The Sinful Obsession

This was just like Amy's luck. She could never catch a break. Of course Kylie had signed her up for a speed dating waste of time on a Sunday night, and of course her car had broken down on the way home, and of course Kylie was busy and couldn't even give her a ride home. Of course, of course, of course. She slammed closed the door of her god forsaken car after she had crammed everything she needed into her purse before the tow truck took the piece of junk away. She was initially ecstatic to move to a smaller city last month, but at times like these she really missed the convenience of being able to call a cab from basically anywhere in Chicago. Still, Fairfield wasn't so bad. Her feet were already killing her from wearing the shoes from hell that night, but she didn't dare take off the heels because there was no way she was making the half hour trek barefoot. The sun had just begun to set when she started off, but she wasn't worried about getting home before dark. One of the good things about this place was that it was always well lit at night, and she had some pepper spray as back up. She tried to just focus on how the sky faded from orange to purple splotches behind the buildings on the horizon rather than the needles she felt stabbing into the soles of her feet with every step. Luckily she had been in the area long enough to be able to find her way home. She actually lived in a house, in the suburbs, which still seemed like a foreign concept. She lived in a house, with stairs and all- rather than the apartment she had grown up in crammed with eight children and two adults. Amy was reminded of song she read in history class about the conformity of suburbia, and had the tune stuck in her head 'little boxes on the hillside, little boxes made of ticky tacky, little boxes on the hillside, little boxes all the same' and she remembered that the song was against the suburbs, but it was more of an anthem to her now. She was neither here nor there on the uniformity (actually, that was a lie, she was quite fond of the fact that everything seemed so organized and structured) but something about a house just seemed wholesome. Like a real home. She was happy with how her childhood went and her living situation was more than fine, but she had always fantasized about living in a house. And she absolutely couldn't get enough of going up to her roof at night and seeing the stars. Sure she could only see about 30 (she was on the outskirts of a medium sized city) but that was 30 more than she grew up with from the light pollution in Chicago. So she knew she had made a good choice. Even if Kylie might not have been the best roommate to choose when she wouldn't even rescue her best friend from the torture that was improperly supported arches. She had zoned out until she noticed the change of tone of the taunting click of her heels as the ground transitioned from concrete to cobblestone under her. She had reached the part of the city (that was really just a block) that was affectionately referred to as 'old town Fairfield', where the street and sidewalks were made of cobblestone and lined old fashioned shops, most of which were still functioning. There weren't a whole lot of people around the epicenter of the town when she first started walking, but the bustle had thinned out considerably. What used to be over 20 in her eye line had fallen to just four, including herself. There were two people across the street walking in opposite directions from each other, and one person only a couple steps in front of Amy. He was tall, brown hair, and had a pretty cute ass. And Amy had the presence of mind to realize that she had been behind that ass for most of her travel time. When there were more people around it wasn't too bad or strange, but now it probably looked like she was following him. Which she wasn't. They were just walking in the same direction. Then Amy realized that if he noticed her, there was an actual chance that he would think she was following him. She knew she didn't look too threatening in her high heels and Kylie's over the top blue dress so he would probably assume he could take her in a fist fight if it came down to it, but her purse was huge and big enough to be packing heat. She consoled herself that he probably hadn't even noticed her (yet) and they were sure to part ways soon. She knew she was getting paranoid for no reason since she wasn't doing anything remotely guilty, but that didn't help much. She would probably look like a maniac if he realized it, so she was left chanting in her head 'please don't turn around please don't turn around please don't turn around' over and over again. Of course, not a moment later, he turned his head slightly to covertly glance at her, and she felt like dying. She repeated the mantra to herself that he was sure to turn soon and their paths would finally part. And of course, of course, of course, he was still walking the same way five minutes later, and five minutes