R a i n
By: Elsren (aka GodsChild86)

Tap... tap... tap... it took me a while to figure out it wasn't just me at my keyboard. That little droplets of water were cascading all over my windows, forming irredescent pearls of light - light that shone in hues of yellow and purple, and the occassional red from a passing car.

I leaned back and tilted my chair, my arms coming up above my head and then resting on the back of my neck. It was a cold night... rain had thundered down on my hair earlier that evening, while the wind whistled past my ears to try and catch my borrowed umbrella. That didn't stop me - I simply closed the thing and walked on.

I love walking in the rain.

I jump over puddles if I can, but if I can't, I walk right through them. It's wonderful - I usually have my boots on. I remember buying them at the department store, and telling my mom I really didn't want them. They are now my most used pair of shoes at school.

I stared outside the window. I could see no stars, and the tree that blocked what would have been a picturesque view of San Francisco hills appeared pitch black. The leaves parted here and there to reveal niches of light... the light of the city.

It would have been a great thought to settle my mind upon, but it had moved back to other things.

To the past.

To the present.

To him.

I remembered the days when I dreamed of walking in warm rain, with nothing but my clothes to shelter me from the drizzle. I would look up to the sky and see nothing but white - because the clouds would cover every inch there was. No blue sky... it wasn't hard to imagine. But actually finding that patch of sky was a different story.

I lived in California, a place famous for eternal sunshine. No snowing (except in Tahoe), and rain and hail only came in the winter months. Rain in California was always cold. Always.

But one summer, I travelled to the Philippines... someplace warm, at last. I had big dreams there too: seeing my family and relatives I hadn't seen in over 2 years, riding a tricycle and a Jeepney for the first time in 10 years, and making new friends at the program I had signed up to be with.

That's where I met him.

He wasn't Tita's kid, because he was her nephew. He was taller and older, and I didn't think much of it the first time I saw him. I just thought - wow... it's a guy. I hadn't really seen much of their species because I went to an all-girls school, and I brushed him off as someone I probably wouldn't get to know anyway.

But I did.

I think it started the day I got to know JR. For some odd reason, I was stuck in the same room as them, and I had nothing to do. We were waiting for someone else to say we would go somewhere... the mall maybe. Or maybe we had already turned it down and we were just hanging out. That may have been it. In any case, I was on the floor, JR was against the bed and on the floor, and he was on his stomach on the bed. They were closer together, and I was sitting as far as I could away from them without being impolite.

Somehow our conversation got around to relationships and love. I revealed that I was conservative and traditional, and a dateless wonder - no date, no boyfriend, no kiss. I was 17, and never been kissed.

They got a real kick out of that. They were both womanizers, after all. JR had had at least 10 girlfriends and he wasn't a virgin. He had had 7 girlfriends so far and he was only 19. I was... politely shocked. Personally, I didn't care.

I would care later on.

As the days wore on I found out he liked me. And for reasons unbeknownst to me I started to like him back.

There was one day... we both went out together, to a former squatter area, and we helped them out a little bit. Then he got tired. I was so ready to think of him as a wimp forevermore, but I didn't. We ended up sitting and talking, and playing with the kids there - which was actually really fun.

And when we went back, we at first took a tricycle.

Dream #1, crossed off the list.

And it was raining really hard then... I got wet on my right side because that was the side that faced the street.

Eventually we had to walk about 6 blocks to get to a Jeepney.

I walked in the rain with him.

No, we didn't hold hands, but he kept asking me if I was okay. And of course, with a big smile on my face, I kept saying yes. I never got cold. I was wet, and I loved every minute of it.

Dream #2, crossed off the list.

We got on the Jeepney soaking wet. We were travelling with 2 other girls, and we talked for a while. It got around to teasing, and he looked so cute when he was embarrassed.

After that, we walked a couple of blocks more to the nearest bus that would take us home. It was crowded, and we ended up sitting in the very back, right in front of the AC. And since it was crowded, my shoulder ended up sitting just under his... the closest I had ever been to him.

It was... comfortable. It felt good.

Eventually we were singing quietly to each other. Because he didn't know the tune to one of my favorite OPM songs, I had to sing some of it. And it went on like that for a while, until we both lapsed into a comfortable silence. I sat with him beside me... it was like I had sat there before, in just that position, so I just fit perfectly. Right there. He was warm. Neither of us seemed to have a care in the world, but I knew both of us were thinking... that that was a little weird for two people who had only gotten to know each other that day. We weren't that intimate yet, but somehow... it felt right.

This guy... he knew just what to do to sway me. He knew the things to say and when to say them, and he knew to probe just enough to get me to say something. He was a perfect gentleman... and I knew enough about my own culture that I knew he was courting me, and I didn't mind.

The quiet we sank into was tranquil. As if we both knew we didn't have to say anything to each other. The quiet was enough.

I stared out the window, totally at peace with the world. I had decided then that it was the most romantic day of my life. And then I had laughed at myself. Such ridiculous notions shouldn't be entertained by someone who had no chance.

Maybe there was, after all. But that's for another day.

And when he shook my hand that evening, he changed it... so that he was holding my hand instead.

Someone called my name.

I came out of my daydream and took my eyes off the window.

"Christine, why are you smiling like that?" my roommate asked.

"It's nothing."

I rested the chair's legs on the floor once more, turned my attention to the unfinished paper in front of me... and couldn't help but let my eyes drift outside to the rain.