Everybody is Sleeping

"Why is he awake? Shouldn't he be exhausted?" Chloe stood on her toes, trying to get a better look through the window.

"It'll be fine. I'll go in and get him back upstairs to bed. You wait out here and I'll come to get you when it's safe." He laughed when he saw the look Chloe was giving him. "Don't worry. I won't forget you. Just find a good place to hide out for a few minutes."

"You're not going to tie me to the mailbox, right?" Chloe meant it as a joke, but she eyed him nervously

"Do you want me to?" Ben asked. He smiled at her stunned expression and shook his head. "No, I don't think I need to worry about you running off." He handed her the end of the leash. "Be right back."

Chloe watched him walk to the front door. She quickly surveyed the front yard, and decided to crouch in a space between the hedge and a large pot containing a boxwood shrub. The hedge would hide her from the street, and the boxwood would hide her if Tony happened to look outside. She settled into her niche and waited.

The crickets chirping around her silenced when she sat down, but after a minute or two they began to chirp again. Chloe peeked at the kitchen window, trying to see if she could get a hint of what was taking place inside, but she couldn't see a thing. She sighed and leaned against the pot, wondering how long she would be stuck outside.

In the distance, she could hear a car driving, and tried to imagine which streets it was taking. She could tell it was turning a corner, but couldn't tell where, and soon the sound faded into the distance. A moment later, she heard another car, driving too fast, but this one was easy; it was definitely driving south on Addison Drive. It eventually drove too far south to hear.

She heard another noise in the distance, a low rhythmic tapping. What could it be? She perked up, trying to tune her ears to decipher the strange sound. The wind making a branch knock against something? No, because the tapping was getting louder.

All of a sudden, she knew what was making the tapping. Shoes. Footsteps. And they kept getting louder. Someone was walking her way.

Chloe squeezed her legs against her body. Someone was walking down her block? Who could it be? She wriggled her body further into the niche. The hedge should completely hide her from the view of anyone on the sidewalk or in the street. The only way anyone could see her is if they leaned over the hedge and looked down.

And why would they do that?

The steps came louder and louder, and she could see a flash of movement pass the bottom of the hedge as someone walked by. Black pants, black shoes. Male shoes.

Chloe didn't want to move, didn't even want to breath. She tried to remain as quiet as she could. The footsteps had passed her hiding place, on their way to passing her house entirely. Whoever it was hadn't noticed her at all.

Chloe shifted, getting up on her knees. Slowly, she stretched up until she could peek over the edge of the hedge. She could see the back of the figure, walking up the street to the end of the cul-de-sac. Tall, lanky, blonde spiky hair. It was John.

Chloe sank back down into her hiding place. John? Why was he here? Had he split off from Marty and Tricia? Was he looking for her and Ben?

Maybe he was hoping to get another glimpse of her nudity. Maybe another chance to feel it, too.

She didn't think he knew where she lived. He'd never been to her house, as far as she could remember. And he'd just walked right by it. Maybe he was wandering the streets randomly, hoping he'd find her and Ben somewhere. Now he was headed towards a dead end, which meant in a couple of minutes he was going to pass by again going the other direction.

Chloe imagined standing and waiting for him to reappear. Or maybe walking out the front gate on her hands and knees, waiting for him on the sidewalk. She would tell him she was still pretending to be a dog. He'd smile. He'd ask her if she knew any tricks. He would command her to shake hands, and she would obediently take his hand. He'd ask her to roll over, and she'd get down and roll across the yard. He'd ask her to speak, and she would yip at him. He'd ask her to beg, and she would get down on her knees and beg him for a treat.

And then maybe he'd give her that treat. She'd wait eagerly on her hands and knees and he would kneel down behind her and slide that treat right into her. He'd fuck her like a dog, right there on the sidewalk, holding her leash in his hand...

She realized she could hear the sound of the footsteps again, heading in her direction, and Chloe shook herself out of her fantasy. She ducked her head and leaned towards the hedge, careful to avoid making the branches rustle. Through a small hole in the hedge, she could see the sidewalk. The footsteps passed by her hiding place, and she could see John's dark pants pass by the hole. He kept going, walking towards the corner. Where would he go? Would he continue his search through the neighborhood? Or would some clue lead him back to her house? She didn't want to stretch up and peek over the hedge until she'd given him a good amount of time to be on his way.

The front door opened and Ben poked his head out. "Chloe!" he called in a low whisper.

Chloe flinched. She carefully eased out of her hiding place and slowly rose until her eyes lifted over the top of the hedge. She could see the empty corner and was happy to see John was gone. She scurried over to the front door.

"I told Tony I couldn't sleep, so I went out in front to look up at the moon," Ben said. "I think he believed me. He was pretty out of it. I walked with him upstairs, and he got into bed and went to sleep right away."