after that. After his fourth secretive check if she was still behind him (not following him) she decided she would wait a few minutes for him to get a head start. That plan only lasted about 45 seconds because those shoes were agonizing. She couldn't bear to stand still for a moment longer, and Kylie's stupid dress was too fancy for her to sit on the sidewalk, so her only option was to continue walking. Even though a 45 second wait wasn't nearly enough time for the guy to get any distance between them, it probably made her look more suspicious like she was trying to hide the fact that she was following him (and doing a piss poor job of it). Soon they neared the field behind a high school that she used as a convenient short cut since it crossed into the middle of her neighborhood. It didn't lead directly to her house, but it cut down a good 10 minutes of her walking time since she didn't have to navigate the mess of streets down the road. And Amy knew better than to hope the guy didn't take the shortcut because it was obvious that life was screwing her over that night. She was soon proven correct, and left with the choice of taking the long way round or going the same way she had planned on going the whole time and possibly seeming like a stalker. But damn, her feet were killing her, so she took the option that would lead her to taking off her shoes in the least amount of time. It was definitely night by that time, but the school always had lights bordering the field every night, so when he looked around again Amy was sure that he saw her. And she couldn't stand it anymore. “I'm not following you!” Amy shouted with her hands cupped around her mouth so her voice would travel. The guy spun on his heels and lifted a finger to his chest to ask if she was addressing him, to which she nodded vigorously at and jabbed a finger in his direction to drive it home. While the lamps provided enough illumination for them to make each other out, it was too dark and they were too far apart to be able to even attempt to interpret facial expressions. “What?” He shouted back to her. “I'm not following you!” She tried to be louder but it was no good. “I can't hear you!” “Just wait!” She yelled in frustration as she picked up her speed. She tried to yell as loud as possible, and thought the command was simple enough that it wouldn't be lost to the distance, but she had no idea if he would comply. Waiting for someone who could be a deranged psychopath to catch up to you probably wasn't a smart idea, but she was relieved when she saw him relax into his stance and shove his hands in his pockets. As she neared him and got her first good look at his face, she noted it was a little bit cute, even though she pushed that thought to the back of her mind. Her quickened pace was made even worse since her heels sank into the grass when she was doing anything more than padding along, so she was actually relieved to take a small break from movement to stand before him and talk. “I'm not following you,” Amy stated with a grave face. She did not need anything else to get messed up that night. “You're not?” He asked with a slight smile, clearly amused. It irked her that he seemed to be enjoying the situation. She should have been glad that he wasn't freaked out, but it pissed her off that he wasn't bothered a bit when she had spent the past 20 minutes paranoid as hell. “No, I'm not,” Amy clarified, hearing the testiness in her own voice. “My car broke down and all of my friends are jerks who won't give me a ride so I have to walk home in these awful shoes and my feet are killing me. And then you had to make a bad night worse by walking the same way as me, and I thought you thought I was following you, when I totally wasn't, so I tried waiting a bit but I gave up and I thought I'd finally stop looking like a stalker when I got to this field. But then you had to go and take my f*****g shortcut. I thought about going the long way round, but my feet f*****g hurt and I'm not spending a moment more in these shoes than I have to. So I'm not following you.” “I don't see your name anywhere on this shortcut,” he smirked. He had that annoying arrogant smile that people who were way to full of themselves had, and Amy hated how hot she thought it was and ignored the random urge she had to kiss it. The night was not going well for her. “So where are you headed?” He asked, and she was inclined to tell him. She wasn't normally the kind of person who gave out her street address to strangers, but she decided to give him the benefit of the doubt, especially since she was the suspicious party in that instance. Besides, she really, really didn't want to seem like a stalker, not to him, and she realized that she shouldn't care what he thought because she probably wasn't going to see his face again or at most in passing. Still, she did. “Tacoma.” At her answer he got a surprised look on his face, then one of recognition. “Oh. So are you the blue house on the end with that spiral-thingy, or the white one with way too many windows?” “Blue,” she responded instantly. Then after a bit more thought “How did you know that?” “Because they're the only neighbors I don't know. I'm right across the street. 