Thunder & Lightning

Devon: Part 1

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"Silence has a sound."

-Muhammad Imran Hasan

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It was raining.

The sounds of the raindrops against the school roof were thunderous.

The halls were empty asides from me. The only sound aside from the pounding of rain being my feet squeaking with each step I took.

Everyone else was probably at home right about now, heck I would be too if I hadn't had detention. I stepped outside expecting to see only my car still left in the student parking lot but was surprised to see another.

That's when I saw her.

She was just standing there letting the rain pour down on her as she stood in front of the only other car in the lot.

Her hair lay in a stringy mess around her weighted down from the rain as she wore nothing more than what looked like a t-shirt and jeans.

What the hell is she doing? I thought to myself.

I looked up at the sky to see it was an angry grey color before sighing.

I held my biology textbook over my head before running into the storm to get to my car.

The cold water felt like needles against my skin. The droplets quickly seeped into my face.

As soon as I got into my car I quickly unlocked the door and got in.

My fingers felt numb as I put the heat up. I was quickly beginning to regret not grabbing a jacket let alone an umbrella this morning as my younger sister had suggested.

I couldn't help but look out the window at the girl standing in the rain.

I should do something. No, I should just drive home. I should help her. I don't even know that girl, she isn't my problem. I thought arguing with myself.

Fuck it.

I quickly got out of my car and ran across the lot. I stopped a few feet away from the girl not wanting to scare her.

The raindrops began to feel more painful the longer I stood in their path.

I didn't know what to say so like an idiot I said nothing as I just looked at the girl before me. She didn't seem to notice I was there as she looked down at the hood of her car.

From up close I could tell her hair was probably a caramel brown when it wasn't soaking in rain.

Her skin looked ghostly pale.

Suddenly she looked right at me. My mouth dropped slightly in surprise. Her electric blue eyes froze me.

I couldn't help but notice the slight frown that appeared on her lips as she looked at me.

"Why are you staring at me?" She yelled over the sound of thunder. "You're getting wet," I said trying to find my voice.

Her brows pulled together in confusion before she yelled "what?"

I quickly closed my mouth before taking a deep breath. "You are standing in the rain!" I yelled back at her.

This just seemed to confuse her more before she smiled. "You're standing in the rain, too!" She pointed out.

Oh yeah.

"I meant, why are you standing in the rain?" I asked moving closer to her. My clothes uncomfortably stuck to my body.

She pointed to her car. "My car won't start." She said like it was obvious. "And, you were going to try and fix it?" I asked trying to understand.

She frowned before shrugging.

I looked at her before looking at my grey car across the lot before looking back at her.

"Do you want a ride?" I asked hoping to get back to the safety of my car and out of the rain.

She quickly glanced at me before taking a step away from me.

"I can't just get in a car with some stranger." She said looking at me as if I was crazy.

"Devon Sanders!"

"What?" She said in confusion. "My name is Devon Sanders," I said awkwardly holding my hand out for her to shake.

She looked down at my hand but didn't shake it.

I quickly pulled my hand away. I'm such an idiot. Who the fuck shakes hands with people anymore?

"Rebecca Rivers." She said snapping me out of my train of thought.

I couldn't help but smile.

Rebecca, that name suited her.

"How about that ride now?" I asked as I started to shake from the mix of the rain and the cold.

She quickly nodded yes before grabbing her bag from inside her car.

We quickly ran to my car before getting in.

Inside the car I was surrounded by the feeling of our closeness as I put the heat up to the max.

We both reached to put our hands under the air vent at the same time and awkwardly brushed our hands together. She quickly pulled away and turned to face out the window.

"Where do you live?" I asked after several moments of deafening silence.

She turned to me quickly before telling me her address.

I started the car and began driving. Not a word was spoken between the two of us.

As I stared at the road I noticed Rebecca stealing glances at the side of my face.

Now seeing her out of the rain I could tell that I have seen her around school before. I usually saw her in the halls walking around with a blind girl, I think they might actually be related.

I stopped the car as we now sat in front of her house.

"Thanks for the ride." She said before grabbing her bag and quickly running into the house.

Something about her was new to me. Maybe it was the way she spoke or maybe it was the way she nodded her head as if she was listening to music that I couldn't hear. But, something about her interested me.

"See you around, Rebecca," I whispered to myself as I drove away.

[Written January 5th, 2018 - Published August 1st, 2018]