Reaching Out

June 2022

Readers,

I have often been accused of my stories being a bit slow with not enough physical description. This story is no exception. I believe that physical description is not as important as personality description, complete with some back story to explain why my characters act the way they do and that means my stories have a slower buildup.

joeehartley

Jack read over the text he planned on turning into a flyer to pass out to his neighbors. It was far too wordy, but he felt he needed to explain why a stranger was inviting people over to a backyard barbeque.

He had lived in this neighborhood for almost seven years now and had not met any of his neighbors. He had excuses; it took time to fix up his house, doing repairs and such--but that had all been completed after the first year. He was forced to conclude that the reason he hadn't met anyone was that he himself suffered from shyness. He rarely even saw any of his neighbors; they rarely left their homes. It was an older neighborhood with most who lived here being retired and not very active.

He saw gardeners visiting various houses to keep the outward appearances neat and clean. He saw cleaning people visit apparently to do the same to the insides of these homes, but the owners of these homes only rarely ventured outside except to drive off in their cars.

He was lonely and felt he needed a bit of social interaction. He tried walking around the neighborhood several times a week to get some much-needed exercise, but more importantly to maybe meet any fellow walkers he could interact with. In the three weeks since he started, he saw no one else walking.

He felt that most of his neighbors were as lonely as he was since he never saw anyone visit any of them with the exception of service providers. He saw a few of them at the store when he did his weekly shopping, but never said anything to any of them. His shyness held him back; he had no idea how to start a conversation.

He saw a couple of women on occasion that he fantasized about meeting and getting to know. It had been many years since he had any female companionship.

He resumed his work on the flyer he had been working on for several days. He decided to keep it simple and changed it to say: "Welcome to a Get-to-Know-Your-Neighbors barbeque this Saturday at 1 PM." He also listed his name, address, and phone number.

He printed out 6 copies of his flyer to distribute. He was not a wealthy man and couldn't afford to throw a party for dozens of people. He figured he could feed six and not be overwhelmed. He then set out to plan the menu and decided to modify the flyer to include the menu. He added "Menu to include BBQ Chicken, Baked Beans, and Potato Salad," and printed out another six copies.

Jack distributed the flyers to the people he thought's he'd like to meet including the two women he fantasized about, then headed off to the store to buy what he needed for this Saturday's barbeque.

The next day Jack started to have second thoughts about inviting his neighbors over. What if they did not like his house, or his yard? What if they didn't like the food or did not like him? He busied himself by cleaning up his back yard and making it as presentable as he knew how. He also brought out his Weber that hadn't been used in years and spent two hours cleaning it. He had fresh briquettes and a chimney starter that he actually remembered how to use. He cleaned his house and paid special attention to the bath rooms. He would not want to offend any of his neighbors by making them used a dirty bathroom.

He reviewed his recipes for preparing the chicken for barbeque, his homemade barbeque sauce, his baked beans, and his potato salad. The potato salad needed to be made at least a day in advance and it wouldn't hurt if the beans were likewise ready on the day of the party.

He prepped the chicken and placed it in his refrigerator. He would make the potato salad tomorrow, but he needed to soak the beans overnight.

Friday morning, he started the beans early. They would have to bake for several hours and put the potatoes on to boil. Just before noon the potato salad was done and resting in the refrigerator and the beans were baking in a low oven. He was as ready as he could be.

Saturday morning found the baked beans back in the low oven warming up and the table in his back yard set with plates and such. He had made a batch of iced tea and had the coals starting in the chimney starter. He knew the chicken would take an hour to cook so at 12:30 he put them on the grill and waited for his guest to arrive.

He knew he was over anxious and put on some music to lighten his mood. He waited and did not panic that no one would show up until 1:05. By 1:30 he concluded that he'd have barbequed chicken for his next several meals and started to put things away. The chicken was done, but he was no longer hungry. He was depressed. He'd tried to reach out and failed.

He had just stacked all the plates and dinner wear together to make it easier to take back inside when he heard, "Hello, am I too late for the barbeque?"

