One Cup of Sugar || Sasha x Niccolo

6 - Rain

AN: I want to apologize for how long this chapter took me to write. This isn't my best writing at all and truth be told I had to stare at a blank document for four days trying to figure out where this chapter was going to go, where it would start, etc.

Sashas POV:

"Hey Sasha, you can go home. We're pretty slow today so I can close by myself." Mr. Ackerman walks past me swiftly, multiple books stacked on his arm.

I look over at him, my eyes widening in shock as I look at the time. It was 1:37 PM. My shift is supposed to end at 6 PM for stocking purposes, so his declaration for me to go home took me by surprise. He never lets anyone go home early without reason.

I furrow my brows in confusion, watching as the man maneuvered around the library at a fast pace, placing the books he had back on their respective shelves. He pushed back his jet-black hair; it falls back in its normal place in front of his eyes shortly after.

Mr. Ackerman was a nice man, but extremely cold. His presence made you feel like he was trained in the army. I couldn't ever get a read on him or his emotions. In all honesty, he scared me a little bit. Despite being a short man, his small brown eyes could pierce even the strongest man, sending them fleeing with their tail between their legs.

"Are you sure, sir? I don't mind staying my entire shift."

I lied; I silently prayed to whatever higher entity that he would let me leave. This shift was dragging. Every minute felt like an hour due to the lack of work to do. Getting paid to sit there and do nothing sounds fun until you're sitting there and doing nothing and can't leave for hours. Not to mention I didn't have Mikasa to talk to since she had come with a cold and had been home for a week. Every shift this week was miserable. I wanted nothing more than to go home and read.

"Yeah. Get out of here, kid. I'll see you during your next shift." He pushes his hand, swatting in my direction. "Go before I change my mind."

"Yes sir. Thank you, sir."

I don't hesitate for a second. My eyes go wide as I frantically start grabbing my stuff, practically tripping over the counter as I start sprinting towards the door.

"Careful, kid. The weather is nasty right now." I hear the man softly chuckle as the doors close behind me.

I turn around, waving to him from the outside before he continues his work.

He was right. Upon stepping outside, rain poured down in buckets. The intensity of the water blocked the visibility of anything ahead of me as I walked aimlessly looking for my car. The sound of the rain hitting the tops of cars, the grass, the concrete, and more flooded my ears, deafening any other sounds around me.

I continue to walk in the direction where I parked my car, or at least where I think I parked my car, the clouds unloading at a heavier pace than before. At this point my sweatshirt was now a different color, my tights were stuck like super glue to my legs, and my once plaid grey and black mini skirt looked completely black. I could feel my hair sticking to my neck and the sides of my face as the water ruined what had been a good hair day. The bottom of my black converse pooled with water.

Cold raindrops fell from the grey sky as I finally stepped to my car, the drops soaking into my green sweatshirt causing me to shiver as the cold AC hit me. I turned the heat on in my car, stripping my soaking sweatshirt off, leaving me in a semi-dry t-shirt. The weather in Paradise was often overcast and gloomy, the sun barely ever showing itself. I always joked that the sun was shy and sent its cloud friends to hide her.

It barely ever rained in Paradise, even though the clouds were always dark. It was like the clouds were teases, toying with the civilians in a game of "do I need an umbrella today?" with the clouds ultimately winning nearly every time. Today was one of the days I lost that game.