Apartment 409

His eyes traveled back up her body to find hers, looking at him with mild curiosity and

...recognition?

Then she was turning and making her way to the bar, the men there gladly parting just enough for her to squeeze between them and flag down the bartender.

"You're up. You're shooting lowballs." Ted jumped, startled by the voice behind him.

"Huh? Oh, right, sorry." Ted lined up his cue stick and tried to focus on his first shot. But his eyes drifted over to her, still at the bar. She was on her toes, leaning over to speak into the bartender's ear. Her dress was riding up and was now very much in danger of exposing her ass.

Ted took his shot and missed. "Dammit."

As the game continued, Ted couldn't concentrate. The mystery woman had taken her drink to a nearby booth and was now sipping it while texting on her phone. Her legs were crossed and Ted couldn't help but admire them, and the sensible summer footwear that showed off her neatly pedicured toes.

His view was suddenly blocked by a large, burly man who'd approached her. Words were exchanged but Ted couldn't hear them over the crowd and jukebox, but when he turned away, the man looked rather flustered, while she looked somewhat annoyed.

"You gonna finish the game, my man, or are you gonna go talk to her?" Ted's opponent was grinning at him from across the table.

"Sorry," muttered Ted. He quickly lined up his next shot, missing again.

The game ended quickly enough, and while his opponent had offered him a second chance, Ted declined, deciding to cut his losses. His head simply wasn't in the game.

As Ted ordered another beer for himself and a second to pay his bet, he thought he saw the woman glance at him and smile.

Was she flirting? Or just amused, knowing how much she'd distracted him from his game?

Ted handed off the beer to his opponent, then took a long swallow of his own. Summoning his courage, he decided to go talk to her.

Turning towards her booth, he took a step. Then another. She looked up as he approached, and smiled excitedly.

Ted almost froze when he realized she was looking past him, at someone else behind him.

A tall, thick, dark skinned woman with short, jet black hair and dress to match glided past him and approached the booth. The blonde stood to greet her.

The two women embraced and, as they sat down, Ted caught the briefest of glimpses up the blonde woman's dress, just enough to reveal the color of her panties; an almost neon pink.

Ted managed to keep his feet moving despite his embarrassment. Instead of stopping at their booth, he kept going, making his way towards the men's room.

"Idiot," he chided himself as he stood at the urinal. He couldn't believe his bad luck.

"No, not bad luck," he told himself. "Just bad timing."

Heading back to the bar, he again passed the table where the two women sat, chatting amicably. He managed to pick up only a piece of their conversation on the way by.

"...you have to leave early tomorrow, but if you wanted to, you could..."

He lost the rest of it as he found his stool at the bar, the blonde woman's words again drowned out by the din.

Ted sat and nursed his beer, wrestling with himself on how to proceed. Or even if.

The blonde certainly matched the physique of the mystery woman he'd seen from his porch that night, but he couldn't be sure.

How would he start the conversation? "Hi, you don't know me, but I think you live next door." How would he explain how he'd recognized her? He certainly couldn't tell her he'd seen her standing naked at her window.

If he was right about her, it could be very awkward. And if he was wrong, he'd just look like another guy with a feeble pickup line.

So instead he sat, trying and failing not to stare as the two women continued their conversation.

Suddenly the ladies stood. Moving past him, they made their way over to the pool table.

Now out of his view, Ted was faced with a dilemma. He'd have to turn around completely to see what they were doing, but to do so would be obvious. If they saw him, they'd know he was intentionally watching them.

He could hear their voices behind him, and soon heard the sound of the pool balls being racked.

His curiosity finally winning out over his caution, he turned as casually as he could manage towards the table.

Just in time to catch a spectacular view.

The blonde was leaning over the table, lining up her first shot. Her back was to him. And her dress had ridden up high enough to show off her stunning pink panties.

Ted almost choked on his beer. The panties framed her taut, round ass perfectly, snuggly conforming to both her curves and crevices.

The seams of the leg holes were outlined with white, heart patterned lace, standing out against her tanned skin. As she leaned still further, he caught just the barest glimpse of her vulva, and, just above it, a small, heart shaped hole that displayed the barest peek of her ass crack.

With shock, he realized they were the same style panties he'd found in the hallway.

Then it was gone. The blonde took her shot then straightened up, cheering as her ball hit the pocket.

She moved around the table and lined up her second shot, this time displaying her cleavage. Her breasts swayed naturally and apparently unencumbered beneath her loose floral dress.

Ted watched, fascinated, as she sunk her second shot. Then the next. And the next after that.

Her opponent, a large, burly man with a well worn truckers hat and long, scraggly beard, watched with chagrin as she sank yet another.

