Walk with me...

[Blase]

OOC: Closed for me and CarnivalBarker. Please enjoy. Your comments welcome via PM.

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It was a great day to be in California, Tony decided. Then again, most days were. He'd had very few regrets in the five years since he'd chucked his sales job on the East Coast to move out West and kick his freelance career into high gear.

Today, like many days, was sort of half work, half play. He was planning a long hike back into the hills to get some shots for his Nature portfolio. He knew a great spot out in the woods; it even had a waterfall. Truthfully, he knew he should have gone out first thing in the morning, when the light would have been better, but there was still plenty of daylight left. At worst, he'd get to kick back, smoke a joint, and take a swim.

Nothing wrong with that, and...

Hey... Nothing wrong with her, either.

Ashley.

He remembered her name: He'd seen her around the neighborhood. He knew her parents, too, just enough to say hi to. Hard to get any closer when they weren't around much, and moved in different circles than he did. Tony did pretty well for himself, but Ashley's dad was a producer or something. Most of his friends didn't just have the one house.

She was walking away from him and hadn't seen him yet. With the eyes of both a photographer and a 45-year-old man, he allowed himself a moment to admire the view of the backside of her jeans shorts, along with the small of her back where her untucked t-shirt left it bare. Lithe lines, pale skin, and just the way she moved...

Reflexively, he imagined her naked. He knew it would be a view worth capturing. And he didn't doubt that she would be worth capturing. So to speak.

Giving his head a quick shake, he deliberately rustled some brush to make her aware of his presence. "Hey, Ashley," he called, still some distance behind her. "It's Tony! How ya doin'?"

 

[CarnivalBarker]

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Ashley had been home a week, following her first year of college. Her parents had taken a month long vacation to Europe and she was eager for a summer at home, not because she loved home more than college, but the reality was that her parents home was enormous, with a large backyard and pool overlooking the California coast, on whose beach she would spend each day, before working a few shifts at a nearby restaurant, and throw parties with her friends from high school at night. She couldn't ask for a better situation.

On the far end of the housing division in which they lived sat a greenbelt nature trail and each morning she would take a walk or maybe run through the trails, making sure to keep in the best shape she could. An athlete most of her life, she often ran or lifted weights on campus, and her work paid off. She was cute, which meant she could meet boys, which was another promising thing she looked forward to this summer. This morning was no different, as she had slung a bag over her shoulder, intending to walk through the trails to their exit near the main shopping district in the small suburban town. She took her time, wandering slowly, in no particular hurry, with nowhere to be today until 4, when her shift began at the Crab House, where she would wait tables. Suddenly, she heard something behind her and a guy stumbled out into the clearing where she had just passed.

"Hey, Ashley," the much older man called. She narrowed her eyes, trying to make out who he was. She found it odd he would know her name and she not immediately recognize him. "It's Tony! How ya doin'?"

Tony? she thought. She thought she kind of recognized him, but wasn't sure. And she decided at least to be nice.

"Oh, hi," she said, waving, before continuing on. She wasn't trying to be rude, she simply wasn't sure she knew the man. Over he shoulder a bit, she continued. "I'm good, thanks. How are you?" She asked without real sincerity, but sold it, acting merely as if she was on her way somewhere specific. She wasn't sure if the man was safe or not. She didn't take any chances until she figured out who he was.

 

[Blase]

As Ashley turned, the morning sun behind her briefly silhouetted the form beneath her t-shirt. Nothing wrong with that, either.

She didn't stop, though, so Tony stepped a bit more quickly to catch up.

"I'm alright, thanks," he replied. "Just out for a hike. Gonna get back into the hills and hopefully get some good shots. I've got a piece in mind that I want to pitch to Wild West Coast."

And right there, the conversation almost ground to a halt. What did you say to your sort-of neighbors' teenaged kid when you ran into her on the edge of the woods? Somehow, Tony didn't think that You look great! You should take your clothes off! would cut it.

His actual gambit wasn't much better, though. "I haven't seen Dave and Muffy around lately," he remarked, hoping he was getting her parents' names right. "Are they off traveling again?"

 

[CarnivalBarker]

Ashley instantly remembered who the man talking to her was when he mentioned her parents' name. It was Tony, the guy who lived nearby, around the corner and up the hill a bit in a somewhat larger home, earned from money doing who knows what. She had remembered seeing him before, speaking with her dad in the street, or maybe at a cookout in years past. Her pace slowed and she was willing to have a conversation knowing she was certainly safe.

"Oh yeah, they're in Europe for four weeks," she responded, brushing her hair from her eyes, back and behind her ear. She sized the man up, and realized she really knew nearly nothing about him. He was handsome, though not strikingly so. Taller than she was, enough that he seemed powerful, certainly more so than her tiny 5'3 frame. "They've planned this trip for over a year now. I'm just housesitting for the summer."

 

[Blase]

"That's cool," Tony said, remembering what it had been like to have the house to himself when he'd been a kid. "Got the place all to yourself?"

He couldn't help thinking what a location for a photo shoot the Coles' - yeah, that was their name, Coles - house would make. Shoot it with Ashley running around by the pool and those pics would be worth some serious money. If you could ever publish them, which wasn't likely. Her dad was well-known, but not well known enough that photos of his daughter would be worth a lawsuit.

Damn, she looked good, though.

 

[CarnivalBarker]

"Yeah," she replied. "Just for this month, until July 4th." She wondered where this conversation was going, or how she might get out of it and on her way. Her plan was to shop in the morning and make her way to the beach a while before she had to work. "Then I'll be here the rest of the summer after they get back," she continued. She wondered about Tony. She had no reference for him and knew almost nothing about him or his family. She looked around to see if there was any reason to escape the scene and move along.

 

[Blase]

"Nice," Tony replied.

Suddenly he realized that he was in danger of dragging things out to the point where it seemed creepy. That was the last thing he wanted: It would be awkward at best and possibly even worse if Ashley decided he was some kind of dirty old man.

"Well, anyway," he said, "I didn't mean to keep you: Just thought I'd say hi."

"I'm sure you've got your day planned, and I've got a waterfall waiting for me."

He started forward as though to step past Ashley and head off.