LIKE RAIN

Leen Elle

LIKE RAIN

This Novel is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and events are products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or to events or locations is entirely coincidental.

Copyright © 2013 by
Leen Elle

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

No part of this book may be used or reproduced, in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews

Chapter
One

It was the fourth week of summer, hot and humid the way it always was in San Diego, California. But today there was a breeze in the air and the sky was gray with clouds. It was finally going to rain, about time too. We hadn't had any rain in almost a month, and the ground was starting to shrivel up.

This summer, unlike most summers which were over in an instant, was dragging by. My sister had already moved to New York where she was attending Columbia in the fall, Derek and I had broken up a couple weeks before school ended, and worst of all my best friend was gone.

It happened on the night of our very last day as sophomores. School was out and we were finally free after countless finals. I had just kicked my feet up and laid back on the couch, ready to enjoy a carefree summer at the beach or the mall with Maddy, when the phone rang. It was her mother telling me that she'd been in a car accident.

"What?" I'd said. "Is she okay?"

"No," she said through tears. "She's gone." Gone, I thought. How could she be gone? I had just seen her merely hours before at school. "See you tomorrow" was the last thing I'd said to her. I had no idea that was the last time I would ever see her alive.

I hung up the phone, threw on my shoes and walked out the door, heading up the street to Cael's house. He stood waiting in his open doorway like he knew I was coming. I stopped at the end of his driveway and just stared at him, trying to soak him all in; his sandy brown hair that hung over his face, his deep sky blue eyes, his tall, strong figure. There was no doubt that he was gorgeous.

He walked down his front steps and down the driveway towards me. He stopped directly in front of me, so close that I had to look straight up to see his face. "Maddy…..she-she," was all I managed to say before bursting into tears. I almost never cried, but when I did I really cried.

He immediately put his arms around me and drew me into a tight hug. "I know baby," he said. "I know." Baby, I thought. Weird, but he always called me that. We weren't going out or anything, never had. It was just what he always called me. And I didn't mind it. In a way it made me feel protected, but I always felt that way when I was with Cael.

Maddy had always been convinced that Cael and I would be the perfect couple. She tried desperately to push us together, but we always just remained friends, for one reason or another. I was never exactly sure why we were only friends except for the one explanation I always gave Maddy when she asked why I wouldn't date him. It would be weird.

Cael and I grew up together and had been best friends from kindergarten up until the 5th grade when Maddy moved in across the street and took his place. But that wasn't entirely true. She could never in a million years take Cael's place, but she was someone else to hang out with besides Cael so my spending time with him was split in half.

Maddy didn't buy my "it would be weird" explanation. The best couples start out as friends first, she'd always say. He doesn't like me that way, I'd tell her. But here I was lost in his arms, him there to save me at my first sign of weakness, and always my protector.

"Shhh," he cooed, while rubbing my back with one hand and his other hand running through my hair. "It's okay, it's okay." And the sky picked that moment to cry with me, and so it began to rain. "Come on, let's go inside," Cael said putting one arm tightly around my shoulder.

"No," I protested. "Let's stay out here."

"But it's raining," he said.

"I know. I love the rain." And so we sat outside on his front porch in silence, just feeling the cool raindrops on our skin, while the sky and I both shed our tears. It was funny how it always seemed to rain when you're sad, like the sky could somehow sense your sorrow.

Cael suddenly stood up and scooped me into his arms like I was a little kid. He walked out to the middle of the driveway and spun around, while kicking his feet through the puddles. Just moments ago I'd been crying and he already had me laughing.

"I see a smile," he said grinning at me. "It's good to see you smile." And then he just stared at me, for what seemed like forever, our eyes locked together. It was one of those silent, awkward moments when you know both of you want to lean in for a kiss, but you're each waiting for the other to make the first move.

Cael suddenly tore his eyes away from mine and looked up at the sky. "Drink the rain, Nevaeh," he said to me. I looked at him puzzled, but then opened my mouth and let the rain fall in. It was cool and moist on my tongue, and it was almost like being in heaven, laying there still in Cael's arms.

And now here I was sitting in the living room looking up at the cloudy, gray sky. Tiny water droplets began to fall, hitting the roof above me with a soft thud. I stood up and walked to the front door, stepping outside without bothering to put on shoes or a coat. I put my arms out, opened my mouth, and drank the rain.

