Isaiah and Lucy - First Meeting

POV Isaiah:

I sighed and rolled my sleeves up to start washing the dishes that had piled up in my sink. Feeling burnt out from work, my mind was pleasantly empty as I stared unseeing out my window. My apartment building makes a U shape, and from my inside unit, I face the other arm of the U. Lights are slowly turning on as the sun sinks lower in the sky. Movement catches my eye from the apartment directly across from me. Being a lifelong apartment dweller, and someone who also forgets to draw the curtains sometimes, I politely try not to see things I’m not supposed to see. That said, I wasn’t sure *what* I was seeing so I continued to watch, absentmindedly until my brain could make sense of the movement.

A woman appeared to be lying on the floor, but all I could see was her head moving rather strangely. My stomach flipped in a panic as the unfamiliar movement made me concerned she was having a medical episode. I watched, frozen, for a moment longer and realized she seemed okay, but was still moving in a way I couldn’t make sense of. I could only see from the top of her head to halfway down her chest with no way of knowing what the bottom half of her body was doing. Finally, I decided she must be doing some sort of exercise or stretch. I exhaled my concern and looked back down to resume the dishes.

More movement. I look up again. The woman was standing now, with only a sweater on and - *what? -* she was fidgeting with the tape on the sides of a diaper. My mouth drops open. Is *that* what she was doing on the ground? *Diapering herself?* I quickly look down again, confused and feeling a bit of shame on her behalf. That was definitely *not* something you wanted to be caught doing. 

When I chance a glance up again, the light is off in her room, and she is nowhere to be seen. I finish the dishes with my mind racing. *What a strange thing to catch someone doing! Then again, perhaps she has a legitimate medical need. Oh shit, does that make me an asshole for being a little weirded out? I don’t know though, she didn’t* look *like she needed it? Oh shit, does* ***that*** *make me an asshole? People don’t have to look a certain way to have medical needs, Isaiah. But is it that? I’ve heard of fetishists, but isn’t there usually someone else involved? Someone to play the mommy role?*

I shake my head and finish the last dish, setting it carefully onto the rack. I still feel restless and unable to shake off the busy workday. I feel like I could use a distraction and I wrack my brain for something to occupy me. Then, like a lightbulb, I remember it’s Tuesday, and the first Tuesday of every month, our property management hosts a community event in the courtyard in the middle of the U.

I change my clothes into something more casual and head to the elevators. I step in and press the ground floor button. The doors begin to close, but then ding and open again as someone steps on. We make eye contact and she smiles, closed mouth, at me. I feel my cheeks turn hot and look down quickly.

It’s her. The girl from the other apartment. She’s wearing a long sweater now. She smells lightly of vanilla, warm sandalwood, and… baby powder. My eyebrow quirks up, but I reset my face quickly. I can see her blurry reflection in the chrome doors ahead of me, but I don’t dare glance over. The ride down from the ninth floor begins and she leans back against the railing on the wall. I stiffen. Was that a..crinkle? I try to catch her eye in the blurred reflection, but it’s only colors and the vague outline of a body. I feel my face burning hotter. It seems like I’m intruding on something. She seems unbothered.