The Nudist
An Everlark short drabble (expanded)
He was doing it. Again.
Katniss ground her teeth in frustration as she peeked out from her bathroom window.
Her beautiful blond neighbor was swimming in the lake that fell smack dab in the middle of both their property lines.
Naked.
Again.
She closed her eyes and turned away from the window, biting her lip. She was sure he was doing it on purpose this time.
The infuriating nudist bastard.
He was taking extra slow laps around the lake, as if inviting her to ogle him. Katniss hated to admit it, but it was a very tempting sight. He wasn't the tallest man in the world, he was more average height, but he was certainly well built, and taller than her small frame and very muscular.
His arms and legs were almost as thick as tree trunks and his chest was a solid wall of toned muscle leading down to his eye-catchingly trim waist and hips. His back was broad and powerful, with muscles that rippled with every stroke he took. And his backside…well she was embarrassed to admit she’d thought about what it would feel like to bite down on one of those perfectly rounded, exquisite fleshy globes quite a number of times. She hated to even think about the few times she’d caught a glimpse of his entire front, as he was getting in and out of the lake.
Suffice to say he was thick and well sculpted all over.
That was saying nothing of his face, which was unfairly handsome. She had almost bitten her tongue the first time they spoke, when she was arrested by his brilliant blue eyes that sparkled more than the waters of their crystalline lake in the bright sunshine. His slightly over long blond hair curled at the ends and bunched up around his ears but framed his face adorably and added to his boyish charm. He also had a mesmerizing smile, with one imperfectly perfect dimple that peeked out on the left side.
But as nice as he was to look at, the man was a terrific pain in the ass.
She’d asked him countless times now to not swim naked in the morning and each time he’d brushed off her requests. The first time she’d suggested he wear swimming trunks he very matter-of-factly told her he didn’t own any and then he’d walked away whistling a care-free tune. The next day when she’d suggested he just keep his boxers on he’d shook his head and said ‘no thanks’, and had gone back to painting the side of his house. Everytime she had made a request for more propriety he had responded with amused refusal.
Finally they’d had it out when she had demanded that he stop swimming naked.
“I’ve lived here all my life, and I’ve been swimming in the lake for almost that long. I’m not going to change my routine just because you’re a little prudish.” He had replied with an infuriating smirk and lazy drawl.
“I’m not a prude!”
“Oh, no? Well, someone who has such strict rules about what other people can and can’t wear while swimming on their own property doesn’t really seem like the flexible sort.”
“I’m flexible! Very flexible!” She’d shouted back and then had blushed at the amused grin he shot her, not noticing the double meaning until he’d smiled at her. She had only grown more flustered by his immature humor.
“I just don’t want to be greeted every morning by your male nakedness polluting the lake, which by the way is half mine according to the property lines!” She’d shouted at him.
“Oh, so it's not nudity that offends you, but it's the fact that I’m a guy. Ok, well, it's this simple. Just don’t look. Or, pretend I’m a girl. Whatever gets you going, Sweetheart.” He’d replied with a disgusting little wink and then just walked away, leaving her fuming and irritated.
She’d stomped the very short distance home (25 yards to be exact) and angrily cleaned her kitchen and living room from top to bottom in hopes of de-stressing, but to no avail. Then she’d stayed awake tossing and turning all night, finally coming up with a plan to get back at the smug asshole right before 1am.
She looked at herself in the bathroom mirror, hair pulled back into a high ponytail and dressed only in a fluffy green bathrobe and slippers. She really wasn’t all that big or particularly pretty in her opinion, but she did have surprise on her side.
Her cheeks pinked as she second guessed her strategy. It had seemed brilliant last night but this morning she wasn’t sure if she could go through with it.
She looked quickly and carefully once more out the window and found him staring up at her, and waving like cocky little shit.
“Fuck it.” Katniss said to her own reflection and rushed downstairs to grab her yoga mat, earbuds, and cell phone. She paused at the back door that led out of the kitchen and subsequently to the lake, and left her robe hanging on a hook by the door.
She exited the house completely naked except for the yoga mat and her green slippers which she promptly slipped off after setting up her mat on a patch of newly trimmed grass directly beside the lake shore.
She peeked up and saw him coming back around to her side to rest after his last lap. It was only a matter of time. She thought as she very slowly and deliberately switched on her music and closed her eyes while she stretched out.
She hadn’t intended to imply she was physically flexible during their argument yesterday but that didn’t mean it wasn’t true. She was an avid outdoor enthusiast, and she loved yoga. In fact she would have been out in the yard most mornings doing exactly that if it hadn’t been for her naked neighbor practicing his backstroke most mornings.
Katniss decided then and there not to let him chase her away from enjoying her own yard any longer.
She closed her eyes, concentrated on her music and the beginning poses, and blocked everything else out. It wasn’t until she felt someone yank an earbud out of her ear that she broke out of her meditative state.
“WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU’RE DOING?” Peeta stood off to the side, a white towel clinging to his slim hips. His chest was heaving and his face was red.
“It’s called yoga, and good morning to you too.” Katniss replied coolly as she rose into her high dragon pose.
His nostrils flared and he gaped at her for a moment. Katniss revelled internally with satisfied triumph. She wasn’t the curviest woman around, but he was still a guy. Nakedness had to affect him on some level. She sank down into her swan pose in one smooth motion.
