Neighborhood Watch

My little shriek certainly startled my husband, and when I dropped behind our bed, he must have wondered if something terrible was wrong with me. Before he could cross the room, I was urgently telling him, "The drapes! The drapes!"

Ross stopped and looked at the floor-to-ceiling windows that overlook our backyard, but he did not know what was so upsetting to me.

"Grant and Eve are over there," I said, as if that fact would immediately clarify matters.

Ross came closer and knelt by me, still wondering if I needed help. I had only minutes before come home from the bank where I worked and was changing clothes. Ross was on the other side of the bedroom, on the computer, paying bills. We had come upstairs together, turned on the lights, and were talking about our day. No different from so many other evenings. Then, after taking off my dress and hanging it up, I was stepping out of our walk-in closet, and my eye was caught by lights across the way. In their similarly designed home, our neighbors Grant and Eve were in their bedroom, and he was looking toward our house. I saw that he noticed me. That is, noticed me wearing only a flimsy bra and matching panties, so I shrieked and dropped to hide myself behind the bed.

Before I could explain all this to Ross, my cell phone rang. Ross retrieved it from my purse and handed it to me. It was Eve.

"Nora, we're so sorry if we startled you. Please don't think we were peeping deliberately. It was a coincidence we were there. I'm surprised it hasn't happened before, we've been neighbors so long."

"I'm alright. It was a bit of a surprise, though. And you mustn't think I left the drapes open and was showing off deliberately either."

"Well, we'd hardly think that of you, but so what if you did? What's a little underwear among friends? But I hope you'll come to the window so we can apologize fully."

Ross was looking across the way and motioning to me. "Come over here, Nora."

"What's going on?" I asked Eve.

"Just get over to the window so you can see."

I scooted over so I would be out of sight as I came closer, hidden behind Ross and peeking around his shoulder. What I saw was Eve standing by their windows, and Grant was beside her with his arm around her waist. She was wearing a red bra and matching panties, and she was waving at us.

The phone was still in my hand. "Okay?" she asked. "All even?"

I could hear Grant in the background saying, "Yeah, we want our bank account to balance."

"Eve, you didn't have to—," but I stopped when Ross stepped aside, put his arm around my waist, and waved back. I tried to shrink as much as possible, clutching my arms tightly to myself and twisting one leg over the other. Over the phone, I could hear Grant yell, "Stick 'em up," a joke greeting he often used with me ever since he learned I worked at the bank. Partly because Eve looked relaxed even though her bra and panties were quite skimpy, partly because of Grant's joke, and partly because of my husband's encouragement, I relented and briefly straightened up and waved back with both hands.

It was just a moment, though. My breasts are a B cup, but my bra fit very snugly, and I knew that it and my and panties were thin enough to show my nipples and the shadow of my pubic hair. Almost unable to get the words out, I stammered, "Yes, yes, we're even," and I hung up and scurried to switch off the light and return to our closet to finish getting changed. Ross found my little panic most amusing. And I bet he found Eve's lingerie quite diverting as well.

He thinks I should feel blessed with my slender build, and has encouraged me to wear clothes that flatter my figure. I do not feel the same confidence I may have felt about my body when I was still in my twenties, and I certainly do not have a careless attitude about showing off, even a little. However, , I have reached a kind of compromise with my husband in that my outerwear is rather conservative, but my underwear is meant to satisfy him. Only him, I thought.

Although Ross and I knew the neighbors on our block well, until the last year, we'd had only a nodding acquaintance with Grant and Eve. Our street curved in such a way that four houses looked back on the common lot that they surrounded. Our house backed up to Grant and Eve's almost directly, leaving probably no more than 100 feet between our houses. The house next door (empty when the old "snowbirds" fled to Florida) would be at an angle to theirs, and the house two doors down would look on to the side of Grant and Eve's. In that house two doors away, my sister, Amy, lived with her husband, Jerry, both of them a couple years younger than our mid-thirties. All four of the houses had similar designs, including plenty of floor-to-ceiling windows. In particular, such windows were in every master bedroom and its attached bathroom.