Jack turned and saw one of the women he invited. He did not know her name but he'd noticed her often before, shopping in the grocery store. "Not at all. I was beginning to wonder if anyone was going to stop by. I'm Jack."

"Well, I almost didn't. I don't get out much, but when I saw your flyer and your address. I knew who you were. I've seen you before. I'm Julie and I think it takes a lot of courage to reach out to meet people the way you did and I thought the least I could do is come over and say hi. Am I the first one to show up? How many people did you invite?"

"Hi Julie, I invited 6 people since I didn't think I could handle any more than that? I was just about to put everything away thinking this was a bad idea. You are the only one to come by. Would you like some chicken and fixings?"

"I'd love some," she prepared her plate and took a seat. Jack followed her to the table with his plate of food.

"I've seen you at the store every so often and wanted to introduce myself, but didn't know what to say after 'hi'," Jack admitted.

"I noticed you too and I can relate to the fear of approaching someone new," she agreed.

"Do you have any friends or family nearby?" he questioned.

"All my family is now grown and live out of state. We rarely even get a chance to talk, much less see each other and after my divorce, everyone I knew just seemed to drift away." Julie replied.

"I can relate, I have a similar story. Do you have any hobbies or interest? I have taken up walking and am finding that I'm gaining a bit more energy," Jack offered.

"Not really, I used to go out for brunch most mornings with a friend and talk about everything that was going on, but she moved away and I no longer have much that is going on to talk about. I'm somewhat afraid to walk alone--you hear all these stories about women being attacked," Julie shared.

"I haven't been out to brunch in several years. Matter of fact, I haven't been in any restaurant in many years. Where did you like to go? I believe there is a coffee shop just about six blocks from here," Jack shared.

They chatted for several hours and ended up laughing as they found how much they could relate to each other. Julie conceded that she would walk with Jack, but only if they walked to the coffee shop for brunch.

Julie went home with some leftovers a little after 6 and promised to be ready for their walk at 9 AM the following morning.

Jack cleaned up after the party, such as it was, happier than he'd been in a long time. He really enjoyed his time with Julie, after she opened up her shell, he found her to be funny, intelligent, not to mention sexy and somewhat flirty.

Julie arrived back at her house with her body tingling. She had questioned if she really should go to a man's house she really didn't know, but now she realized that she'd been actually flirting with him. She felt young and vibrant again. He seemed to be interested in her too. She had made plans to walk over to the nearby coffee shop for brunch tomorrow. She really didn't care if the food there would be good or bad just as long as she could spend more time with her new friend. She had to decide what to wear.

Jack stood in front of Julie house just a couple of minutes before 9 and rang the bell. He looked forward to spending more time with this woman. Everything he'd discovered about her yesterday indicated that his initial impression of her had been correct. He wanted to get to know her.

Julie answered the door wearing yoga pants and a sports bra under a tight T-shirt. She knew she looked good and that her body had not given up on her. She wore this in the hopes that Jack would also notice and she was not disappointed.

"You look like you're ready for a bit of exercise," he commented with a grin.

They walked down to the coffee shop and Jack was somewhat surprised by Julie's level of energy. He had assumed that she did little exercise, although he could tell by what she was wearing that she was in really good shape. Really good.

They arrived at the coffee shop and took a seat. After a few minutes looking over the menu they placed their orders.

"This place doesn't look too bad," Julie commented.

"I've never been here before, but the menu looks interesting. It could be pretty good," Jack agreed.

Jack then looked over at her, "I was surprised at how well you walked over here. I thought you said that you didn't exercise."

"I do exercise almost every day. I just don't walk in the neighborhood. I have an aerobics video I use at home and one for yoga. I do try to stay in shape, I just don't want to be attacked by some crazy or a loose dog while I'm doing it," she answered.

They continued their getting to know each other chat from the previous afternoon and shared some of their interest from years past, but soon concluded that you can never go back to the way things were and really didn't want to. They needed to develop new hobbies and interest. Jack asked if she would instruct him on her aerobics routine and maybe even the yoga.

