Drip drop, drip drop. The only sound the heard, but still the only sound he feared. The sound on the verge of mere silence, and silence was when it got the worst. He picked himself up and clumsily threw on his clothes, carefully picking out a long sleeve shirt on this beautifully hot summer day. He had to go out and get groceries, but that was a partial excuse to even step out of his house, isolation is bad for the soul he once heard.
Stepping out into the great summer morning after having a great night's sleep, he looked around to take it all in, the sea salty breeze, the fresh dew fragrance, even the hint of dog manure left by the passers by. But enough standing, he told himself, he had to get going. He walked up the hills and to the city, it was unusually busy today, not like he'd know. He dodged the charities, telling himself what he'd always said, next time. But one was particularly different, it had a guy his age (17) standing with a bucket and a winter hat even though it was 92 degrees out. He smiled, and dropped in the first bill he found. The charity guy looked unimpressed at first but then looked into his almost empty bucket and was aghast, a 100 dollar bill! Seriously, he tried to play it cool but then against all instinct opened his mouth to say something but the donor was long gone.
He tried to center himself on the objective again, what was it... get groceries. He walked into the store, gathered the necessities, toilet paper, water, food... he was on his way to the last one and reached for it when another hand did as well. He turned to see no other than charity guy, they both blushed, turned away, and contemplated the odds of getting the same thing at the exact same time at the exact same place. It was the last item so of course they had an offer war, each party refusing to take that item, until he took it and ran. Charity guy chased after him not really wondering why, he must've really wanted that item, or something else...
He headed him off at the last aisle, as the donor ran into him, they landed inches away from doing something far too intimate for strangers. They analyzed each other, both were stunning in their own way, they stayed like that for a while, until they noticed people beginning to stare. The donor got up and helped Charity guy up, they walked out together with nothing in hand but each other.
Something led Charity guy to stare with this mysterious gentleman and the same effect was with the donor. He liked the sense of not knowing the outcome of things, and was guided by sheer randomness and luck. They then went into a coffee shop, and ordered the exact same thing at the same time and giggled a little. The cashier made a finger heart lining them in it but they insisted they weren't like that, but in the back of their minds they liked this time together. They sipped their coffee and looked outside at the real couple, they weren't spontaneous, they were bland and boring. The donor reached out his hand and put it on top of charity guy's, out of instinct and shock he pulled back. This shocked the donor a little too, his instinct was to never let anyone in, how was this stranger different? Charity guy noticed the donor's smile dimming, and tapped him and made coffee come out of his nose. The donor laughed so hard they were kicked out on a noise complaint, but even outside he couldn't stop laughing and Charity guy couldn't stop blushing.
They then made their way to a park, one with empty picnic tables. The donor sat down first, smiling and patting the seat next to him for charity guy to sit down. The looked at the trees and took in the beautiful sounds of nature, drip drop, drip drop. Oh no, oh god, not that sound, more sound, more sound!!! The expression of worry and pain spread like wildfire across the donor's face. Charity guy began to feel alarmed, he panicked and pulled him in for a hug and stroked his hair. The donor began to sob, then cry, the bawl, but throughout all of this he stayed, and helped. After he calmed himself down he slowly pulled away and rolled up his sleeves, this shocked Charity guy but only a little. He pulled up his sleeves too, similar but this scared the donor way more than charity guy, but instead of crying, he smiled. He leaned on Charity guy and they watched the sunset together, the most beautiful sight in their whole lives, and they knew they'd never be alone again.