6171.” This time his smile wasn't smug or annoying, just genuine- and it was blinding. “You're kidding,” Amy breathed, but he only shook his head in response. “Well at least that's out of the way. It would have gotten a whole lot creepier for the next few minutes.” “So do you wanna walk together or keep following me?” “I wasn't following you,” Amy muttered as she continued walking towards their mutual destination. When she had advanced a good 10 feet and realized he wasn't beside her, she turned around to see him standing in the same spot. “Are you coming or what?” He grinned wider and brighter as he easily caught up and they fell into a steady pace beside each other.   “My name's Jake,” he told her as he offered his hand. She took it and gave it a good shake while she tried to ignore how warm his hand was and how cold hers was after she let go. “Amy. And how come I've never seen you before? I don't know any of my neighbors names, but I at least know what they look like. And didn't a pregnant couple live at your place? I saw them last week and there were never any moving trucks.” “Bit of a long story. Short version: I was out of town helping family and my supposed best friend and his fiance graciously offered to house sit for me. Though it wasn't so selfless since they were apartment shopping and had been crashing there anyway for a week before that. And they repay my kindness by eloping at a courthouse while I was away, denying me the chance to be the best man or even a witness. They got their new place like two weeks ago, but stayed to take advantage of my cable package. And while I was gone your house and the white one changed owners, but I've only been back a few days so I haven't had time to make introductions.” “Ugh, you're one of those people,” she groaned before she could stop herself. She was normally fantastic about holding her tongue, but that just slipped out, and there wasn't a good way to get out of it. “One of what people?” “One of those neighbors that organizes block parties. Or invites people from next door over for football or a pool party or some other awful thing, because you actually like people, instead of just being like everyone else and nodding when you see people who live across the street and stay on an official one word greeting basis.” Amy knew she was being rude, and normally she was quick to save face, but at the end of that awful night, she found herself out of f***s to give. “Is that a bad thing?” Jake asked, luckily sounding more curious than offended. He was peering over at her like she was novelty that he was trying to figure out, or even learn from. The first few minutes she had spent with him she assumed that he was a jerk that always cracked jokes, but he looked at her so earnestly that she couldn't think straight. The lamps provided enough light to really see his face and the shades and shadows tracing their way across it, but Amy couldn't help but wonder what it would look like in the daylight. “Those people are the worst. Somehow they remember when I mentioned my brother in another state being sick when I was trapped in a conversation with them, and I can't even remember their names, much less what sports their kids play. I always feel awful after talking to them.” She tried to keep the tone of their conversation light and felt successful for a bit, but then she was brought back to the totally weird thoughts she was having about a stranger she just met. Not weird weird thoughts, but just weird. Of course she had seen attractive guys before and had the passing thought of just walking up to them and kissing them, but she never entertained them because they were just things that crossed her mind. And for some reason she actually thought about kissing Jake, and couldn't stop thinking about it. There was something about him that was off, a little difference that set her off kilter, and it was interesting. She was not going to use cliche words like drawn to, or captivating, or magnetic- but she would admit that he was interesting. “Well hopefully you remember my name,” he informed her, “because you came this close to feeling the wrath of my one inch karate chop.” “Do you even know karate?” She asked even though she was sure he didn't, since there was no such thing as a 'one inch karate chop'. Jake hemmed and hawed in response before finally giving in. “No, but I've got some nasty incisors, and I don't fight fair.” And Amy laughed. It initially surprised both of them, but then she laughed again. And again, and again, and didn't stop. Eventually she was laughing so hard she couldn't walk anymore and Jake stopped beside her. Soon enough she was doubled over with her hand grabbing his arm to keep from toppling over, and the closeness felt weird and nice and was surprisingly