Julie agreed and also suggested that they walk down to brunch a couple times a week.

They continued their conversation and meal, "that was pretty good, "Julie commented, "I'd like to come back here again.

On the walk back Jack introduced the topic of sex, "Neither of us are young and naïve anymore. I find you very attractive and would like to move our relationship to the next level."

Julie smiled and nodded. " I was thinking the same thing. I haven't been with a man in many years, so do you mind if we move a bit slow? I like to watch movies in the evening. Would you like to come over tonight and watch a movie? I do have a bottle of wine."

"I'd love to." Jack answered.

"Great. We can just enjoy the wine and movie and see where things go. I don't want to plan anything, but I don't want to restrict anything either," Julie said blushing.

Jack escorted Julie to her door then went home looking forward to spending the evening with his new friend.

Julie was ecstatic about spending the evening with this sexy and interesting man. He did seem to like her as much as she did him. She wasn't certain how to act around a man and what signals to give, or how to give them. So far, she hoped he'd gotten the message that she's interested. She busied herself cleaning her house. She had the leftover chicken from Jack's barbeque for lunch and tried to decide what to wear for their date tonight--it could not be anything too conservative, but she wasn't sure lingerie was in order either.

Jack called first before heading over to Julie's house to make sure he wasn't too early. After hearing that she was ready, he headed over and was pleasantly surprised when she opened the door wearing a nightshirt/chemise. It was not something she could wear in public, but not overtly sexual either. It was definitely sexy and he felt overdressed.

She welcomed him into her home and poured them both a glass of wine, then offered him a choice of movies to see. They settled on one they would both enjoy and took a seat on the couch in front of the TV. There was a tension in the room as neither of them knew how to proceed, but ten minutes after the movie started, they found themselves cuddling together.

Before the movie reached its halfway mark Jack was stroking Julie and within another several minutes they were making out on the couch. The movie had soon been forgotten and Julie stood, grabbed Jack's hand, and led him back into her bedroom.

They enjoyed a session of slow and gentle sex. Both were satisfied and fell asleep in each other's arms. They woke up a few hours later and Jack decided to head on back to his house. It was after midnight.

Jack went home happier than he'd been in years. He had given up on ever having sex again and there was something about this woman that indicated that what he just experienced was but a small sample of things to come. He had already seen that she was a woman with depth, and he looked forward to exploring that depth with her.

The next morning shortly after Jack got out of bed and had his first cup of coffee, his phone rang.

"Hello," Jack answered, "Oh hi Julie, I enjoyed last night too, a lot and I hope to come over for another movie night soon."

He listened for a while as she invited him over for an aerobics lesson using her video.

"No, I haven't eaten yet and I'd love to try aerobics, but since I've never done anything like that before, would you go easy on me?"

He laughed as Julie made a joke about how he might like being punished.

"Let me get dressed and I'll be right over," he replied to the phone.

As he put on a pair of workout shorts and a T-shirt, he thought again of his insight last night about the hidden aspects of Julie and her joke about punishing him. He was now convinced that he had set himself upon an exciting and fun filled journey with this woman.

He rang the doorbell and Julie answered the door dressed much as he was, in shorts and a Tee. "I decided not to distract you too much and put on some workout clothes," she said with a smirk.

Jack found himself getting instantly hard.

"Last night was a lot of fun and I'd like to have another movie night too. I hope I'm not being too forward, but yesterday when we talked about our old hobbies and interest and I said we could never go back. Well, there is something that I always wanted, and have asked for, but could never get. My ex was not very adventurous in bed and I wanted to explore different things. I was wondering if you might be interested in ... maybe talking about and ... maybe trying something of the non-standard things?" Julie asked somewhat shyly.

"I'm definitely interested in talking about and trying new and exciting things in the bedroom," Jack responded. What did you have in mind?"

"Great, maybe we can watch some soft-core porn tonight to get some ideas, but right now let's get all hot and sweaty," Julie commented shifting focus and starting the workout video.

