This all happened last August, during those last weeks of sticky heat when summer doesn’t want to let go. I still remember the first day I properly noticed her—Ava, my neighbor from across the hall. I’d seen her around in passing: walks with her coffee mug, the sound of her slow footsteps when she got in late, the half-smile she gave me when collecting her mail. But until that night, we’d never really talked.
It was around 11 PM when the fire alarm went off. Everyone poured out into the hallway of our apartment building—barefoot, in shorts, pajamas, some clutching pets. I was in sweatpants, shirtless, cell phone in hand. As usual, building management confirmed it was a false alarm, but it was Ava who caught my eye. She looked borderline annoyed, wrapped in a thin robe over her T-shirt, long hair loose and a little wild, her cheeks flushed from sleep or maybe just the general annoyance of it all.
We stood next to each other at the top of the stairs, awkwardly smiling.
“Do these always happen this late?” she asked, stifling a yawn.
“Yeah, at least twice a month. It’s like, our fire alarm works only when no one wants it to.”
She snorted, and her laugh made her eyes crinkle at the corners.
“That explains the crankiness around here,” she replied. “I’m Ava.”
“Sam,” I said, holding out my hand, only half-joking. She shook it, her skin soft and a little cold.
When the alarms were off, people shuffled back to their apartments, but somehow, we lingered in the hallway a bit longer. Maybe it was the hour, or the shared inconvenience, or maybe things were just meant to happen that way—but it was the start of something. Small talk turned into longer conversations over the next weeks. Ava’s job kept her busy, but she always had time to toss a quirky story my way about her day, and I found myself waiting for her laugh, for the way her lips curled when she tried not to smile.
One sweltering Thursday night, the building AC broke down. I propped open my door, trying to coax a cross-breeze into my damp apartment. I noticed she’d done the same.
“It’s like a sauna in here,” she called out, followed by a dramatic sigh.
“Wanna escape?” I offered, nodding toward the tiny rooftop deck.
She didn’t hesitate. “I’ll grab the wine.”
Upstairs, we sat on old patio chairs in the thick air, sipping cheap white wine from coffee mugs. In the fuzziness of night, the city glowed far below us and the world seemed to shrink to just the two of us and the sound of each other’s voices. Somewhere in the quiet, I realized I kept finding reasons to touch her—brushing a bug off her arm, our knees bumping under the tiny table.
She didn’t flinch away. In fact, she seemed to lean in.
There was an urgency building up under all our banter, but I tried to play it cool, not wanting to scare her off. At some point, she reached up to twist her hair, exposing her pale throat and collarbone. She caught me watching, smirked, and let her hair tumble down again.
“See something interesting?” she teased, meeting my gaze head-on.
I shrugged, tried a slow smile. “Hard to focus when you look like that.”
Her lips parted, just a little. The sexual energy was as thick as the August air.
Yet, I hesitated. There were reasons not to mess with this—Ava was my neighbor, she felt like someone I could actually connect with and not just hook up with and never see again. Messing with that could be… complicated.
She must’ve seen that flicker of doubt on my face, because she stood abruptly. “I should—maybe I should go. Early morning tomorrow.”
I nodded, but when she hesitated at the stairs, I couldn’t help it. My hand gently caught her wrist.
“Ava…”
She turned. For a second, I thought she was going to pull away, but instead, she stepped closer, her body pressed into mine. My breath caught—I could smell the wine on her, feel the warmth radiating off her skin: a cocktail of nerves, longing, and pure fucking want.
Her hand rested on my chest. “Sam…”
I could feel her pulse under my fingertips. Everything slowed down—like we were teetering on the edge of something huge.
“It’s stupid, right?” she whispered. “Neighbors, complications…”
“Yeah,” I rasped. “But I want you.”
She swallowed hard. “I want you too.”
And that was it. The decision was made, and my doubt melted away as she leaned in, mouth opening against mine, hot and needy. We kissed there in the warm night air, hands hungry, lips desperate. Her fingers tangled in my hair, mine slipped under the hem of her shirt, feeling the small of her back, the curve of her waist.
She broke the kiss, breathless, and grinned against my mouth. “Let’s not get caught up here,” she half-whispered.
We almost tripped over each other racing down the stairs. Back at her apartment, we didn’t even turn on the lights. The moon spilled across the bed, blue and soft, as she pressed me down, straddling me, peeling off her shirt with a slowness that made my chest ache. My hands were greedy—caressing her thighs, sliding under her panties, feeling her wetness. She gasped, grinding into my palm, her hands urgent on my jeans.
“Fuck, Sam,” she moaned. “I need you right now.”
We were both so desperate it came close to tearing clothes off. I tugged her panties down her legs as she yanked my jeans open, hands trembling on my cock. She looked up at me—eyes wild, wanting—and dropped her lips to my neck, her tongue tracing hot lines beneath my ear.
When I slid into her, the relief was almost overwhelming—hot and tight, her hips arching up to meet mine. We moved slow at first, savoring each thrust, each whispered encouragement. She pulled me down for more kisses, tasting me, biting my lip. The way her body responded to mine—her nails raking my back, the delicious squeeze every time I pushed deeper—fucking ruined me in the best way.
I lost track of time. The city outside faded to nothing, just the sound of our bodies and mouths and curses, building toward something inevitable. Ava grabbed my face, panting. “Don’t stop, Sam, please—”
She came with a shudder and a cry that muffled into my shoulder, her body trembling around me, pulling me under with her. I lost it, coming hard inside her, trying to hold on to every second.
Afterwards, we lay tangled and breathless, sweat cooling on our skin. She ran her fingers over my chest, tracing idle circles, and for the first time in a long while, I felt really, stupidly happy.
“You think it’s gonna be weird now?” she asked softly.
I grinned, pulling her closer, kissing her messy hair. “Not if you sneak over to my place next time.”
She snorted, playful. “Or maybe we’ll just not wait so long.”
We both laughed. The summer cooled a little, but things between us only heated up.