She looked over at him again, noticing the way his eyes flicked down her body momentarily, lingering for just a fraction of a second longer on her breasts before flicking away, almost as if he was fighting with himself. She felt like his gaze set her on fire under her skin.
She knew why his eyes had zeroed in on her breasts. Her nipples had hardened from the breezy morning air. Maybe from his gaze on her as well. She fought the urge to cover her breasts, tramped it right down. She wasn’t really comfortable displaying her body like this, before him or anyone for that matter, but she ignored the discomfort and the morning chill. She had a point to prove after all, that two could play this game, or whatever it was that she and Peeta were doing.
He just stood there, trying not to look at her. But he was failing spectacularly. She could feel his eyes tearing themselves away and subsequently reattaching themselves to her body when she switched into a supported fish pose. She wasn’t even following any traditional pose progressions by this point. She was just winging it.
She had specifically chosen that particular pose just to watch him squirm. The move pushed her chest out as she arched her back in what she was sure was a softcore pornographic image.
She turned her head to catch him staring wide eyed and slack jawed at her naked chest heaving as she stretched upwards, in the highest arch she could.
“Can I help you with something?” Katniss suppressed the urge to smirk as she asked him with one arched eyebrow. Peeta seemed to realize he had been caught, and his mouth snapped shut.
She saw the muscles tighten in his jaw, as well as his pretty blue eyes narrow. She felt her body respond, her abdominal muscles clenching in an effort to relieve the ache building up inside of her. She didn’t know why she was both mortified that he was seeing her naked and simultaneously getting aroused by it.
“It seems like you’re going to great lengths to get back at me, neighbor. But did you ever think that your nudity wouldn’t bother me?” He said in a measured and even tone.
Katniss looked up at him for a second, and tried to hide her worry. The soothing instrumental music playing through the one earbud she still had on, did nothing to calm her quickening pulse.
She had known that her plan was risky, a gamble, really. But she had counted on the fact that Peeta was more of a jerk than a creep. In fact, the way he seemed to try to look anywhere but her naked body, even while he professed that it didn’t bother him made her feel better.
She examined him a little closer and noticed that the vein in the side of his neck was fluttering like he had just run a mile, and while he had just finished swimming she liked to think she was part of the reason his blood was still pounding.
“I have no idea what you’re talking about. I’m just trying to enjoy the backyard, and the beautiful morning. Same as you.” She said as she quickly transitioned into a butterfly pose and plopped her head down between her legs so she wouldn’t give him too much of a show.
“Oh, don’t play dumb Katniss. You know exactly what you’re doing. And I’m here to tell you it won’t work. So enjoy the mosquitoes and your bare ass yoga.” Peeta said in an angry and caustic tone and Katniss peeked up from her pose to watch him begin to walk away, towel slung dangerously low on his sexy hips.
“I will!” She called out angrily before flexing up quickly into the easy pose. She watched him retreat inside his house and felt momentarily vindicated before she looked down at her phone and realized this was right around the time he stopped swimming anyways and got ready for work. She frowned, wondering if she succeeded in making him uncomfortable at all.
She contemplated packing up her mat and heading inside but that felt too much like admitting defeat. Despite his threat of mosquitoes, there actually weren’t any bothering her. So instead she powered through her remaining poses. Making sure to keep her body in profile in relation to his house and windows the whole time, not wanting to perform something like wide-legged forward bend, or downward dog where he would be able to see ‘the whole kitty’ if he looked outside.
Right around the time she was in savasana pose, she heard his door open up and she willed herself not to react.
“You have a lady bug stuck under your right breast.” He said in a perfectly calm and collected voice as he passed her on his way back towards the lake shore.
Katniss reached down quickly and with a gasp discovered that she indeed did have a small bug stuck under her boob. She quickly scooped the bug up and set it down on a leaf so it could crawl away.
Then she turned around and scowled at his back as he continued to look away from her.
“I thought you were going to work.” She bit out the words more angrily than she intended.
“I am. Just came back for this.” Peeta said, holding up his water bottle and giving it a little shake. He had no doubt forgotten it when he left to get dressed earlier.
Katniss huffed indignantly and turned away from him, sitting up to finish doing her cool down stretches.
“What about you? Don’t you have work? Or are you just gonna hang out naked all day in the backyard?” He asked her in a gruff tone before turning back around to walk over.
She felt more vulnerable now that he was dressed and she was not, and she felt herself begin to sweat more despite the still cool morning. But she tried not to let it get the better of her.
“It’s my day off, so I can do whatever I want. Maybe I’ll go for a swim after this.” She said, giving him a pointed look.
She almost missed the way his mouth turned down into a slight, barely detectable frown.
“Well, have fun then.” Peeta told her after a moment. Then, with a small wave, he headed off in the direction of the front of his house where his car was parked.
“You too, buddy!” Katniss called out in a falsely friendly tone before standing up to go cool off in the lake. She felt like she needed a good cold dip to calm the heat that seemed to linger under her skin when she remembered his eyes on her naked body, and the way his deep voice stirred up something inside of her best left dormant.
She completely missed the backwards glance he cast at her before he swore softly under his breath and tore his eyes away from her tantalizingly naked backside and forced himself to exit the backyard and head off for work.