Low Road

Wherefore art thou?

Rhami

Ugh. Rain. He hated rain. Which sucks when you lived in England, the rainiest place in the planet. Literally everyday he woke up and just stared at the ceiling gathering his courage to open the curtains and stare out at the dreary sky. The sun of his childhood was a distant memory that felt like those dreams you have when you're drifting in that no man's land between sleep and awake. The more you tried to hold on to them, the more they slipped away. Rhami sighed and gave himself a stern shake. If he wasn't careful he'd think himself into a depressed funk that would last the whole day. He glanced to his right where his best friend sat in the driver's seat. His mouth quirking up into a smile. At least Rowena popped up this morning to give him a ride to school. And his grandma helped by making the most awesome breakfast ever. His two favourite people working to make his life easier. Rhami grinned. No one could stay depressed around Rowena, she took it as a personal challenge.

"What are you smiling about? Really? The black hoodie, black T-shirt and black jeans combo, again? What happened to the green sweater I bought you? Green is our couple colour today. Didn't you read the fashion forecast I sent last night? Never mind. Look in the glove compartment, I got you green and purple wristbands to wear. I read your mind and knew you were going to wear black. So I went out and got these. I even got them customised. See? They say Romeo and Juliet! So cute right? Totally us! They're so great. I can't believe they're not more popular. Someone should like start a whole business of on the spot custom-made wristbands. Wouldn't that be great? Then we could put our names on them everyday! Obviously you'd wear this one the most but we could always keep the others for the memories. And it would help me keep track of which names we've gone through. It's such a great idea. Maybe I can start it. I don't think I'll have time though. Even though I'm going to be on campus a lot more." Rowena finally paused for a breath whilst giving Rhami a meaningful look.

Feeling her stare on the side of his face, Rhami tuned back in to Rowena's excited stream of chatter. A feeling of fondness rose in his chest. He hadn't seen her much this past week and he'd missed her.  Even though he rarely had any idea what she was talking about most of the time, it was nice to listen to her talk. It reminded him of how his dad used to tune into the BBC during their long nightly rides, the stream of words lulling him him to sleep, wrapping him in a cocoon of comfort. There was a time he thought he'd never feel that way again. But now, every once in a while, when he was with Rowena that feeling of safety and comfort would sneak over him, giving him startling moments of peace.

"Rhami!"

"Huh?"

"The glove compartment."

"What?"

"Were you even listening?"

She was staring at  him waiting for an answer. Jolted out of his musings, Rhami stared back. Crap, he knew what was coming next. If he told her no she'd sigh and repeat everything. If he lied and said yes she'd ask him to repeat what she said word for word just to make sure. So he did what he always did when Rowena caught him. Waited her out.

"Rhami? Rhami! What did I say?"

"Huh?" he repeated innocently.

"Were you listening?"

He cocked his head like he'd seen his grandma do, a trick to hasten the inevitable, it frustrated Rowena more than his silence. Her eyebrows lowered into a warning frown.

"Rhami! Argh."

Success. Rowena's reservoir of patience was the size of a gnat.

"Whatever. Go into the glove compartment. Yeah, no on the left. Bring that pouch out. Open it. The wristbands that I was talking about. Try them on, yeah both of them. Look they match my outfit!"