Finally she missed one. Ted was no expert, but he was pretty sure she'd missed on purpose. The blonde sauntered back to her friend, sitting on a nearby stool and gave her a sly wink as the burly man lined up his shot.

A crowd gathered as the game continued, mostly men of course, eventually blocking Ted's view from the bar.

Ted had just ordered another round when the cheers erupted behind him.

Turning, he spotted the burly trucker making his way to the bar, the embarrassment on his face from losing obvious as he ordered drinks for the women celebrating and high-fiving the crowd surrounding them.

Ted mentally kicked himself for giving up the table earlier. If he'd stayed, he might have had an opportunity to play the blonde, but now the line of men eager to test her skills was already far too long.

He felt a twinge of jealousy as he watched the balding, pudgy man in a tattered Stones tee-shirt rack up the balls for the next game. He was so much better looking, or at least he thought so, than any of the rabble currently surrounding the beautiful blonde pool shark.

She moved around the table with graceful ease, and seemed well aware yet dismissive of the attention she was receiving as she bent and leaned, regularly giving glorious but fleeting flashes of both ass and cleavage as she knocked in ball after ball.

By the third straight win, the crowd started to disperse somewhat, many of the guys apparently now unwilling to risk their pride or their drinking money, even for the privilege of watching her play.

Ted decided to try to get in on a game. But first, his bladder demanded emptying.

By the time he returned from the men's room, the women were gone.

Taking his seat, he tried in vain to spot them. Hoping they were just in the ladies room, he decided to wait a little longer. Waving down the bartender, he ordered one last drink.

When the bartender returned with his beer, Ted asked, "So, what happened to the ladies playing pool? Did they finally lose or something?"

The bartender shrugged. "Dunno. Don't think so. They just suddenly split."

"Have you ever seen that blonde in here before?" Ted asked.

"Nah, I'd definitely remember her," the bartender replied with a knowing grin.

"Dammit," Ted hissed to himself, cursing yet another missed opportunity. Dejected, he slowly nursed his drink, then decided to call it a night.

The night air was surprisingly cool on his sweat soaked skin as he exited Sharkey's and made his way home.

He considered getting in his car and going to a local strip club he knew, but all that would do is drain his wallet still more and leave him even more sexually frustrated. Plus, he wasn't really sure he should be driving.

So instead he found himself once again alone in his somehow still muggy apartment.

Stripping down to his boxers, he grabbed his pack of cigarettes and went out on the porch. He'd managed to go the entire night at the bar without a cigarette, but between his buzz and his current depression, he'd decided to cave to his cravings.

He sucked the first one down pretty quickly. Turning to head back inside, he decided he wasn't quite ready to face the long night of the empty apartment just yet.

"Fuck it," he thought. "Another one won't kill me."

He'd just lit the second one when he heard the patio door of apartment 409 slide open. "Ah," he heard a female voice sigh, "that's much better."

His neighbor stood there, again bathed in shadow, and again, apparently naked.

"May as well turn the air conditioner off," she spoke to someone behind her. "It's pretty worthless anyway."

Ted watched silently, hidden in his own shadows, as a feminine figure approached behind her, a pair of dark skinned arms wrapping around her waist.

"Mmm, it's okay," the other woman purred, "I kinda like it when you're all sweaty."

"I bet you do," she laughed softly.

His neighbor turned and again Ted was greeted by a wonderful if fleeting view of her curvy ass before she stepped into the arms of her apparent lover and out of view.

Still, the door remained open, the sounds of kissing floating lightly to his ears while his eyes locked on the tantalizing shadows they cast that hinted at moving hands and shapely bodies locked in a passionate embrace.

"Come on," the newcomer's voice whispered, "let's go back to bed."

"One sec," his neighbor's voice answered.

Her silhouette again appeared in the doorway. Her head cocked slightly, and for a moment, Ted was sure her gaze was fixed on him. She sniffed at the air curiously.

Then the screen door slid shut, and she was gone.

Ted put his still lit cigarette to his mouth with a shaky hand. If she hadn't actually seen him, she'd certainly smelled the smoke.

"Fuck it," he thought, exhaling. "I did nothing wrong. If she insists on walking around like that, it's not my fault." Still, a pang of guilt ate at him.

Crushing out his smoke, he slipped silently back inside.

Returning to his bedroom, he lay on his bed and focused on hearing whatever he could from the other side of the wall.

For the moment, he heard nothing. Then the sweet sounds of low moans echoed faintly.

Ted threw off his boxers and began to stroke the erection that had been forming since he'd first spotted the two women on the patio, attentive to every noise.

The women's voices were low, inaudible, and only occasionally could he make out an actual word or two.

"...so soft..."

"...oh, yes..."

"...feels good..."