As for Grant and Eve, we became closer friends with them after an unusual event. A break-in occurred a few blocks away, and it brought several neighbors together to form a block watch program. At the meetings, Ross and I met Grant and Eve, and they joined our circle of neighborhood friends along with Amy and Jerry.

Another event brought us together with them again, and indirectly, it led to my accidental exposure. In the late summer after that break-in, Hurricane Ike occurred. We live far from the Gulf coast, yet the winds from that storm passed through several mid-western states, causing a great deal of damage. Like many others in the vicinity, we had damage to our roof, and we lost a large sycamore tree from our backyard. Its removal and clean-up involved Grant and Eve because many of the tree limbs fell into their yard. I recall now that Grant said at the time something like, "I guess we'll being seeing more of each other now." I laughed then, a little weakly. Perhaps he understood that his comment might be misconstrued, so he added, "I'll never be able to stick up your bank because you'll recognize me."

I missed that tree in ways I perhaps did not realize. Over the years, I had grown accustomed to being unconcerned about anyone seeing into our bedroom while I changed clothes after work. That tree had provided a curtain as well as shade. Yet, at first, even after its removal, I was coming home and getting changed while it was still light outside. With the lights off in our bedroom, I was secure in my privacy and never closed the drapes.

In my habits, what I had neglected was the change in our clocks, when we "fall back" and evening darkness comes an hour earlier. That night, the Monday right after turning the clocks back, I had absent-mindedly put on the lights and begun undressing without a thought as to view into our bedroom. I still feel a wave of embarrassment at the thought that, even before I noticed them, Grant and Eve may have been watching when I unzipped my dress and took it off.

My embarrassment did not lessen despite Eve's attempt to offer restitution. I supposed that I could not expect Ross to feel similarly bothered, but I would have preferred if he had not shown such enjoyment, not only of Eve's display, but my own as well.

Over dinner, he tried to reassure me, "No harm done, Nora. And anyway, your bikini top is no bigger."

"Please. You are not going to get away with that line about how bras and panties are no different than swimming suits."

"But what if it's true? If you want, we can measure, but I'm positive that your bra covers as much as your bikini top."

"The issue is not coverage so much as material. If panties are just the same as swim suit bottoms, why do so many men get such a thrill from looking up a woman's skirt?" Ross had no quick answer, and I pressed further, "And are you going to tell me that you would be just as pleased to see me come to bed in a short flannel gown rather than the gown you bought for me last Valentine's Day?"

"Well, no, but we're not talking about the same coverage anymore. That Valentine's gown may have the same length as this supposed flannel gown, but I can see through the gown I bought you."

"My point exactly. You can see through my bra and panties too. And now that I think of it, you also bought that set for me."

"Alright, I defer to your superior arguments. But it's still no big deal. From that far away, I doubt Grant could tell the difference between your underwear and your bikini."

"Perhaps, but it's not that far away. You know how you once remarked that we could almost read their newspaper when they had breakfast on their patio. Anyway, I would have felt better if my underwear had a bit more material."

Ross reached over and caressed my breast. Leaning closer to kiss me, he whispered softly in my ear, "Actually, your breasts have such lovely, dark, big nipples, maybe he didn't know if you had a bra on at all" He was teasing, and although I was laughing as I slapped his hand away, I knew his remarks were true, and I felt even more self-conscious again.

I would like to say that I put the whole incident out of my mind, but that wouldn't be true. In fact, I found that my mind was wandering a lot the next day, mostly thinking about and reliving my unintentional exposure.

