LIVING THE DREAM ✅

Three: The rebellious intern, the stalker and the crazy huggers

Mitchell loved rain. And January usually came with plenty of that.

When she was young, way before Hayley was born, Mitchell liked to run and play in the rain. She'd strip - they lived in a perimeter-wall-enclosed house, so there were no chances of someone creeping on her - and run around the yard. It felt even way better if there was hail. Then she'd eat it, cry because her teeth were freezing, eat it again and collect some in a bottle for storing in the fridge. She'd get a cold and skip school for a few days and swear never to do it again.

Spoiler alert: she always did it again.

But then she turned five and Hayley was born. She remembered how excited she was to meet the little child but couldn't because she was down with a cold. She had cried herself to sleep that night because she thought little Hayley would hate her for not being there. And since that night, she never played in the rain again.

As she looked outside her bedroom window at the drizzles, she missed being young and carefree. She was too old to play in the rain anymore. She stretched her hand and touched some drops falling from the roof and shook her head. What am I doing?

Her phone going off snapped her back to reality as Hayley's personalized ringtone sounded through the quiet house. Is there a problem, she thought as she reached for the phone from her jean pockets. It was 2pm and Hayley wasn't supposed to be off internship duty until 5pm.

"Hello, honey," she answered the phone. "Is there a problem- of course I have to ask. Why are you calling at 2pm? Was the money for lunch not enough- oh. Let me come and pick you up now- what? What do you mean?"

There was shuffling at the other side of the call and Hayley was back on the line. "I said I'll be hanging out with William."

"Who is Will- a fellow intern? You just met him today! Wha- so what? You don't just decide to hang out with people you've just met Hayley. I'm coming to pick you up right n- annnnd she hang up on me!"

She looked at the phone with a frown. She didn't like it, not even one bit. What if that 'William' guy was a kidney dealer and cut off Hayley's organs? She hadn't realized that she was squeezing her phone until a voice outside startled her.

"Whoa," the person said. "Not the phone. Anything but the phone."

She whipped her head towards the window and her eyes widened when she saw who stood just outside. She had wished to see him that morning. But she hadn't known that God was listening and decided to send him back that same day. She had somehow managed to convince herself that the man was an illusion, something her brain had conjured up, but as she stood facing him, she realized how real he was.

He wore a coat - obviously because it was cold from the rain, both of his arms tucked in his jeans pockets. He was taller than Mitchell remembered too. And his eyes held a glint, like he found Mitchell's silent outburst amusing.

"Well," he continued when he didn't get a response from Mitchell. "Is something the problem? I can guess so because damn, you were squeezing that phone."

"I'm just overreacting," she shook her head and then like a switch had gone off in her brain, her eyes widened. "Where did you even come from?"

The man laughed, his cheeks reddening.
"We have to stop meeting like this," he said. "But I swear I'm not stalking you or anything. I just happen to be outside at the same time something is happening in your bedroom."

Mitchell scoffed. "That's exactly what a stalker would say!"

"But a real stalker wouldn't tell you their name, would they?"

"You still haven't."

"Fine," he shrugged with a movement of his shoulders. "I'm Austin. Austin Hall."