Counting Minutes | Gay MxM |

3. Watching and Waiting

There was no way I could see what was going on inside the third floor. Still not a turnoff.

I peered at the house with my binoculars. The building was modern; the walls were made of white bricks and all the windows were big. I could see a gigantic kitchen on the first floor, and an even bigger living room. Both of the rooms had their own glass doors leading out to the big terrace and a pool they had in the backyard. The bedrooms were on the second floor, along with a room that was clearly Mrs. Simmons' study.

The window I'd seen the older daughter climbing out of was at the end of the second-floor hallway. It was small, but just big enough for me to squeeze through. It was the best place for me to get into the house since the roof of the terrace below blocked the view from the ground, and there were no windows above it. The terrace roof went around the entire building, and there were plenty of pillars and sturdy-looking iron decorations on the walls for me to climb.

I zoomed in to see the decorations better. They were mostly hooks and small settings for flowerpots, but also spotlights and lanterns, and I hoped they would hold my weight. But I forgot all about them when I turned my attention to the farmost corner of the building, where I saw a thick, old vine growing on the wall.

"Nice..." I muttered when I spotted the iron trellis that supported it.

The trellis looked big and strong, and it almost beckoned me to climb it. It reached all the way up to the third floor. It looked a lot like a Christmas present to me.

"You've got to be kidding me..." I almost laughed when I noticed thick bushes close to the vine.

I put the binoculars down and took a better look at the corner of the building. There were two cameras in the corner, but neither of them was pointing at the vine or the bushes. No one would notice if I approached the house from that direction.

There was one problem, though. I could see the next house looming behind the corner. If someone even glanced at the Simmons' house at the wrong time, they'd see me climbing up. I also had to go check if they had any cameras pointing this way. If they did...

Still not a turnoff. I refused to let these minor details ruin this gig.

I left the backpack on the ground and carefully started making my way down to the corner while still hiding on the hill. Once I was as close as I could without leaving the safety of the trees and bushes, I sat down again and turned my binoculars at the building next to Simmons'. I didn't see any cameras, but that didn't mean there wouldn't be any.

I turned to look at the vine again. It was growing on both sides of the corner, and I could see the balcony of the third floor. I saw the upper part of the glass walls, but I still couldn't see inside. I tried to move to get a better view, but in vain. The vertical wall of the rocky hill on this side was impossible to climb, and even if I'd find another spot to climb on top of it, the roof of the balcony would block my view. Even with proper climbing equipment, I'd only get a partial view since the balcony was facing away from the hill.

"It's like it's meant to be impossible to see inside..." I sighed.

My only option was to wait until Friday and see the third floor from the inside. It was most likely just another living area, since all the bedrooms and bathrooms were on the first or second floor.

Maybe it was filled with more electronics, beautiful paintings, and expensive decorations, like the rest of the house. I'd seen plenty of those all over the place, though I wasn't interested in stealing any of them since they were hard to sell. Diamonds, gold, and cash were more of my thing. Easy to carry, hide and get rid of.

I knew I should've returned to my backpack and try to get some sleep, but the third floor intrigued me. I was curious by nature, and the top floor of the house was tickling my soul. I was already dying to know what was in there. I was almost ready to forget to be careful and just climb the vine to see what it was hiding from me. Eventually, I managed to contain my urges and returned to my little camping site.

*****

The week was pretty boring. I stayed in my hiding place the entire time, doing crosswords and Sudoku puzzles, and I had even brought a thick book too, and it kept me busy for a long time. I wasn't that good of a reader since I'd never even stepped inside a school before. Crosswords were hard for me, so I could spend the entire day filling out just one puzzle. But I enjoyed the challenge, and those puzzles helped me learn new things and words.

Whenever I heard a sound coming from the Simmons' house, I peered behind the bushes to learn more about the family. And I learned a lot.

Mr. Simmons seemed to spend most of his time at work. One day he came out to his yard alone, and I overheard him talking to someone on the phone. I learned he owned a plastic surgery clinic, but apparently, the rich had financial problems too. The entire call was basically him arguing over a pretty hefty sum the person on the phone owed him.

I'd also learned that the younger daughter spent a lot of time with her friends, or at a horse barn. She was always talking about her pony, and it seemed like she was getting ready for some sort of competition. She had built a small jumping course in their backyard, and I saw her galloping through it dozens of times, pretending to be her pony while memorizing the course.

Then there was the older daughter, who sneaked out almost every night. I wondered where she always went, and on Wednesday evening, I decided to follow her out of the neighborhood. And what she unintentionally showed me was another gift from Heavens.

I followed her quietly through the forest and all the way to the brick fence. There was a small ditch close to the Simmons' residence. It was so well hidden I was sure I'd never have found it on my own. I assumed we were close to the place where I'd climbed over the wall, but I still missed it. There was a small opening on the wall for the ditch to go through, closed with a piece of chain-link fence. I watched in the distance while the girl moved the fence aside, sneaked past the small gap, and let it fall back to its place.

I waited for a while before following her out of the gap, and I was impressed by the finding. There was no way anyone could see the gap behind the wild trees and bushes, and one had to know it was there to find it. The closest road was nowhere to be seen, and there were no cameras around. I had returned to my camp that night with a big smile on my face.

There was something else that caught my interest while I waited for Friday. Mrs. Simmons spoke a lot on the phone. Most of the time, she was speaking to someone called Jordan. He had to be her son since she kept calling him honey or sweetheart. She could sit in the backyard for hours talking with him, and I had the feeling he was in college or something. He seemed to be a bit of a mama's boy – no one would ever talk that much on the phone with their mother.

She kept asking if he had everything he needed and kept nagging about not being able to see him or spend time with him. The two sisters sometimes spoke with him too, but I never saw Mr. Simmons saying a word to him. I got the feeling he was ashamed of his son, if he even was his.

Overall, the family seemed close, but each of them had their own issues and problems, and I wasn't sure if any of them knew about each other's secrets and weird habits. I learned a lot about them within the four days I spent watching them, and I started growing annoyed with the entire family.

I never had enjoyed the company of other people for too long, and even if I wasn't interacting with the Simmons, I felt like I was right in the middle of them. So, when Friday finally came, I was happy to know I would never see them ever again after that night.