December 14th.
Driving through the blizzard on his way to Toronto, couldn't be more awful for Sean.
Oh, it could be, actually. Nothing was on the radio but damn Christmas music!
Sean used his fist to shut the damn radio up, and squinted his eyes to see a little better through all the snow and his windshield whippers. Didn't help that it was already dark. Thanks for that winter, 6pm and already dark out. What the hell was that?
"Should move to Arizona." muttered Sean.
He wore a warm black leather jacket and under that was his grey hoody, the hoody peaking out over his leather jacket.
He cleared his throat and noticed his throat felt dry as he passed the sign 'Welcome to Toronto'. Like a nervous habit, he ran his fingers through his wavy hair, pushing it back and clenched his jaw.
Great. Home sweet home.
Sean let the last flashback he had last night come to mind again, remembering how it finished...
FLASHBACK . .. .
"Out of my way, Linda!" Roger yelled at his wife. He was about to grab her and push her to the side when he was startled for a moment when Sean grabbed him with such force, and pushed him back and almost off his feet until Roger was right up against the brick wall with a thud. Sean had one hand around his throat, and the other against his chest to hold his father still against the wall.
Sean could smell the alcohol off him as they panted and breathed angrily in anothers faces.
"Touch her again, and I'll kill you." Sean promised his father.
As if this was the man Sean use to play 'catch' with and use to look up to. Once he even thought he'd join the army too, but it made his father bitter and ...into this monster. He already forced Tracker, Sean's older brother, into it and Sean wouldn't be bullied into it too. Not if this was the outcome.
A pair of lights that went on next door automatically when someone walked by, caught all their attention. Roger, Linda and Sean turned their heads, Sean's reaction more serious.
Emma was home, next door, and standing on her porch. She was bundled up in her winter jacket and white scarf as she had her hand on the handle of her door but had turned and saw the scene.
She must of just come home from the party too.
Oh Yeah. Did he mention she was his neighbor?
Sean and her locked eyes, and for her being slightly alarmed by the scene..she didn't look very shocked either. Sean blinked and turned away, a knott in his stomach and his mouth gaped open.
He stepped away from his father who too glanced around and coughed awkwardly, rubbing his sore neck and sobering up a little.
"I-I'm sorry." Roger said and swallowed, looking down at his hands and at Linda with agony in his eyes, before glancing at his youngest son again and choked on his words.
Why he always seemed to go after Sean the most when drunk, was beyond Roger too. Maybe it was because he was old fashioned, and hated that Sean had his own dreams of being a mechanic, instead of joining the army. Maybe Roger hated that Sean was also talented with cars. Roger had never been, it was always the army for him.
Sean was also very independent and went from the kid who latched onto his father and looked up to him, to the kid who was never home, and barely spent even a dinner at the table with his family once a week. But that may of been his doing. Who'd want to eat across a drunk?
Sean also use to act out when he was 15, after Tracker was forced to go on leave and he skipped school, failed tests, and got into fights. Roger always held that over his head, rather than deal with it, and notice the problem.
They weren't a family anymore. And they didn't talk.
"Like always." Spat Sean before going inside, Linda's eyes watering, and Roger looking self loathing.
Emma had quickly went inside too.
Funny how the girl knew this part of Sean's life, but the two had never spoken since she moved in two years ago. Just glances here and there...
Well. Maybe more than glances.
When Emma had moved in it was a hot summer, and Sean saw her outside his bedroom window, helping her Dad and Mom carry boxes. His mom had been nosey and yelled up from down the stairs that they had new neighbors, and Sean had just glanced since near his window to end up doing a double take. And he stared longingly.
Emma was like a walking ball of sunshine, and the other neighbors loved her instantly. Her smile was contagious and bright. Her parents seemed to praise her too. Her mom looked young, probably a teen mom. Did good for moving in a neighborhood like this if that was the case. Emma was 14 then, but Sean could easily confuse her for his age. Especially for how mature she acted at the neighborhood annual summer barbeque they threw that summer where, once again, Sean never spoke to her.
When Emma had disappeared into the house after moving it all in, Sean had almost jumped when the window across his room lit up, and Emma's room appeared to be right across from his, slightly higher, 10 feet away.
Heres where it got weird.
Barely did her window ever close. But rarely did Sean ever see anything bad . .or risky. If you know what I mean.
Some nights he'd come home from Jay's, or Ellie's, and she'd be in her room, studying or hanging out with Manny Santos or those nerds JT Yorke and Toby Issacs (he never got what she saw in them). But Manny and Emma got along right off the bat, attached to the hip. Sean liked that, since Manny wasn't awful and could use a real friend, not one who called her a slut or anything like that. Manny was never Seans 'type' since they went to preschool together and he'd seen her in pig tails and overalls, and she'd seen him in his spiderman obsessed stage. They never hungout together, but small 'hellos' would be exchanged if they bumped into another. Manny and Emma seemed like destined best friends though.