"John was here!" Chloe said as she hurried into the kitchen

"What?" Ben closed the front door and locked it.

"I saw John! He walked by the house, twice."

"Did he see you?" Ben started to undo the collar around her neck.

"No... I was hiding."

Ben chuckled. "Out looking for you, I'm sure. Probably hoped you'd be up for going a little farther."

"He didn't see me at all."

"Well, if he doesn't know where you live, he's going to have a pretty hard time finding you now." Ben ducked down and retrieved something from a drawer. It was her towel, the one she'd been wearing when she came downstairs. "You can wrap this around yourself if you want."

Chloe took the towel, wondering when Ben had stowed it in that drawer. She glanced at the table and noticed the coffee cups had been cleaned up as well. After a moment of hesitation, she wrapped the towel around herself. They walked around the downstairs turning off lights, finally flicking the hall light off before they walked upstairs.

Chloe walked with Ben through the upstairs until they paused next to the upstairs bathroom. "I think I need to take another shower," she told him.

"That's probably a good idea," Ben said.

Chloe leaned forward and kissed him gently on the lips. "Good night... sleep tight... sorry I kept you up so late." She smiled up at him before stepping into the bathroom.

Ben stepped in right behind her and closed the bathroom door. Chloe wasn't sure why until he started to undress and she saw that he had another erection. At that moment, she knew she wasn't going to bed anytime soon.

***

Chloe woke up in her bed the next morning. She checked her clock. It was 10:56 AM. Ben was long gone, on a flight to New Zealand with her brother. Chloe looked at her window, blinking at the bright sunlight.

She picked up her phone from the bedside table. An alert on the screen indicated that she had messages. She unlocked the phone and checked her account.

She had four messages from Marianne, all asking her to text back when she finally woke up. The other message was from a number that she didn't recognize. Chloe opened it.

Her own image appeared on the screen. It was the photo Ben took of her from the night before. She was looking right at the camera, and Ben was next to her, smiling, with his head at an angle leaning against the top of her head. Her naked body was clearly visible, as was the black collar around her neck. And of course, the Mcdonalds sign glowing just above her left shoulder, in case there was any doubt that she was outside.

Below the picture, Ben had left a message. "Thanks for the adventure. It was incredible. Here's a reminder. xoxo Ben."

Chloe gazed at the picture for a few minutes. Then she closed the picture and went back to the message list. She selected the new phone number and added it to her contact list. Under first name, she put "Ben". She wasn't sure what his last name was.

Chloe walked downstairs wearing a t-shirt and sweatpants. Her father sat at the kitchen table, drinking a cup of coffee. "Good morning, sleepyhead," he said to her. "You must have been tired."

"Yeah..." Chloe walked to the cabinet and pulled out a box of granola. She poured it into a bowl.

"Your brother's gone already. They got up early this morning."

"Oh, yeah," she said. "I guess I missed them. Did they get off okay?"

"Yeah. Your mother drove them."

Chloe sat down at the table with her cereal. "Did they seem tired?"

"They both seemed pretty out of it, yeah. Ben said he had trouble sleeping last night. But he seemed like he was in a pretty good mood. He said he'd just catch up on his sleep on the plane."

Chloe looked to her left, at Petey's old collar and leash, hanging on a peg. "I always have trouble sleeping on planes," she said.

"You do?"

"Yeah. They're not quiet enough." Chloe leaned over her bowl and ate a spoonful of granola.

***

After she had cleared her empty dish to the sink, Chloe went to the living room. Before she could turn on the TV, her phone buzzed. She checked it and saw a new message from Marianne.

"U still asleep?"

Chloe sent, "Awake now."

Marianne sent back, "Finally!" Then: "Ur brother and his cute friend left?"

Chloe typed, "Yes. They're on their way to NZ." She turned on the TV and started to flip through the channels.

Her phone buzzed. Marianne sent, "Did u get his pic, I hope?"

Chloe hesitated. She leaned over her phone and navigated to the list of messages, looking for the one that now had Ben's name on it. She selected his name and instantly that picture appeared on her screen again. Ben leaning over her while she gazed insolently at the camera, naked except for the black collar around her neck, Addison Drive clearly visible behind her. She made the image bigger and moved the window so only Ben's face was visible on the screen.

Is that how he had looked? Yes. That cute grin. She would never forget that grin.

Chloe reduced the image so that she could see herself again. It seemed like a dream now. Had she really walked around the neighborhood like that? Had she really been that bold?

Chloe went to her messages and found Marianne. She read Marianne's last message again. "Did you get his pic?"

She pressed respond. No message, only that picture of herself and Ben. She pressed send.

Two minutes passed before her phone buzzed with a new message. Then another message, and another, and another. Finally, her phone started to ring, with Marianne's name on the caller id.

Chloe didn't answer. She giggled to herself as she continued to flip through channels on the TV.

THE END