Simple Complications in the Rain

“Simple Complications in the Rain”

She didn't like people that much. She hated being around, talking to or interacting with too many of them at the same time and if anyone ever asked, it was for no other reason than, "I just don’t like them that much."

It was as simple and as complicated as that.

That was her logic and her point when she was 11 and it’s no different now that she's a few years older.

Since she was that kind of person, she should've known that going out for a walk during rush hour when you live on a busy street was a bad idea. No, it was a downright terrible idea in her case but, amongst other things including not being too fond of people, she was also very impulsive and so easily bored, so there she was, out for a walk on a busy street at rush hour.

As she walked in the opposite direction that most of the people around her were going, she huddled a little more into her thick jacket which was quite obviously 2 or 3 sizes too big for her; it was her father’s and she had just nabbed it from the peg by the front door. With the slightest hint of mischief in her eyes, she grinned thinking of how her father would probably shake his head and sigh once he realizes that the jacket he’ll have to wear to work, again, is the purple one she had given as a birthday present last month. It had “World’s Best Dad” written on the back with a bit of glitter in the print. Just a bit. Maybe.

Thunder rumbled in the distance, interrupting her train of thought. The smug look on her face was replaced with one of slight concern as she made a move to open her umbrella, that is, until she realized she didn’t have one. She wasn’t fond of umbrellas but, her mother was not fond of her coming home wet either.

“Of course, I’d remember to steal dad’s jacket but forget to bring a goddamn umbrella.”

Oddly enough, she tried a different strategy. She stopped walking and looked up at the sky, trying to will the storm clouds away with her furrowed brows and a look of pure irritation. Either that or she just liked randomly glaring at the sky which wasn’t very likely, for anyone. In no less than 20 seconds, pure irritation turned into curiosity as the clouds caught her attention.

“Are those nimbus clouds? Cumulonimbus? Or was it nimbostratus? Why couldn’t they have given clouds easier names like… Something cotton-ball, whatever.”

She bit her bottom lip and squinted a bit, something she did whenever she was deep in thought, something she probably shouldn’t have been at the moment, given that she was standing in the middle of a busy sidewalk and was already starting to get jostled around.

Due to the fact that, in her mother’s words, she was a “scatterbrained, bumbling airhead” – a mean choice of words if you ask me, I’d have said mildly clueless – the incredulous looks from people who accidentally bumped into her or simply found her odd went completely unnoticed.

“Whatever in god’s name those clouds are called, they look like rain. Rain is okay. Mom getting mad at me is not. Maybe I could sneak in through the back door… unless the little gremlin tells on me again.”

She sighed, thinking of her brother and the mocking, shit-eating grin that would don his face whenever their mother scolds her.

“Mom might let it slide this one time… or she slides me out the door.”

Tongue in cheek, she continued on her walk nonetheless. Walk to where? Even she didn’t know.

She stuffed both of her hands in the pockets of the shorts that she wore over a pair of polka-dotted tights and hummed a song as she continued on her little adventure to nowhere. The loud beeping of cars, the collective noise of people walking whether they’re in a hurry or not and voices that mixed in or clashed with one another drowned out her low and slightly out-of-tune rendition of ‘While my guitar gently weeps' by The Beatles; they were her favorite band, it was quite evident especially with John Lennon's face on her shirt.

By the time she got to one of her favorite part of the song, a heavy downpour of rain had kicked in and she found it a tad bit entertaining to watch all the busybodies around her run for shelter or open their umbrellas in an almost synchronized manner, simultaneous pops of colors appearing on the sidewalk.

She hummed,

“I look at you all,

see the love there that's sleeping

while my guitar gently weeps...”

So much for the song, but she didn't have a guitar. Nor did she know how to play one.

As she was about to turn a corner, soaking wet and absentmindedly counting each lazy step she took, she bumped into him, the lyrics of the song still lingered in her mind but, a much latter part.

“I don't know why

nobody told you

how to unfold your love...”