And some nights, Emma would just be already sleeping when he came in. He didn't want to always look, he knew it was a little creepy, but the older they got, and the more she should of closed her blinds but she barely did, then the more 'risky' it finally got.
Starting the beginning of this school year, when Sean was ready for bed after a long day of school, he went to his window to pull the blind for a nap to block out the sun. It was a rough day, a fight had broke out with him and Jimmy Brookes over playing basketball. The school jock couldn't stand that Sean was better and started a fight.
Sean looked towards Emma's window before he pulled the blind and paused, seeing her just enter her room but unbottoning that tight blouse she wore today at school.
Sean swallowed, and glanced at his door, making sure it was shut. He bit the end of his tongue, thinking this through, knowing it wasn't right, but his eyes were so curious and forced him to look. He clenched his jaw and then felt his heart go rapid.
She wore a tight little tank top and her blue jeans on still. She sat on her bed, kicking off her flip flops and then running her hands through her hair. She seemed well in thought, staring at the ground, and then glanced out the window.
He thought he swore she saw him, but she walked to the window, just glancing out at her moms garden and their pool, before walking back to her dresser and pulling out her bikini to go swim in.
Sean wanted to laugh at himself, drooling over the girl next door while he had a girlfriend and acting like she didn't put out or something. Emma truly made him act like some mutt in heat . She was beautiful, and it was agonizing not knowing why he didn't go say hi or something. But they weren't in the same grade, so they never really bumped into another. He knew she saw him too though so I guess it went both ways. Neither of them tried to start a conversation..
Emma had went into her bathroom for a few moments, and Sean went to turn away before she was back out within a second with her red bikini bottoms on and just tying up her bikini top. She had a tight body, with a fantastic ass and a perfect pair of tits that swelled perfectly in her top as she tied it together.
Emma face looked a picture of perfection, she was looking down at her bikini, presumably admiring it as if it was new or something while Sean was just busy admiring her.
Before he knew it, she was out at the pool, and he leaned his shoulder on his window frame and just watched her, his arms crossed across his chest and his eyebrows furrowed.
He knew he shouldn't stand there too long watching her, but he didn't even know why he couldn't look away either. She infatuated him. She wasn't like most the girls in school.
Before Sean should tear his eyes away and finally go take his nap, Emma had looked up from where she sat by her pool, legs in the water. She saw him watching her, and they locked eyes. Sean was frozen in his new position, with one hand supporting himself on the window frame and the other reaching up towards the blind to close it. His mind panicked, thoughts ran through his mind about what he should do but before he could even blink, she just softly smiled before someone from her back door came out too and joined her. Her sister, or friend? Sean wasn't sure. He was too busy cursing and closed the blind, walking away from the window with a look on his face that read 'holy shit, I'm a dead man'.
But they never brought it up, and she never looked at him differently. And in fact, a few more times of Emma knowingly, or unknowingly, teasing him through the window happened again..and again, and right after this very night after the fight between Sean and his father.
Sean had stormed away from his parents and into his house, storming by the dining room and family room that was decorated with the Christmas tree. His room was upstairs and he dashed up the steps to go slam his room shut behind him. This was usually how it worked. Dad got mad, drunk, and mom went back to smoking after promising to quit 100 times, and Sean stayed in his room while blasting music to ignore the yells of his parents, the cigarette smell, or any banging on his door.
He panted madly, and cursed under his breath. After a moment of trying to calm down he walked to the end of his bed and sat on it, putting his head into his hands with a groan and then whipped off his tuke. He got up, then got undressed and sat on his bed in his boxers. He turned off the lights and put on his favorite rock record. He was certain he was going to fall asleep before the end of track 2, when he noticed Emmas light go on
The shutters were not fully closed and that allowed him to watch more than just a vague shadow. She stood by the window. She took a step back and caught her hair into a ponytail. She took off her shirt and Sean saw a lacey black bra pressing her two breasts together. His dick was getting harder by the second.
Stop. You're better than this. She is better than this, better than some guy looking through her window. .
END OF FLASHBACK.
Sean snapped out of it, remembering The Girl Next Door. He wondered if she still lived there. How she was..
Probably million miles away.
Outside his car, Sean saw red and blue flashes of light surround him, coming from behind. He glanced at his speeding limit, and back at his rear view mirror.
"fuck!" of course, start the holiday with the damn police!
He pulled over.