Playing in the Rain (Castle Fan fiction)

Drake's Magic Shop

The second time he sees her, he doesn't recognize her.

His mother had just dropped him off, leaving for a last minute theatre rehearsal, and he had just managed to persuade her to dropping him off in Drake's Magic Shop ("Fine, but if you break yet another thing Richard, I for one, am not paying for it," she had said) instead of staying at home, watching reruns of shows he had watched over and over.

So there he was, walking along the aisles of the much loved store, nodding his head in acknowledgement to the store owner, Salman Drake, who nodded in response back to him.

Richard was playing with a prop knife, the kind that retracted its blade when 'stabbed' into someone, when the bell by the door jingled, arousing his attention.

He turned on his heels and looked at the door, his eyes immediately glued to the argument that was unfolding merely a few feet in front of him.

A girl, maybe thirteen or so, dressed in ripped jeans and combat boots with a black leather jacket slung above her shoulder had walked in to the store, with someone behind her, presumably her mother, who was shaking her head at her and sighing.

"Kate, how many times do I need to-"

"Mom, mom, yes, I get it- I need to go and attend the party, 'It's for my own benefit, I need to be exposed more'. But do you really want a 13 year old girl in jeans and sneakers attending a black-tie party for lawyers?" the girl replied.

Her mother, dressed in a sensible purple dress and violet stilettos sighed and looked down condescendingly at her daughter. She, in turn, stared back at her, refusing to back down. After a few moments, her mother gave up at looked at her Movado watch, leaning back on one leg.

"Fine, I'll leave you her," her mother consented. "But I am going to be back in two hours and you can go anywhere, Katie, but you need to be here by then. Don't make me lose my trust."

Kate (which he had figured out was her daughter's name) shot her a Cheshire grin as her mother turned around and walked out the door, her heels clacking against the pavement even though the door was closed.

She sighed and turned around, walking over to the shelf that held an assortment of whoopee cushions and fake vomit, her long ponytail whipping around to follow her quick movements.

Richard kept looking at her, his mind trying to figure out what her story was, why she had such a -let's say rebellious- attitude. Her head spun around quickly, too fast that he was not able to look away fast enough.

Kate's eyebrows furrowed and her lips pursed, her hazel eyes (or were they green?) finding his quickly. He gulped audibly, intimidated by her stare, which he thought she probably inherited from her equally daunting mother.

"Need something?" she asked, her high voice piercing through the silence that had befallen through the shop.

In an effort to look away from her strong gaze, he liked around, suddenly noticing that Salman had gone into the room behind the counter, presumably to watch TV. Richard and Kate were the only people in the store and the light filtered through the shelves, casting shadows on the face of the girl in front of him.

"Uh, well, you know, you kind of caught my attention with that find you and your mom had, Kate." She raised her eyebrows, unimpressed by the fact that he knew your name. "So why'd you not want to go to a party?"

"Yeah, well, turns out that it's not so fun having to attend a benefit for hours, with nothing to do but talk to some 'highly respected lawyers'," she replied mockingly. "It gets really boring and apparently it is disrespectful to sit in a corner and stare at random people, trying to grab their attention."