She was so immersed in her own little world that bumping into someone head-on threw her off, it was completely unexpected. To be fair, I don't think anyone would ever expect something like that… But in that one moment she was very sure of one thing as she squinted up at the tall boy that stood in front of her, the rain running down her face in a not-so-pretty way, not like you’d see in the movies anyway.

He was also immersed in his own little world; absentminded, if you don’t want to romanticize it.

She was usually wrong whenever she says she’s ‘very sure of one thing’ and now was not any different.

The boy was running late for his tutoring session, he had a quiz in Science and as much as he liked the subject, he so very badly wanted to skip the tutoring session today and his thoughts were going a mile per minute trying to memorize formulas and the periodic table and god knows whatever it is Sir Isaac Newton said about some stupid apple, but now “Hydrogen, Helium, Lithium, Beryllium…” had turned into, “What the fuck?”

One would think that he couldn't care less that he bumped into a random girl who was wearing a jacket 2 or 3 sizes too big for her and polka dotted tights. A girl who was soaking wet, humming a song off-key with her hands in her pockets, walking around like a complete lunatic in the middle of a busy sidewalk while the rain poured... By the look on his face, anyone would definitely assume that he was unbothered.

He was very bothered.

He thought she looked like a waif.

“Honey, honesty is a good thing but… Not all the time, you know?”

His mother’s words echoed in his mind. He was, what his aunts called, an “antisocial, rude brat” – I’m not even making any comments anymore, adults these days, I swear – he really meant no ill will when he said his aunt Brenda’s chihuahua looked like a sick rat on steroids that one time.

A mix of scientific elements and thoughts about his aunt’s rat-dog were jumbled in his head as he stared down at the girl’s petite and soaking wet frame that barely even went above his shoulders; she was still a bit too dumbfounded to form a coherent thought as she stared up at his very tall and very dry self – and also at his umbrella... She figured that she liked his umbrella very much.

It was a big, blue umbrella with white polka dots and it was the first thing she had noticed. She loved polka dots a lot.

“That… is a gorgeous shade of blue. I wonder if he got it as a gift? Convenience store? Mall? Would it be too weird for me to ask, ‘cause…”

She stopped dead in her tracks. Maybe it was just too cold and maybe she had been in the rain for too long but, as she scanned his face, her gaze stopped at his eyes. Any thoughts about his umbrella flew out the window in those few seconds and not so gracefully either, mind you. His eyes looked so warm, even as he stared at her quizzically.

She was drawn to that warmth and wanted to ask for his name. As stupid as it sounds. And for her it sounded extremely stupid.

Love at first sight?

She snorted. The girl had always believed in her gut that, despite what her mother says, she was too practical of a person to believe in such nonsense like ‘Love at first sight’ but, I think I’ve mentioned somewhere in here that the girl is rarely right about her gut feeling.

Well, she still went for the next best thing which was...

“Nah... I just really like this guy's umbrella... Very, very much.”

They stood there and stared at each other for a full ten seconds before the boy decided to say something. That ‘something’ he had decided to say immediately drew her eyebrows together.

"Aren't you too old to be bumping into random people on the sidewalk?" He quietly asked as he stuffed one hand in his pocket, the other one adjusting its grip on the umbrella that the girl had been staring at since they bumped into each other. He noticed.

He also noticed that he wanted to bash his face against the brick wall just a few steps away.

“Way to go with not being rude.”

"No one is ever too old to bump into random people and shouldn’t I be asking you the same question if that was the case?" She retorted, slightly raising an eyebrow.

"Fair enough."

"Aren't you too old for uh... Polka dots?" She said and crossed her arms, not really sure as to why she was having this conversation with a strange boy in the middle of a side walk that was getting more crowded by the minute as the rain poured down on her and chilled her to the bone.

He grinned, "No one is ever too old for polka dots and shouldn’t I be asking you the same question if that was the case?"

"Oh, really now? How so?"

"You actually have them on your legs right now." He answered and gestured to her black and red tights, wondering why he was having this conversation with this weird girl in the middle of a side walk that was getting more crowded by the minute while the rain poured down on his favorite umbrella.

