Rain Storm

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I wake up to the sound of someone banging their fist on my bedroom door. Letting out a groan, I roll out of bed, careful not to disturb Chelsea who is still sleeping. Opening my door, I find Harry in the hallway, looking exceptionally not hungover, considering how much I saw him drink last night.

"What?" I press a hand to my throbbing head, keeping my eyes closed to keep out the light.

"You look like shit, Nicholas."

"Thanks for the observation."

"I'm going out with the lads. Don't know when I'll be back." There's a soft undertone in his voice that makes me open my eyes a little.

"You're not leaving me to clean up after last night, are you? Harry, you promised."

"I cleaned up some." He replies. If I wasn't so hung over, I would probably try harder to argue but I don't have the energy.

"Whatever. Have fun." I shut the door on him and stumble back to my bed, crawling under the covers. Chelsea has apparently woken during the short exchange and snuggles into me.

"What's up?" She asks, sleep still evident in her voice.

I sigh and press a kiss to the top of her head," Just Harry being an ass, as usual."

"You need new housemates. Ones that don't throw huge parties every other weekend and leave you to clean up." 

"I know. But this place is such a good deal, I can't bring myself to give it up yet. Even with stupid housemates." I'd been extremely lucky to stumble onto this place when I decided dorm living wasn't for me. It was a decent sized apartment just off campus and extremely cheap, thanks to the fact that Harry's parents owned it and didn't really need the extra income from rent. Harry would have been happy for me to live here for free but that didn't sit right with me so we came up with a deal where I paid a small amount of rent to his parents.

"How's your head?" Chelsea changed the subject, propping herself up on one elbow to look at me properly.

"Bit sore. Guess I drank too much."

"Want me to kiss it better?" She smirked, letting one hand rest on my bare chest.

"Hmm...I can think of somewhere else that might need some love from you." I watched as she sat up, letting the flimsy straps of her night gown slide down her shoulders. My hands moved to her waist, pulling her to straddle me and she leaned down to kiss me.

It wasn't anything new or particularly unusual for us, especially on nights when she stayed over but today felt different for some reason. I couldn't put a finger on what exactly was different but was enough that Chelsea sensed I wasn't completely comfortable and sat back up quicky, a questioning look on her face.

"I'm sorry. Maybe I'm too hungover right now." I apologised as she moved to lay back down beside me.

"It's okay, Nick. You've had a stressful week and you needed to let off some steam. Now you're suffering the consequences; being in bed with your girlfriend and not being able to enjoy it." She teased. I smiled and pulled her into my arms.

We fell into silence, just enjoying each other's company and some peaceful time. I must have fallen asleep at some point because I woke again later to find my bed empty and Chelsea nowhere to be found. Pulling  a hoodie on, I made my way out to the kitchen where I found my gorgeous girlfriend slowly tidying up the mess of cups, bottles and other general rubbish from last night.

"Hey, you don't have to do that. I'll get around to it later. Make Harry do some when he gets home."

"It's fine. I was bored anyway." She's wearing one of my old t-shirts, which is way too big on her, almost like a dress. And with her hair tied into a messy pony-tail, she looks like she could be an actress in some Hollywood movie. How did I get so lucky?

"Why don't we go out for breakfast?" I glanced at the clock on the oven, "Or lunch, actually."

"Yeah. I was looking for something to eat before. You know you don't have much food in the cupboard?"

"I know. I have to do the shopping later today. Come on, get dressed and we'll go."

In only a few minutes we're walking down the street together, heading towards our favourite cafe.

The cafe is busy as usual but we manage to grab a small table at the back where we settle in and order food. While we wait, Chelsea reaches over and takes my hand giving me a smile as she asks; "You want to tell me what has you so stressed this week?"

"Just busy, I guess." I sigh, "Had to go to the courts this week for 'work experience'."

"I remember you telling me. I still don't understand what 'work experience' a children's counsellor can get in a court room."

"Something about seeing what happens with some clients we'll work with. It was kind of interesting to see though, the whole process of it all."

"Yeah? Did you see an interesting case?" Our drinks were delivered then and she took her hand from mine to wrap both around her coffee mug.

"Not really. But I did see this guy out in the hallway, I don't really know what his situation was but he was crying so I went over to check he was okay."

Chelsea laughed softly, "You and your big heart. He could have been a killer, finally having remorse for his crimes."

Now it was my turn to laugh, "You watch too many crime shows, babe. If he was a killer, or any kind of violent criminal, I doubt he would have been allowed to sit freely in the hallway."

"True. Anyway, keep going with your story."

"Not much more to it. He was pretty upset and declined my offer of company. But I get the impression he was there for a pretty horrible situation, for him to be crying like that."

"I'm sure he appreciated knowing there's a kind soul out there if he was."

I smiled at her, agreeing. 

Part of me wanted to know more about that man's story; what had led him to be in that moment. But I doubted I'd ever see him again. He was just some random stranger.