comfortable. She usually did well enough in social situations, but always came off as trying too hard and sucking up, or oppositional when she tried to reign herself in. Just weird. So it usually took a while for her to get comfortable around someone, but for some reason everything was easy with Jake that night. She realized the way she was grasping his arm could be taken as subconsciously flirty, but she didn't care because she really would fall over without him steadying her. His hand was on her upper arm in an attempt to support her too, and damn did it feel nice. “Am I really that funny?” He questioned when she finally got over the giggles. “No, don't flatter yourself. It's just the adrenaline working off. I kept thinking how if the situations were reversed I would have been worried that you had a gun or something, and then I thought that you were probably thinking that too and I got worked up.” She stood up and assured him she was good to continue walking, and scolded herself for being disappointed when he dropped his hand. “So what do you do?” At her confused look he rephrased his question. “You know, a job? Where you do some work and they give you money to pay for your lovely blue house with the spiral?” Amy had never realized that the field was so long. She was initially relieved when they made it to the point where the field connected to the end of a cul-de-sac if only to be in more familiar surroundings. When she felt the shift from grass to concrete beneath her feet she realized that the whole thing was coming to an end soon. The even sidewalk was much more comfortable to walk on then the rolling and dipping field, but she found herself wishing it stretched out for miles. They passed by houses that lined the streets, and Amy semi-conciously slowed her pace to prolong the experience, and was glad when Jake matched it. Each red brick mailbox they left behind felt like a red marker at a marathon that said '5 miles to go' or '1 mile left' '200 feet' to encourage runners to reach the finish line. But it didn't seem like a finish line to Amy. More like a deadline, nothing after it, and for sure not something she ever wanted to reach. “It's pretty boring. I'm an accountant for one of the businesses in the city. How about you?” “Would you believe monster truck driver?” “Not at all,” she shook her head with a smile. “How about movie special effects artist?” He offered. Amy rolled her eyes and gave him a pointed look. “Fine, fine,” Jake said, holding up his hands like he was surrendering. “Teacher. 3rd grade.” “Don't you have to have a degree for that?” Amy shot off, once again, without thinking. Tonight was not her night. “Yeah. Should I be offended that you assumed I couldn't make it through college?” “You do not seem like the teacher type. I would've expected you to be the class clown. I can't picture you in front of kids and actually being responsible.” “It's the exact opposite with the kids,” Jake groaned. “It's the worst when they see you outside of class because they think you live at the school or something. I've been grocery shopping before and asked if I had a twin brother or if I'm a clone, and I have to explain that I'll see them on Monday.” Amy found herself laughing again, even though she realized at the back of her mind that they were only a street away from their respective homes. She didn't want the night to end, but she knew she couldn't stop it. But she had an idea that good enough. “What time do you get off tomorrow?” “Technically the bell rings at 3, but there's usually meetings on Mondays, so I don't end up leaving till 4 most of the time,” Jake answered without any thought. Amy wasn't exactly the best at picking up guys (though she wasn't picking him up- she just wanted to see him again. For totally platonic reasons. Like asking him questions about the area. That was the only reason she wanted to see him again). And even though she wasn't the most experienced in the art, she thought her question was pretty transparent. “What time will you be home?” She elaborated, hoping he would get the hint as they turned on to Tacoma. But once again, she was wrong that night. “Like 4:40 ish depending on traffic. Why?” “Because I thought I'd be a good neighbor for once and stop by. Though I might forget your name while I sleep, so give me a few hints. Alright, Jake?” She smiled in what she hoped looked like a confident manner, and she felt light as air when he chuckled in response. “Sure, Amy. I'll make you work for it.” “And don't do anything fancy. You seem like the kind of person who goes overboard with this stuff, but I have to ease myself into this whole neighbor thing.” Jake agreed and made a joke about proving that they both actually lived where they claimed as they he crossed the street to his house and Amy walked up the path to hers. “And Amy?” He called from over his shoulder without so much as turning his head. “Yes?” She answered with her key in the door. “Make no mistake. I was the class clown.”