life's rain // bruno mars

chapter thirteen

chapter thirteen

It was 11:56pm when three soft knocks came from my window. It scared me at first, but after not hearing it for awhile I settled for the excuse that it was just the branches from the tree that was next to my window caused by the wind. But then I heard it again, still so soft. Tap tap tap. I cursed under my breath, yanking off my blankets and peered out the blinds.

The color of honey stared back at me.

I pulled the cord so my blinds would slide up, unlatched the locks, and lifted the window open. The screen pixelated her. She smiled. “Nice boxers.”

“Thanks,” I muttered. “Oh and while you're staring at those, do you not realize how late it is?”

“I do.” She held up her wrist, a watch wrapped around it. “Since I have the time right now. Pretty convenient. It just struck midnight.”

“Which is why I should be in bed.”

“Why?” she asked. “It's not like you have anywhere to be tomorrow.”

“I have to meet Ari and Phil at the studio,”  I said and she furrowed her eyebrows. “Ari?” 

I nodded. “He makes the Smeezingtons a trio. Now what are you doing here and how the hell are you up here?”

“I'm on the tree. I always knew how to climb them. When I was little, I thought I could reach the sky one day. Life is so full of disappointments.” She shrugged slightly, careful to keep her balance. “And I need your car.”

“You could've just knocked on the door and asked for them, you know.”

“That ruins the fun.” She smirked. I never seen her smile that way. But then her whole face softened. “And I want you to come with me.”

*

I ended up in the car at midnight, driving down a nearly empty highway next to my best friend. She was leaning back into the seat, her feet on the dashboard. She looked relaxed. This is my first time being with her after picking her up that night, two days ago. She never told me where we were going, she just told me to drive. “You ever think about how the world doesn't slow down for anybody. It just goes on and on.”

“Yeah.” I glanced at her, she was staring straight ahead. “It leaves you with no choice but to move forward. Since it keeps spinning.”

“Then how do you hold on?” Her tone was casual, but her words were something else.

“Hope, I guess,” I said uncertainly, hoping I'd said the right thing. “Don't dwell on anything, keep moving forward and, you have people to help you. . .”

“I have you,” she said. “In a friend way,” she added after a second. “You can get off now. This exit.” We had been driving for an hour, yes an hour, and it was about one in the morning. We were mostly listening to the radio, talking about the artist or how I should write a song like this or that. I didn't even feel tired, talking to her. She encouraged me to keep my eyes open just by her presence. Like if I would close my eyes, even for a second, I could miss everything.

We were in the northern part of Los Angeles, similar to downtown L.A., just with less graffiti covered buildings. Lena straightened, all her attention focused around her. “Turn here, turn there,” she kept saying, and her fingers began tracing around her camera that was in her lap, even tapping it a little. Anxious.

We ended in this neighborhood of houses, middle class homes. Some two story some one, nothing special. Average. She made me pull up to the curb of a two story house that was painted a caramel; similar to the color of Lena's skin. “Come on,” she said as she got out. The house was dark on the inside, the curtains drawn.