Chapter
Two

Maddy had been beautiful. She'd had long, straight golden brown hair, intense green eyes, and a curvy figure that I was always jealous of. She rolled her eyes whenever I complained about my stick thin body and said that I wished I had her curves. "You've got little curves," she'd tell me. "Cute ones." And maybe that was true, but I didn't want cute ones. I wanted her hips and her 36C bust size.

But Maddy had been somewhat jealous of my looks too. She'd wanted my soft blonde curls, sparkling blue eyes, and porcelain skin. So in a way, it was even. I had the face, she had the body.

I didn't know what to do that summer. I walked around the yard aimlessly, wandering back and forth between my house and Cael's. But Cael was working that summer so he wasn't always home. I didn't have my driver's license yet. I was still only fifteen. Maddy and I had been so excited when she got her license a couple weeks before school let out. We were going to have so much fun driving to the beach, or to the mall, or wherever it was that we wanted to go. It was the first summer we were finally going to have some freedom. But the freedom was gone before we even had a chance to enjoy it. Maddy lost her life, and I was stuck here alone.

The house was quiet. My dad worked during the summer and my mom passed away when I was five. I didn't really remember much about her, but I could still hear the sound of her laugh going off in my head. My dad had been dating various women in the ten years since she'd died, but he hadn't yet found someone he wanted to settle down with. The quiet of the house was finally getting to me, and so I got up, slipped on my flip-flops, and walked out the door.

I walked up the street to Cael's house, which was basically the only place for me to go. I wondered if he'd be working, but when I reached his house there he was, sitting on the front porch steps, soaking up the sun. He smiled when he saw me.

"Hey baby," he said as I sat down next to him. "What are you up to today?"

I shook my head. "Nothing. I don't know what to do."

"Well, I'll take you somewhere," he offered.

"Like where?"

"Like the beach."

"Okay," I said. And so I got back up and walked home. I threw on my bikini, shorts and a tank top over it, and grabbed my beach bag. It was already pre-loaded with a towel, sun screen, sun glasses, and money for the snack bar. I had been all ready to spend the summer at the beach with Maddy.

I heard the honking of Cael's convertible in my driveway, so I scribbled down a note for my dad and was out the door. The sun was fierce and the sky was clear and blue. I hopped into the passenger side of the car and we were on our way. It was only about a 15 minute drive to the beach from where we lived in the center of San Diego. I rolled down my window and let the breeze hit my face.

I switched on the radio to find "I Will Survive," mine and Maddy's theme song, was playing. Cael looked at me with worried eyes, like I was a bomb that could explode at any second. I glanced at him out of the corner of my eye. The song had been our trade mark. We listened to it at every sleepover and requested it at every dance. I switched off the radio and leaned back in my seat, heaving a sigh and fighting to blink away my tears. It wasn't working. I turned to look out the window in attempt to hide the tears from Cael. He seemed to have sensed this.

"It's okay you know, "he said," to cry." I turned to face him, tears already streaking my face.

"I never cry," I said, my voice shaky.

"Yeah, I know that's right. The last time I saw you cry was in the 4th grade when I hit you in the nose with that football." I laughed between sobs. "But it doesn't make you weak."

"I know," I said, "but I don't like to cry. When my mom died that's all my dad ever did. I hated seeing him that way, so I've always tried not to."

"But it's good to cry," he told me. "It's how you grieve. If you don't everything just gets bottled up inside you."

"Do you ever cry?" I asked him.

"Yeah, even guys cry," he said laughing. I smiled.

"I miss her," I said sadly.

"I know you do baby," he said, gently squeezing my hand. "So do I." We pulled into the parking lot at the beach. I grabbed my beach bag, and we got out of the car. We found an available spot and laid our towels down. I took off my tank top and shorts and caught Cael looking at me the way Maddy always said he did but I had never noticed until now. Lust, she called it. He tore his eyes from me when he noticed I was looking at him.

"Come on," he said, standing up and walking towards the water. I followed after him, and he broke out into a run. I chased him into the water where he stopped, picked me up by my waist, and ran further out into the ocean. Once we were at a deeper location he dropped me into the water. I felt the cool water rush over my body and my face. I stayed under for a while, then came up for air.

Cael stood grinning at me when I came up to the surface. I threw my head back, laughing. We stayed in the water a while longer, walking out deeper. Once the water was up to my chest the waves were crashing up over my head. Cael picked me up and held me above the waves. He was a lot taller than me. I was just barely 5'4, while he was teetering over 6'3. I held my arms tight around his neck as he held me out of harms way, keeping me safe just as he always did.