"Fair enough."

Silence fell over them but she didn't want to leave just yet and he didn't want her to go. It was complicated and yet, it was also not.

The numbing cold and her mother’s chastising voice echoing in her mind suddenly didn't matter to her; Newton, nitrogen nor his phone buzzing in his back pocket flooding with his tutor’s messages didn't matter to him. It was as simple as that and yet, it was also not.

Love at first sight?

The boy held his breath, “That… Makes no logical sense whatsoever.” he released the breath in one slow and awkward ‘whoosh’ “—and I think I’m fine with that.” but god forbid that he’d ever admit he had those thoughts or said those words to a complete stranger.

So, he went for the next best thing which was...

"That's a hideous shirt you have right there."

She crinkled her nose at him.

"That's John Lennon, from The Beatles."

Panic flooded his very core, “Wait, I said that out loud?”

Trying to cover up the slightest hint of a smile forming on her lips, she pursed her lips, “Yeah, you did.”

"I’m sorry, I don't know him... or The Beatles." He said sheepishly.

"That's just very odd and a little sad, don’t you think?" She feigned disappointment, but continued, “But… you see those clouds up there? Getting me wet with this rain and all...” The boy looked up, or at least tried to despite his big, blue umbrella.

"I don't know what kind of clouds those are."

"I personally find that just very odd and a little sad." He retorted with the barest hint of a smile on the corner of his lips and watched as the girl rocked back on her heels a bit, completely unbothered by her dripping hair, this small content smile on her face. He felt like asking for her name and he knew he would.

His thoughts that were going a mile per minute earlier were now at a halt and he found it to be a very calm and charming pitstop. As everyone rushed to hide away from the rain, afraid of getting wet, she just stood in the midst of it looking up at him.

It was all perfect, almost like a movie scene, this is where they ask for each other’s name and walk off together to share the umbrella and talk, no?

No. Yeah, no. Someone called before he could say something.

The girl quietly watched then nodded when he gestured to give him a second, pulled his phone out and answered the incoming call with knit brows. Worried that her gut feeling may have been right earlier, she felt extremely awkward standing there, listening to him talk in hushed tones and she all but ran when he ended the call with…

“Yeah, I love you too.”

She swallowed a lump in her throat, it felt dry even though she was soaked. “You know what, I think I have to – “

“I’m sorry, that was my mother.” He scratched at his nape and sheepishly showed her his phone screen. An elderly woman was standing beside him in the picture, a huge smile on both their faces and the words “World’s Best Mom” printed on a huge red umbrella that they shared.

"The umbrella I’m actually using right now is my mom’s," he continued then shrugged, “You know, I think I could tell you more about those ‘something’ clouds on a nice walk in the rain.”

She figured she wasn’t such a practical girl after all. "Well, I think I could tell you about John Lennon and the Beatles too... On a nice walk in the rain, yeah."

The boy suddenly closed his umbrella and within seconds he was soaked by the heavy rain, “I’d like that.”

The girl just stared at him, dumbfounded.

"What… are you doing? Now you're all wet, its cold."

"You see, I can’t really stop the downpour and sharing an umbrella wouldn’t make sense at this point. We’re either both wet or both dry, I don’t mind either but the latter is impossible, I think it’s that simple. Let’s go?"

She playfully rolled her eyes, “If we both get sick, I think it’d be a bit complicated, but let’s go.”

As they started walking side by side in the pouring rain, going in the opposite direction that most people were, the sidewalk packed with busybodies milling about, the girl was thankful that the clouds were not named ‘Something cotton-ball, whatever’; the boy didn't know who John Lennon was and didn’t know squat about who the Beatles were, he was very happy about that.

They were both young, cold, and soaking wet, they didn't know each other's names just yet and have known each other for a total of 5, dare I say 6 minutes and they were complete strangers to one another. It was just as simple and as complicated as that.

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A/N: This was quite long, but if you’ve read it until the end then thank you very much. If you just clicked on this to check it out, thank you too.