Rain

She was awfully quiet on the way home from the party, but that could be because it was almost 2 AM and she was half sleep in the front seat. Nevertheless, I kept the radio low and my eyes on the wet road that led to her apartment  (it was hard to keep my eyes from creeping back to her silently beautiful figure). It wasn’t a long drive in reality, but the excess silence made it seem longer then it was, so I was quite glad (and yet saddened) when we entered the parking lot of the complex. I hated waking her; she always had this glow of serenity when she slept and it was comforting to watch, but I gently shook her shoulder anyway; knowing that she had to go home and sleep off the hours of drinking and carrying on we had went through. She rubbed her eyes, and smiled carefully. It seemed like there had been something troubling her tonight, but still she acted as though she was having fun, and being that I had known her almost my whole life, I could tell when she was putting on a façade just to keep those she cared about from worrying. She hated worriers, but loved her friends. Not to be one to rain on other people’s parades however, I didn’t press the subject, but ignored the distant look in her hazel eyes that happened when she was sitting alone with her thoughts. Bad things shouldn’t be brought up when there is fun to be had anyway. So she thanked me for the ride and promised to call when she was not sleep deprived and walked flaccidly up to the double doors of the building. I noted that the light in her apartment was on before she had reached it, but then again, she was never a fan of the dark. I lingered a few moments longer and from my beat up Nova I saw her walk past her sliding glass door and into the arms of him, who in his nobility, had waited up for her. I blinked a few times and prayed, like all the other times I had taken her home, that he really didn’t exist. I regained my nerves and began to drive away. Rides and phone calls and friendship, it never was enough for her. Loving her a lifetime, standing in the pouring rain and watching her from the glum safety of the parking lot, it wasn’t enough to win her over. In thoughtless aspiration, I abandoned the car and ran across the sidewalk and up the 3 flights of stairs to 38-B. She answered the door when I knocked, looking surprised and slightly annoyed (but this couldn’t wait until tomorrow-I had done enough procrastination to fulfill a lifetime of regrets). Before words could be said from either side of the doorway, I kissed her. Passion rushed through me like the rain that had began to fall outside: hard, fast, without limits or worries about the sadness it might bring to the sleeping man in the next room. She grabbed my hand and together we ran for the doors, she in her pajamas and me in a state of euphoria. We kissed, puddles gathering at our feet and water clinging to our eyelashes (maybe those were tears, I still don’t know) and it was perfection in its finest hour. But then she hugged me and said, “Thanks for the ride, see you next week”. I blinked, hands placed firmly on my steering wheel as she shut the door and walked towards the apartment building, never looking back. I drove away slowly after she was safely inside, with lingering thoughts of her as the rain began to fall. 1