The park

The park would probably be best. By now, most people would hopefully be sleeping already.

Alissa shrugged, perfectly happy with either option, and they left the pavement for the grass. Hannah kept close to her, one arm across her petite breasts and the other cupped between her legs. The park was darker than the street, at least. A few lamps stood along a footpath, but most of the lawn sat in a grey, uneven dark. The appartement block rose up along the far side, a long low-rise with balconies and wide windows looking straight down unto the grass. Hannah knew that building. She knew people who lived there. She had already streaked across this same lawn once tonight, in a way, and the thought made her stomach turn.

"See? Dead," Alissa said, not bothering to whisper. "Told you."

It was not entirely dead. A handful of windows still glowed. Television-blue in one, a warm lamp in another, a balcony door cracked open on the third floor. Hannah tried not to count them. She shuffled faster, the wet grass cold under her bare feet, her nipples tight against her own arm. Alissa did not speed up. She walked like they were out for a normal midnight stroll, fully dressed, Hannah's key somewhere in her pocket, while Hannah did the walk of shame right next to her.

They had to cross the open stretch to reach the wooded path that led to Hannah's backyard. There was no hedge here, no wall, nothing. Just lawn, and above it all those windows. Hannah's skin prickled. She could feel how pale she was even in the dark, how obvious her little nude figure would be to anyone who happened to glance down.

"Can we please just go," she muttered.

Alissa stopped.

Hannah took two more steps before she realized, then hurried back, mortified at being left standing alone in the open. "What? Why did you stop?"

Alissa looked up at the building, then at Hannah, then back at the building. She had that same warm, casual smile from the party. The one that always meant trouble.

"You're shaking."

"I'm naked in a park, Alissa."

"You've been naked all night. That's not why." Alissa tilted her head. "You're close again, aren't you."

Hannah opened her mouth to deny it and felt the lie die in her throat. She was. The walk, the air on her skin, the windows, Alissa watching her shuffle along covering herself... it had all been simmering since they left the party. Her fingers, trapped against her own pussy, were already slick. She hated that Alissa could tell.

"We're almost home," Hannah whispered. "Please. I can... I can do that inside."

"You could." Alissa rocked on her heels. "Or you could do it here. Standing. Right in front of them." She nodded up at the appartements. "You wanted to get off in public, that's how this whole stupid night started, right? This is basically your backyard. If someone's still up, they get a show. If they're asleep, nobody ever knows. Either way you go home after. I'll keep the key until you're done, so you don't bolt."

"Alissa..."

"One more. Then I walk you to the door. I promise." She said it softly, like she was doing Hannah a favour. "Hands off. Look up. You don't even have to lie down. Just stand there and finish. You've already been seen by half a party. What's a few windows?"

Hannah looked at the building. Most of it was dark. Most of it. She looked at the wooded path, so close she could have run. She looked at Alissa, who already knew she was going to say yes.

She was so horny it made her angry.

"If a light comes on I'm stopping."

"Sure." Alissa did not sound convinced, but she stepped a little to the side, out of the way, and folded her arms to watch.

Hannah stood in the middle of the lawn and very slowly dropped her arms. The night air hit her breasts, her belly, between her legs. She felt insane. A nude girl, planted in the grass like she belonged there, the whole facade of the appartement block rising in front of her. She could not cover and touch herself at the same time, and Alissa would have called her on it anyway. She swallowed, glanced once at the dark windows, and slid her fingers down.

She was soaked. She had been all night. The first stroke across her clit made her knees dip. She bit her lip and tried to keep quiet. Somewhere above, a balcony chair scraped. Hannah froze, staring up, but no face appeared. Maybe it was nothing. Maybe someone had just shifted in their sleep. The not-knowing was worse. It also made her rub a little harder.

She stood with her feet apart in the wet grass, one hand on her breast, rolling a nipple between two fingers the way she did in bed, the other working between her legs. Her pale skin would be easy to spot from up there. Anyone leaning on a balcony railing would look straight down at her tits, her hand, the way her hips had started to move on their own. She thought of the girls who had thrown her key into this same grass. She thought of the guys on a balcony cheering. She thought of some classmate of hers getting a glass of water, glancing out, and seeing her like this, standing there masturbating in front of their building like a desperate little exhibitionist.

The thought punched through her. She moaned, too loud, and clapped her free hand over her mouth. Alissa grinned.

"Don't cover up. That's the whole point."

Hannah's hand fell away from her mouth. She was panting. She looked up at the windows on purpose now, dragging her fingers over her clit in tight, frantic circles, slipping one inside because she could not help it. A lamp flicked on on the fourth floor. Just a square of yellow. No person that she could see, but the light was there, and if they walked to that window they would have a perfect view of her standing in the grass, legs spread, finger buried in herself, Alissa watching from a few meters away like a proud owner.

She should have stopped. She had said she would stop.

She did not stop.

She stared at that lit window and rubbed herself faster, her other arm hanging useless at her side, her breasts bare and bouncing a little with the motion. The climax that had been chasing her all the way from the party finally caught up. It hit her standing, hard, a full-body shudder that bent her forward and then snapped her back upright. She came thinking about being seen, about that yellow window, about someone up there watching the naked girl in the park get herself off and not even knowing her name. Her mouth opened on a high, stifled sound. Her toes curled in the grass. She had to grab Alissa's sleeve with her wet hand to keep from dropping.

It went on longer than it had any right to. When it let go of her she was trembling, slick down her thighs, and suddenly very, very aware of how naked she was.

"Oh my god," she breathed, covering herself with both arms again, hunching over. The fourth-floor light was still on. She could not look at it anymore.

"Yeah," Alissa said, almost fond. "That looked like a good one."

Hannah could have cried. She also could have gone again. She did neither. "Home. Now. Please."

"Home." Alissa took her elbow, gentler than she had been all night, and walked her off the lawn toward the trees. Hannah kept her head down and her hands in place. She did not check whether a silhouette had appeared in that window. She did not want to know.

The wooded path was dark and quick. Her own brick wall came up on the left, then the gate, then the garden. Alissa fished the key from her pocket and put it in Hannah's shaking hand. They stood there a second, Hannah still dripping, still covering, Alissa looking at her like she was already planning the next time.

"You did good," Alissa said. "Give me your number. For, you know. Checking you got in alright."

Hannah gave it to her. She was not even sure why. She was not into girls, really. She was not thinking straight at all. Alissa typed it in, promised she would not post anything, and waited until Hannah had the door open.

"Go on. Before you freeze."

Hannah slipped inside and shut the door. Through the glass she watched Alissa walk back toward the path, hands in her pockets, as if nothing unusual had happened. Hannah leaned against the wood, completely nude in her own hallway, the aftershocks still flickering through her. She wondered how many windows had actually been empty. She wondered if that light had been a coincidence.

She would have to lay low for the rest of the summer. At least she was doing an internship abroad next semester. By the time she came back, maybe the girl on the lawn would just be a rumour. Her phone was already buzzing on the counter from earlier. She left it face down, went upstairs, and sat on the edge of her bed. She was still wet. She had a feeling she would be thinking about that building for a long time.