There were frequent punctuations of groans, moans, and lilting laughter as their obvious lovemaking continued. Ted could of course only imagine the scene happening so close and yet so far away from him; naked, sweaty, feminine shapes, rolling and moving and caressing in a lover's embrace.

Hands roaming over soft, sensitive, slippery skin. Fingers tickling and probing feminine curves, folds, and clefts.

Tongues and lips, licking and kissing sensitive areas, sucking swollen nipples and throbbing clitoris.

The moans became louder, more urgent, and Ted heard a clear, "Oh, yes, yesss!" as their bed shook against the wall, although he could not identify which of the women was now in the throes of orgasm.

The room went quiet save for the sound of Ted's labored breathing as he stroked away, holding back his own orgasm, waiting to see if the ladies would continue.

And shortly, they did. There was more muffled conversation and the sounds of bodies moving on the bed.

Another moan, a different voice this time, higher and lighter pitched, sounded through the wall, repeating, increasing in volume, and then, quite loudly, "Oh, FUCK, right there!"

Ted was close, so dangerously close, to shooting his load, but wanted to time it with the mystery woman now squealing in delight, imagining her back arched, her hands grasping her partner's head as her pussy throbbed and gushed under the adoring tongue of her attentive lover.

The panties! He'd forgotten all about them! Grabbing them from the nightstand drawer, he inhaled the remaining faint scent greedily while his cock pulsed in his grip, leaking precum and begging desperately to be allowed release.

The squeals next door built to a rousing crescendo that suddenly became muffled; possibly by a hand over her mouth, or perhaps screaming into a pillow.

Ted could no longer hold back his orgasm, hot streams of cum splattering in all directions as he shook against his headboard, ignorant of the noise it made against the wall as his head swam in climactic bliss.

As his breathing steadied and his cock slowly deflated in his sticky grasp, Ted again tuned into his neighbor's room.

He waited, but no knock came this time. Only whispered voices, the squeaks of the boxspring, and then silence. After a few moments, he could hear the water pipes running; one, or perhaps both of them, were cleaning up in their shower.

Ted slipped out of bed to his own bathroom, content to simply mop himself up with a cool washcloth.

Putting on his shorts, he stepped out on the patio for one last smoke.

He could see lights in the apartment next door, and some shadowy movement, but nothing more. Then the lights went out and all was still.

Ted finished his smoke slowly as he pictured the two women now cuddled together in bed, still naked, falling asleep in each other's arms.

When he eventually returned to his own bed, sleep came much faster than he thought.

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Ted awoke late, his mouth dry with the aftertaste of beer and tobacco.

Crawling out of bed, his head only slightly throbbing from his mild hangover, he again promised himself to quit his cigarette habit completely very soon.

Still, he'd definitely want one with his morning coffee.

After dressing, he went to the kitchen and put on a fresh pot, the smell of brewing coffee already helping to clear the dull ache in his head and stir his appetite.

He made some instant oatmeal and a bagel while the coffee brewed.

After eating, he decided to take his second cup of coffee out to the balcony and smoke the last crumbling cigarette in his pack. He made a silent promise he knew he would break not to buy a new one.

As he crossed his living room, Ted spotted a manilla envelope, laying on the floor, just under the mailslot of his door.

Picking it up, Ted examined it curiously. It had no mailing address on it, nor stamps.

Four words were written on it in flowing cursive: "For my new neighbor."

His heart racing, Ted opened it to discover a pair of soft, heart laced trimmed pink panties he recognized immediately as the ones the beautiful blonde at the bar had been wearing last night.

Turning them in his hands, the gusset was caked in still moist juices, the scent of them already strong in his nostrils.

He was about to sniff them when he spotted the note tucked away in the envelope.

It was written in the same dainty handwriting.

"To my new neighbor,

"Sorry about all the noise last night, I hope we didn't disturb you too badly.

"I'm offering these to you as an apology. I hope you enjoy them as much as you did my other pair.

"Speaking of, I'd appreciate it if you'd return them. They're one of my favorites. You can put them in this envelope and just put it through my mail slot.

"I'll be out of town for the next several days. Maybe when I get back we can meet properly.

"And, if it isn't too much trouble, perhaps I could persuade you to help me finally hang some curtains? I'm sure I can make it worth your while.

"All the best,

"Your neighbor in 409."

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AUTHORS AFTERWARDS

As some of my more regular readers may already be aware of, I tend to leave many of my stories open ended.

There's the possibility of a continuation here, of course. But unless I can come up with something more creative than "Ted and his neighbor have sex" I'd rather leave it to your imagination and let you decide what happens next.

Maybe they meet and fall in love. Maybe she's a lesbian that simply likes to tease.

Or maybe their adventures continue only separated by a wall.

The choice, in the end, is yours.

Feedback, as always, is welcomed.