Wonderfully Private

"I liked the rain. It drove normal people indoors so outside it was wonderfully private." Lena finds out just how special rain can be.

I liked the rain. It drove normal people indoors so outside it was wonderfully private.

On rainy days, I’d take my favourite heavy coat and gumboots to school. I always walked home on these days, which annoyed my brother and sister to no end. They thought I was crazy.

“Lena!” my twin brother, Connor, called. “It’s like a monsoon out there! Would you just take the freaking bus like a normal person?”

I glanced out the window. “It’s not that bad.” The rain was heavy, but the trees weren’t being blown around too much. It was my kind of day.

My younger sister, Amber, rolled her eyes. “It’s horrible out there. Have you lost your mind?”

I probably did years ago. I’m not the sanest person out there. Of course, I didn’t say that.

“I’ll see you later, okay?” I said.

Amber touched my arm. “Maybe we should go with you. Dad won’t be—”

“I’ll handle Dad. Don’t worry about it.”

“But what if Jolene’s home?” Connor pressed. I paused for a moment, considering. Jolene was our stepmother and preferred to be called ‘Mum’. We rarely did. She tried to substitute, but she couldn’t replace our real mum.

“I’ll handle her after Dad,” I replied. “He’ll help if it looks ugly.”

Amber sniggered. “Ugly.”

“What?” I didn’t always understand Amber’s train of thought.

Amber rolled her eyes again and explained, “Jolene is ugly. What was Dad thinking?”

“Do you really want an answer?” Connor replied. We all had a giggle.

“All right.” I gathered my things and shoved them into my schoolbag. “I better start walking if I want to get back before dark.”

“It’s already dark,” Connor pointed out, having one of his trademark ‘Captain Obvious’ moments.

“I mean night dark. I’ll see you later, okay?” I span around on one foot and nearly skipped down the locker hall, which doubled as the main school corridor.

A random footballer stuck his foot out and tried to trip me. I just hopped over the offending appendage and kept going. I was in too good a mood to care.

“Bye, Lena!” one of Amber’s giggly friends called. I waved as I passed her on the way out the front doors.

The instant I stepped outside, ice-cold rain splashed into my face. I didn’t mind. Girls around me shrieked and ran for the undercover walkways. I kept walking in a straight line towards the gate.

The footpath was nearly a canal in this sort of weather, but that didn’t pose a problem for my gumboots. I sloshed through the wet, receiving quizzical stares from everyone else. They were all miserable and huddling under umbrellas, porches and any kind of shelter they could find.

Once I reached the turnoff for my preferred shortcut through the park, the world seemed to empty of everyone except me. The park was utterly deserted. World War Three could’ve broken out and I would have been none the wiser.

In the very centre of the enormous park, I stopped and stared upwards. The stormy sky was a shade of silvery grey and fat raindrops plummeted to the ground all around me. It was beautiful, and I was the only one willing to just look at it. Even as the rain fell into my eyes, all I did was blink it away. I was transfixed.

I felt like I was five years old again, Mum dressing me in a bright yellow raincoat. She had liked the rain too, when she was alive.

“There’s nothing to fear from the rain,” she told me once. Mum was beautiful. Her honey-brown hair fell around her face in gentle waves, and her eyes were almost the same colour. They glittered in the sun. Dad often said I looked just like her.

Through the gentle splattering sounds of the rain, I heard sloshes and splashes so ungraceful only another person could have made them. Who had come to disturb my solitude?

“There are easier ways to drown, you know,” said the intruder.

I whipped around to see Mathias Holt, his tall and broad frame dripping with water. He was in my year level and lived right next door. It was no secret that he wanted to ask me out, but I wasn’t one to jump into things. Up until recently, I’d hated his guts. Mat was loud, boisterous and had little respect for personal space…especially mine. He was good-looking, but impossible to shut up.

“Shouldn’t you be on the bus home?” I asked.

Mat shrugged. “Yeah, but so should you. Geez, this place is creepy. It’s like we’re the only two people on Earth.”

“Your very presence makes it creepy,” I replied. I still didn’t particularly like him.

Mat ignored the jab, like always. “I guess you’d like this place. You’re not big on your fellow human beings, are you?”

“You make it sound like I hate the world.”

“Yeah, that came out wrong.” Mat laughed. It was higher than normal, and had a hint of anxiety. He tended to do that whenever I spoke to him.

I pushed my drenched hair out of my face. “Come on, then. We’d better start walking.”

Mat grabbed my hand and led the way. I let him have that much.

Just when the park gate was in sight, Mat stopped and forced me to stop with him.

I sighed. "What now?"

He cleared his throat. “I—uh, probably won’t get another chance to do this, so…”

Mat took me by the waist and pressed his lips against mine. I tried to pull away but he was too strong. He held me tightly against him.

He moved his mouth away for a moment and I gasped in a breath, about to swear at him. I didn't get the chance.

Then, he was kissing me again. Funny thing happened this time, though. I was suddenly gripped by some primal urge I didn't know I had.

I pulled him closer to me and kissed him back. He was so warm...and a good kisser.

We stood there for a long time, wrapped around each other.

Finally, we broke apart. I nearly fell on my backside.

“Whoa,” Mat breathed.

“Yeah,” was all I could manage. My heart thudded in my chest.

Mat exhaled. “Well, I—I guess we should go.”

“Wait.” I gathered my wits. “We should go out sometime. I mean, it might not work…but who cares?"

“Are you asking me out?” Mat blinked, and it wasn’t because of the rain.

“Yeah, I guess. So? Answer me before I change my mind. Yes or no?”

“Hell, yes!” Mat seized me again and everything disappeared except him. I couldn’t even feel the rain.

Author's Note

I'm Aussie so some of the spelling is Australian, like I spell "Gray" as "Grey".

Reviews

[JohnL]

Stick with "Grey" - it's the better of the two though both are correct. As I am delighted to say is the rest of your writing - it shows an excellent knowledge of grammar and spelling but also care in choice and order of words.
The story- well I am sure you only mean it as a light-hearted piece with a fresh and wholesome look at today's youth. As such, it was delightful and augurs well for future writing. By the way, I love the rain too but don't want any tomorrow as I've organised a coach trip to the countryside for 50 elderly people. Imagine the story I'd get out of that on a day such as you describe!
John

[Essa G]

I like this story, well written and detailed :)

[RoughWaterJohn]

Very well done, thanks. The story has a good flow, you made me care about Lena early in the story and she staid in character and interesting throughout. Excellent!

[Nancy Lee Shrader]

Congrats on your wonderful first place story.

[Prateeksha Khot]

Its so sweet and beautiful, I liked it. And I have even added it to my library. What I liked about the story was the way it flowed. Totally smooth. I like witty dialogues and this one was full of them so i totally loved it!

P.S. : I LOVE GETTING WET IN THE RAIN TOO !

[Global Norskie]

This is really good! Kept me interested from beginning to end. I love rain too and everyone thinks I'm crazy because of it, so it's nice to see I'm not the only one (even though this character is fictional, hehe). Keep up the good work!

[Dev]

I'm not much into reading stories but this one caught my attention from the beggining !! very well written !!! :D

[Brandee D. Hack]

Wow. This is a lovely piece. I'm not much into reading stories, then I stumbled across yours. It's a grand piece very lovely. I wonder...were you the lass in this story?

Grand job though! Keep up the good work! :)

[macy]

awesome! another tied 4 top!!!!

[Gold Milan]

I love to walk through the rain, and I love your description of the main character's feeling on the rain.

[Colby]

I really liked this story and think you should continue it!