I awoke on a normal day in June, not realizing everything that would start this summer. I had been living at home for a year with my parents now, an only child, not sure what I wanted to do with my life. I had a part time job, played way too many video games online with friends, and generally didn’t go out much except for work or maybe to catch a movie or get some food with the few friends that stayed in the area after graduation. I had hoped when I graduated high school and was considered ‘an adult’ I would figure everything out. Not so much, it turns out.

I was always a bit of a loner through school. I was average looking, nerdy, shy, and anxious. I had a few close friends, and had a few boyfriends through that time. Sure I had had sex before, not many times, and other than being told I was really good at giving a blowjob by two of my exes, I was pretty inexperienced and naive. My mother was a strict Christian, so if she found out she might kill me. My father had lost his faith, being paralyzed after a work accident, and though we shared a common hobby in watching some sports, he was non-existent in my life, mainly due to his depression since the accident, which was years prior.

The accident that had paralyzed my father also earned us a large settlement check, which was putting me through college, as well as allowing us to live comfortably, despite the situation. I took classes online because I was too shy and anxiety ridden to even attempt to go onto a college campus. I was fine with it, I could easily focus on both my courses and my video gaming, as sad as that might sound when you think about it…

My morning started normally, I dressed myself in work attire and walked to work, grabbing a coffee on the way. My parents had left for a vacation a few days prior, and were to be gone for nearly four weeks. I wanted to go, they had found a really nice place in the Bahamas, but I had both work and school I needed to focus on. The upside, however, was having the house to myself, no worries about loud noises from my games or my chatter over voice comms.

Work was exactly as I expected it to be, terrible. My shitty part time job at the nearby supermarket was never fun, especially working as a cashier. Most people were polite, my hair color, which I had recently cut short and dyed a dark shade of green, threw some people off though. I did get some compliments, but usually about my hair, not my looks. I was 5′ 4″, short, plain looking, skinny, petite, and pale, which kinda lent itself into my nerd like profile I suppose.

The only things of note that happened at work were that my manager talked to me about my being late again this week. I knew I wasn’t, I was almost always five minutes early, but he had to have a reason to talk to me. I knew he had a thing for me, but he was also in his late 40s, balding, and slightly overweight. Not that I judge people by the way they look, but to me, he was just not that attractive. Maybe if he lost 20 or 30 pounds and shaved, stopped pretending to keep the hair that was so obviously gone, and was 20 years younger.

The other thing of note was that my neighbor, Mr. Watson, though at this point we just called him Will, came through my line during a slow time right before my shift ended.

“Hey Sarah” he said as he walked through, only grabbing a few items, sunscreen, some apples, and lunch meat. Will Watson was an average looking guy, but attractive nonetheless. He was easily 6′ tall, had a few extra pounds, black hair, and some of the greenest eyes I’d ever seen. He was also one of the most polite people I’ve ever met as well.

“Hey Will” I smiled as I rang up his few items “What you up to?” I asked as I bagged.

“Not much, took two weeks of vacation from work so I’m just enjoying my staycation” He replied, chuckling. “Enjoying the empty house?”

“Yeah, it’s a lot quieter without my dad watching ESPN all day, or my mother on the phone working.” I took the cash from him and made change.

“Well, it’s gonna be a lot hotter this week, don’t forget I have the pool open as usual, feel free to hop in even if I’m not home” he said.