And I also kept thinking about my underclothes. The sun had already been up when I dressed that morning, meaning I did not need to turn on any lights. I allowed myself a quick glance and felt a twinge of guilt for noting that I couldn't see into Grant and Eve's room either. Then, without giving it a lot of consideration, I selected my bra and panties for the day. The bra was not as thin, but it pushed my breasts up and together more, making my B cups look like C cups. The panties were lacey boy shorts, leaving the lower third of my bottom uncovered. Dressed and sitting at my desk at work, however, I was giving that selection more consideration. Specifically, I was wondering what it would be like for Grant to see me in that bra and panty set.

Of course, I knew that he couldn't see me that way if I simply closed the drapes, or left the lights off, or changed clothes in the closet. To my wandering mind, though, those simple solutions did not seem so obvious. The scene that I couldn't get out of my mind was instead of me removing my blouse and skirt like I had no choice but to be seen while I undressed. Afterall, the wind knocked the tree down, so I could not control whether anyone had a view of our bedroom. This was silly, of course, but I wouldn't admit it to myself then, and clearly my feelings of embarrassment were mixed with excitement.

That night, I at first acted like I was being more careful. When I entered our bedroom, I did not turn on the lights right away. Without bills to pay or other business on the computer, Ross was not in the bedroom before me, so I did not have to explain why I was looking across the way to see if Grant and Eve would have their bedroom lights on again.

One part of me remained embarrassed about the previous night, another part was curious. Eve certainly could have apologized without stripping down to her underwear. I cannot say what I hoped to see when I glanced in their direction. In fact, I did not see anything.

It was then that my actions seemed to take place ahead of any thoughts, as if I was acting under some irresistible influence. I turned on the bedroom lights. I did not close the drapes. I went in the closet and brought out the clothes I wanted to wear the rest of the evening and set them out on the bed. As if I was doing nothing out of the ordinary, I stood at the end of the bed, in the center of our bedroom, and took off my blouse. I dropped it on the bed and began to unzip my skirt. I was not wearing stockings, so when I stepped out of my skirt, I was wearing only the bra and panties. I was acting out the scene that had overwhelmed my mind all day.

Of course, there was another element to that scene. Were Grant and Eve at their window looking at me? Was Grant able to see me in the bra and panties that, if I would admit it, I had chosen for him to see?

I tried to move naturally, as if in no hurry. Undressed that much, I knew I could not go further, and I did not take off anything else. Acting casual, I turned toward the windows. Wanting to sneak a look to see if my neighbors were there, instead I saw myself, reflected in the glass. Stunned by the sight of my near nakedness, I was yet aware of the light in the background. They had to be there. Even though I did not shift my focus to them, Grant and Eve could see me.

That realization made my heart race. I had to overcome my impulse to shriek and hide like the night before, and continue pretending I was unconscious of the show. As I turned my back, I knew I was still acting out of divided motives. My nerves wouldn't let me take much more of seeing my body in the reflection, yet I was also letting Grant observe how the panties provided only scanty covering of my bottom.

That was when Ross came into the room. I did not hear him on the steps, and when he entered the room, I was still undressed.

"You forget the drapes?"

"Oh, yeah," I said. "I guess I did."

At the time, I figured I was lucky that he didn't stay that long. He did give me an appreciative look as he dropped some papers on the desk and left. Now, of course, I know he was just being cool and trying not to intrude on my reverie.

When I was dressed, I turned off the light and went downstairs. My hands were shaking, and I felt a little light-headed, barely able to follow what Ross was saying to me.

I could not say how or why I changed my mind in the space of one day. That is, I knew that I had mixed feelings about being seen undressed, but I could not say why I let the curious side of my mind overcome the embarrassment and dictate my actions. Perhaps I told myself that I had maintained some sense of modesty by stopping short of getting nude. In any case, over the next few days, I repeated my undressing and dressing act. My underclothes those days included see-through bras and panties, and even one pair of thong panties. And I knew that Grant was watching.

Without a doubt, my curiosity about whether I would deliberately undress in front of Grant was answered. Eventually, my curiosity about Grant and Eve grew as well. I wondered what they were doing.