Peggy's away a lot, working long hours at the "office". Usually, she leaves just after dawn, and doesn't get home until after dusk. Oftentimes, she even ends up working overnight for a day or three. As such, she doesn't really get to cut her grass all that often. It tends to be once every few weeks.

Angie, on the other hand, always has an immaculate yard. She's been really into landscaping and outdoor decorating since she was a little girl, so it's all decked out with a brick outdoor patio, a small fountain, and a grill. Her grass is always perfectly cut, perfectly trimmed, and perfectly edged. And so are the bushes (flowered or otherwise). Her flower gardens are always tended, and if her trees get a bit overgrown, she trims them back.

Angie's back yard connects with Peggy's, though, and she gets tired of looking at the overgrown grass. She considers cutting it herself, but she's had a bad experience or two, doing that without permission. The problem is, she's somehow always at work when Peggy has a day or two at home, so it's not as if she has time to get permission.

So instead, she decides to have a little fun with it, and give Peggy a little extra incentive to get the job done.

On days when she's sure Peggy isn't coming home until at least the wee hours of the morning, she heads across the yard-right around dusk or a bit later to avoid being spotted by other neighbors-with a few of her own lawn tools and a board. In the dark of the night, she tamps and trims the overgrown grass into designs of things like stars and jellyfish-even Elvis Presley that one time! And she always chuckles to herself for a few days once her work is finished, especially because the designs are typically cut away in the day or two after she's put them there.

Interestingly, Peggy never comes by to ask if she's seen anything, and Angie will be damned if she's just going to offer it up.


Then, after a few months of her game, Angie makes her way to Peggy's yard once more.

She doesn't expect a flashlight to click on and nearly blind her.

She doesn't expect to see Peggy sitting in a patio chair-one of her OWN PATIO CHAIRS-and sipping a glass of wine.

Angie is frozen. She can't seem to get any words out, and Peggy just sits there, staring her down with that expectant look.

"Well?" the Englishwoman asks, her voice soft as it drifts through the relative darkness.

Angie's mouth works soundlessly for a time before she manages to croak out, "I just...wanted to see the look on your face."

Peggy leans forward in the chair she occupies, coming into the flashlight beam just enough for Angie to make out her features. "Is it everything you'd hoped?" she hisses, her menacing glare made even more terrifying by the shadows stretching across her face from the flashlight.

And for once in her life, Angie has nothing to say.

Nothing except, "Are you gonna call the cops or something?"

The look of anger vanishes from Peggy's face, and she looks almost wounded. She leans away from the flashlight beam. Then, a hand passes through the shaft of light, the perfectly manicured nails glinting red. "Get on with it," Peggy says, and Angie can't find a trace of anger in it no matter how hard she tries.

"Get on…with…" She motions to the board and the rake and her other tools. She's uncertain until Peggy's hand flashes through the glow again, indicating the yard in a sweeping motion, before the flashlight is clicked off.

And the feeling that blooms in her chest sets a grin on her face that she's sure Peggy can see even in the dark. At least the woman can't see the flush on her cheeks, Angie muses as she gets to work.

It isn't until she's about half way finished that Angie tries to examine the situation. She can't seem to get the pleasant flush to leave her face, and she isn't entirely sure of the cause.

She wonders if it's because she's been caught, but the absence of any real feeling of shame quickly crosses that off her list.

She considers her mild attraction to her neighbor, but she is far from a blushing school girl. She knows how to handle her crushes!

She just doesn't know how to handle her crush staying outside to watch her make crop circles.

A glance over her shoulder tells Angie that Peggy hasn't moved. She's still sitting in the patio chair stolen from Angie's yard, an empty wine glass in her hand. She's still watching Angie rake and trim and stomp the grass into place.

And Angie ignores it all valiantly. She ignores the burning sensation between her shoulder blades where she's positive Peggy is staring. She ignores the inquisitive tilt of the woman's head when she switches tools. She ignores the shifting she can hear as she's sure Peggy is trying to keep the feeling in her legs.

But even ignoring the woman, she can't keep the smile off her face.

Because Peggy stayed.