Jack tried to mirror the movements on the video, but was distracted by the movements of Julie standing in front of him and her comments before starting the workout video. He ended up very much aroused and definitely hot and bothered.

At the end of the thirty-minute video, Julie turned around to check on her workout buddy and was pleased to note he'd been watching her ass more than the TV screen. He had a huge budge pushing out his shorts. She was tempted to play with him now, but she had just introduced the idea of them talking about sex play first before acting on any new fun activities, but her mind started to plan the next more erotic workout.

Jack's eyes focused on the fact that Julie was not wearing a bra for this workout and her top was soaked with sweat.

"That was fun, and a bit intense," Jack commented.

"Did you enjoy it, or was it too much?" Julie asked.

"I enjoyed it a lot; I just couldn't do all of it," Jack admitted.

"I can tell you enjoyed it," Julie commented looking at the erection pushing out Jacks shorts.

They ended up giving each other an intimate hug and agreeing to hold off until later in the evening for anything more.

Jack went home and turned on his computer. He opened a porn site he was familiar with and started to look for techniques he thought Julie might enjoy. He tended to focus on the sensual nature of sex. He had taken a couple of massage classes years ago and knew that the skin was the largest sex organ on the body. He refreshed his memory of some of the techniques he'd learned before using the videos he found on this site.

Like the day before Jack called first to make sure Julie was ready for him to come over before arriving at her door. When she opened the door this time, she wore a thin and short tank top. It was obvious that she wore nothing else.

"Come on in Jack," she invited. "We have already decided that we are compatible and there is no longer any reason not to move forward. I figured that we could wear a bit less and entice each other a bit more. Are you wearing boxers like you were yesterday?"

"Yes, should I get as comfortable as you?" he asked as he removed his shorts and T-shirt. He stood in front of her wearing nothing but his boxers. He knew he was displaying himself by the grin on Julie's face.

She handed him a glass of wine, "I think we can watch all of the movie tonight, but there is nothing stopping us from fondling each other," she said as she took her seat on the couch next to him and started the video.

The video depicted male/female encounters with a bit of a plot; much more than what is found in most porn. The sex was primarily oral either the woman giving the man head as a reward for mowing the lawn, or the man tonguing the woman from behind as she cooked dinner. There were also several scenes in the bedroom of the man driving the woman crazy with his tongue between her legs. The actors explored various positions with one doing the other orally, mostly him servicing her, but sometime them satisfying each other together.

As Jack and Julie watched the movie their hands explored each other, but each kept their promise to finish watching the movie.

By the time the movie ended Jack's and Julie's clothes were on the floor and Jack knelt between Julie's open legs. He placed her thighs on his shoulders and proceeded to lick her long and slow in much the same way he had just seen in the movie. He probed her deeply and sucked on her clitoris. He held her down firmly, yet gently as she thrashed around.

Jack allowed her to calm down a bit before again placing his tongue on her most sensitive parts. She pushed him away and had him stand while she dropped to her knees in front of his erect organ. She licked him from balls to tip and then flicked his tip with the tip of her tongue before licking back down to his balls and back up again. She took as much of him into her mouth as she could and teased him until she felt he was close to losing control.

Julie then stood and grabbed Jack's hand and led him back into her bedroom. She pushed him onto her bed face up and settled herself over his waiting mouth. She rode his tongue as she played with his cock and bent over to lick his tip. She then went full on 69 with her on top.

She then repositioned herself into the reverse cowgirl position and rode Jack until they both collapsed in orgasm. A half hour later, Julie announced, "That was fun, but next time we'll focus on you. I want you to cum with my mouth sucking on you."

"I think I'd like that too, but there was nothing wrong with you cumming on my tongue. How would you like a sensual massage? Several years ago, I took a couple of classes on massage and learned that the skin is the body's largest sex organ. I also learned that there are ways to massage the skin without using hands. Do you think you might like a half hour full body sensual massage?" Jack offered.