Remember When

[5]

rain

I remember finding out that you were scared of thunder. It wasn't a chronic fear or anything, but you hated it so much and it made you jump no matter how frequent we heard it. During thunderstorms, we would usually end up tangled in bed, your face nuzzled in my side as I either smoothed your hair down or rubbed your back. Sometimes I was able to lull you to sleep during them, which I'm still not exactly sure how I did.

You were all up for rainstorms, though. We used to love sitting by any window and watching the rain stick to it. The heavier the storm was, the more interesting we found it. We were almost like little kids when it came to rain. We could sit and watch it roll down the window for hours upon hours.

The sound of rain was one of your favorite things to listen to. Whenever I wasn't paying attention, or just didn't care, you would open up a window to hear the rain more clearly. It usually ended up with either our bed or floor getting wet, depending on which window you opened. I used to attempt to argue with you about it because I was usually the one who had to clean up the water that spilled, but you always looked so excited. You would grin widely and grab me to kiss me. You loved it and I love you.

We had the worst luck when it came to electricity at our apartment, even when it wasn't raining. It could get above ninety degrees and the power would randomly shut off because - according to maintenance - it got overheated. I still don't trust anyone who works there, but the abnormalities in the electricity meant they would almost go out when it rained. We used to bet each other on when it would happen. It was always over the dishes or who had to cook dinner. We don't have to talk about how you almost always won and I even cleaned out your entire closet because I thought I was just so right one time.

We didn't spend a lot of time inside when it was raining, though. We loved running through the raindrops, catching it on our tongues, and kicking it up at each other. The parking lot of our apartment complex had so many potholes and dips, which made it horrible to drive, but perfect for kids at heart like us to go jump and splash in puddles. Everyone mostly kept to themselves, so no one was really bothered by two twenty-something-year-olds running around in the parking lot, barefooted while jumping in puddles. If we were ever out at parks when it started raining, it was even better. We have ruined way too many pairs of jeans by getting them muddy in parks, but it was totally worth it.

When I was younger, my mom used to make me buy so many umbrellas. "You need an umbrella for your house, your car, a spare -" she'd say and go on and on, so when I moved in with you, we ended up with almost six umbrellas between both of us. You hate umbrellas, but your parents bought you one as a 'house warming' gift. That's the one we always use, and the rest of shoved in the hall closet. We've read so many books under that umbrella in parks, and even used it to protect the furniture on our balcony, but we mostly never used umbrellas because you thought they were pointless.

But obviously, I always liked rain the most because you always found a reason for us to kiss in it. I think it was because it fed into your hopeless romantic self, similarly to mine. Your reasons were always stupid, but you would try so hard to convince me with them. "Come outside, babe!" You called into the bedroom one time when I was getting ready for bed.

"Why? What's going on?" I asked, looking out the window and noticing for the first time the rain falling. I turned just as you got in the room. Your hair was already wet and sticking to your face.

"I think I left my phone in the truck. Walk me out?" You smiled innocently, reaching your hand out to me. I knew for a fact that you didn't leave your phone in the car, but I took your hand and followed you outside anyways. I pretended not to see your phone on the dining table as we sauntered outside. We got to your truck parked across the narrow lot, and you quickly opened the door to peek inside. You slammed it shut and leaned against it for a short second.

"Wow, it must be inside after all. Oops." You announced fast, hooking your hand on my hip to pull me to you. You kissed me, like I knew you would, pushing me between you and your truck. I will admit that kissing you in the rain, especially then, was when I was at my happiest. So I kissed you back, tangling my hands in your wet hair.

"Funny how that works, huh?" I muttered, pulling away breathlessly for a short moment.

"Shut up and kiss me."