were saying something, now finish it. Not fair to leave me hanging mid-sentence like that."

"Well. A properly domesticated gentleman wouldn't have spent so much time looking over his fence at the neighbor lady, now would he?"

I watched her eyes as she slowly spoke. She was obviously watching me too, looking for my response. If I looked one way, she'd turn it into a funny joke. But... if I responded with a different tone, she might let the conversation turn a bit more playful.

"I did no such thing", I said in a mock tone of indignation. My grin told her I was playing along.

"Oh yes, Mr. Steve, but you did. I felt your eyes."

"You did?"

"Uh huh. And it felt good, too. Even chubby grandma's like to be looked at once and awhile."

"Chubby, huh? There are better words to use.

"Fat, is it?"

"Heavens no. Lovely lady like you can only be properly described using carefully selected words."

"Like?"

"Curvaceous. Buxom. Soft and warm. Rubenesque. Shapely. Feminine."

"Flattery will get you everywhere."

"Just callin' 'em like I see 'em."

"Bet you'd like to see 'em too, wouldn't you?"

I stopped. Honestly, I'd always admired my neighbor's lovely breasts. But... was this a good-natured tease or an open door? I decided to offer a cautious reply.

"And what if I did?"

"Well. To be honest, right now, I..."

She hesitated, her voice cracking somewhat. Embarrassment or nervousness, I couldn't tell. I decided to back off the topic and change the conversation entirely. As I thought of a neutral remark to make to break the tension, she spoke, the giggle gone from her voice.

"To be honest right now, I'd really love to let you."

There it was. The offer. The request. She'd put her cards on the table. Watching her eyes in the firelight, I could see a look of need. Of desire. She'd made herself vulnerable. A rare moment, a unique situation, probably never to be repeated. An opportunity for two friends to escape our roles and routines. And she looked so inviting.

"I'd really love to let you let me".

It was my last attempt at being playful. We could laugh our way out of the moment. I waited to see what the next turn of the wheel would produce.

Slowly, and as gracefully as she could, Diane sat up and slipped the blanket off from her. She held my gaze, and slowly began to tug at the sweatshirt she had on. I sat in silence and smiled, raising my glass for one last, long sip. She hesitated. It was like being in the front car of the roller coaster as it momentarily seems to pause just at the very top of the first tall hill. All at once, her mind made up, she tugged it up and pulled it off of her head. I watched her soft blonde hair tumble out of it. She smiled as I just watched her. Reaching behind her back she undid the clasp of her bra. I saw the tension leave the lace as her full breasts relaxed, the straps now loose on her shoulders. Her hands slipped under each one, lifting them still in their full cups, almost offering them to me, her deep cleavage accentuated by the shadows of the firelight.

Slowly, seeing she had my full attention, she shrugged her shoulders letting the straps slip down, and letting the lace slip off, soon had tossed the white bra over on top of the inside-out sweatshirt on the floor beside her. She sat up straight, letting them sway a bit. Full, round, heavy... but not sagging. My eyes feasted on the creamy soft skin and her large pink disks surrounding her hardening nipples. I looked into her eyes and smiled, working to pull myself up to my knees as she sat there, waiting for me to move closer, smiling. She moistened her lips with the tip of her tongue.

The die was cast. The snow was falling. The wind still blowing. The fire flickered. Diane lifted her arms in anticipation of our first embrace, her lips parted in anticipation of our first kiss.

As her soft warm body filled my arms, she whispered, "It's been so, so long since..." Her words stopped as our lips met...