Wishing for Rain

Chapter 13

I sit next to Derek. We are both sitting on a couch in his room. He has made his feelings very clear just now, even though we have only known each other for a week. He sits far from me on the couch.

"You're room is pretty sweet," I tell him. He responds to me with a minute's worth of silence. I wait for him to speak.

"Those guys are jerks," he reassures me. I pause, considering my response.

"Yeah, I know." My body is wrapped in his towel. I want to thank him for it, but now doesn't seem like a good time. It's warm against me, and the water was freezing. "It's fine. It could've happened to anyone," I say this more for my own reassurance than his.

"I guess you just happened to be standing there," he tells me.

"Yup," I release a deep breath that I didn't know I had been holding in. There is an awkward touch to the silence, that hangs in the air. He is the one to break it though.

"So, what do you like to do?" he asks me. Before I can answer, a roaring comes from downstairs. We both leap up, and look over the railing that shows the 'throne room'. Everyone is pouring inside.

"Why is everyone coming in?" I ask, worriedly.

"I don't know!" he yells above the noise. I look out the window, then back to Derek. He is about to go down the steps to figure out what's going on.

"Derek," I call after him, "It's pouring." he turns around, and goes to the full height window.

"I guess it is," he makes a lopsided grin at the window. We return to his room, and he closes his door so the noise won't reach as far.

I sit on his bed, right next to a large window. I long to be dancing in the rain right now. There is so much of it, and no one would be here to tell me to get out the it. I am sleeping over tonight, so mama wouldn't be here any time of night anyways.

I stare longingly outside. "What's up?" he asks, sitting next to me. I like being his friend. he's nice to me.

I stay quiet for a moment, continuing to stare at the rain. "I just love the rain is all," after about five seconds, I turn his way and smile at him. I turn back to the window. Its clear glass gives me a better view than I've ever had of the rain.

"Yeah, me too." he tells me. Well that's the first time I have met anyone who shares that interest.

"Never met anyone who likes it too," I tell him, feining laughter.

"Me either," he pauses, "I've never met anyone with the name either." he fakes a laugh back at me. I smile at the window. This is all so new for me. Just being friends with the opposite gender is new for me. I think we will grow to be good ones though.

For a long time we just stare at the rain, enjoying it, loving it. When I look at the rain, my mind goes clear, and I understand everything better. Normally I am able to clear my mind down to just one thought, but now that I have so much on my plate I can't.

"What do you think about when you look at the rain?" I ask him out of the blue.

"Problems." I reach my hand out to the pane, and press my palm against it, watching my reflection drizzled upon. He does the same, understanding what I am doing.

"It's beautiful, isn't it?" I ask him.

"It is," he agrees. "It is." slowly the droplets trickle down the pane, and I fade into that peaceful state of mind that the rain always releases me into.