The rain. It always ended with the rain.

Marilyn watched the taillights of her father’s car getting smaller and smaller in the distance, thinking, It figures. The other times were no different.

Every time something went wrong in her life (which, she thought, seemed to be quite often), it was raining. Take her mother’s funeral, for instance; it had been raining cats and dogs that day. They ended up postponing the actual burial until the ground had a chance to dry.

She wondered what had gone wrong this time. Only a few hours earlier she had been at home, doing homework that she had neglected for so long. Now, here she was, standing on this street corner in the rain, hoping that the city bus still ran this late in the evening.

“You’re a worthless piece of shit, that’s what you are.” She covered her ears, willing the voice to go away. Ever since she had gotten in the car, the conversation had started endlessly looping her head.

“You don’t understand!”

“Oh, I understand perfectly well. I have a daughter who is failing school and is becoming an alcoholic.”

“I’ve never had a drop of alcohol in my life!” she had screamed at him.

“Oh yeah? What about that party out at Missy’s the other night? It was on the radio this morning; four girls and two guys got arrested for drunk driving. That’s six people, Mari!”

“Don’t call me that. Besides, I didn’t go to the party. I was up in my room the entire night on the phone with Hayden. Maybe if you hadn’t been so stoned you would’ve noticed.”

“Get in the car!”

She wanted to cry every time she replayed that scene in her mind. Not only had she been accused of drinking, but he had called her Mari. Nobody but her mom and Hayden had ever called her that.

Just when she had given up hope on the bus, two gleaming white lights pulled around the corner, rolling to a stop right in front of her. “Where does this route go?” she asked the driver.

“Down this street, right on Collin Avenue, left on Harper; last stop is at the coffee shop just before Turner.”

“Okay.” She figured, if nothing else, she could walk from Harper Street to Hayden’s house. It wasn’t that much farther away.

She paid the fare and was grateful that, since there were only a total of five people on the bus anyway, she got her choice of a seat.

She slipped into the very back seat, throwing her three bags and backpack down on the seat beside her. “Running away?” a voice asked.

She looked up into the face of a boy not much older than she was; 19 at the most, she guessed. “No. I was thrown out.” She didn’t have any reason to lie.

“Oh, that sucks. Name’s Mark,” he said, offering his hand over the seat.

She shook it quickly. “Marilyn.”

“Like Monroe?”

“Yeah, I guess.” Where the heck did that come from? She didn’t think anyone had ever compared her to the famous Marilyn Monroe before. She wondered vaguely if that was a compliment.

He shook a strand of his unruly, curly hair out of his eyes. “So, where’s your stop?”

“Well, I’m getting off at Harper. I’m walking over to Brownlee from there.”

He whistled lowly. “That’s a bit of a walk, isn’t it?”

She shrugged. “I don’t really have a choice.”

He shook his head. “Well, if you’ll get off at Turner instead, I can drive you over there.”

For a split second she considered it. It was at least five blocks over to Hayden’s house, probably more. But then she remembered that she had no idea who this kid was, or even if she could trust him. She shook her head. “No, thanks, I think I’ll just walk.”

“Are you sure?”

She groaned inwardly. He was being incredibly sincere about it, but she still wasn’t sure she could trust him. Her mother had taught her better than that. “I’m sure.” She glanced up. “Well, this is my stop.” She started to gather her things.

He handed her one of her bags. She took it from him, hesitating for a moment. There was something about him... But no, she was probably just imagining things. Besides, she needed to get to Hayden’s house and soon. “It was nice meeting you,” she called over her shoulder.

She stepped out into the rain and turned to watch the bus pull away. As it rounded the corner, she thought she saw, through rain-splattered windows, a hand raised in farewell. She shook her head and begun walking.

An hour later she was tossing rocks at Hayden’s second story window. If she hadn’t been so tired and cold, she would’ve probably found the whole situation quite comical. It reminded her of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. Thankfully the rain had slackened, but she was soaked to the bone anyway, so she didn’t even really notice.

“What the hell are you doing, Mari?” Hayden’s shaggy-haired head appeared in the window.

“Can you let me in?” she asked.

He rolled his eyes. “Yeah. Normal people knock on the door, you know.”

Before she could answer, he disappeared from the window. She smiled. “Romeo, Romeo, where for art thou?” she whispered, then walked around to the front of the house. A light flickered on in the foyer and Hayden opened the door. “Couldn’t you have put on some clothes?” she asked, joking.

He glanced down at his jeans. “What, a pair of pants isn’t good enough for you? It’s not like you haven’t seen me in less, anyway.”

It was true. Usually he went around his house in just boxers. “I was kidding,” she assured him.

He grinned. “I know.” He looked down at the bags sitting around me and his grin vanished. “Um, Mari? What happened? What is all of this stuff?”

She sighed. Now the questions would begin. “Can I just crash at your place for a while? I’ll explain later.”

“Of course. You know you don’t have to ask.” He reached for one of her bags. “Here, let me help you.”

“Thanks,” she replied, grateful for the help. She had thrown just about everything she owned into those three bags and they were kind of heavy.

As she stepped into Hayden’s house, she felt like she had come home. His house always had the air of the perfect home. It was always clean (except his room; that usually looked like a tornado had been through it) and smelled something like fresh baked apple pie. Before she could even get a foot in the door, Hayden’s dog Max was on her.

She giggled, petting the beagle on his head and scratching behind his ears. “I missed you, too, Max.”

Hayden laughed. “Come on upstairs. My parents are gone out of town on a business trip and Jake’s fast asleep.”

She followed him up the stairs to his room. As he shoved the door open with one foot, she saw that it was as messy as always. The stereo in the corner of his room was quietly playing Linkin Park’s Leave Out All the Rest, his TV turned off. Various clothes and books were scattered all over the floor, along with CD cases, shoes, pencils, and empty chip bags.

“Excuse the mess,” he said. He said it every single time she came over, out of simple politeness. “You know where the shower is, if you’d like to use it.”

She nodded and threw her bags down on the floor next to the wall. “I think I need one.”

“I’d say so.”

She punched him lightly in the arm. “Jerk.”

“Do you want anything to eat?”

“Oh, the jerk does know to be nice!” She giggled. “Yeah, I’m starving. I haven’t eaten anything since this morning.”

“You mean yesterday morning,” he corrected, nodding towards the clock.

She groaned. “It’s 3:21 in the morning? Oh, lord, I’m sorry for waking you up.”

He shrugged. “It’s okay, I wasn’t asleep. I’ve been working on a report that’s due tomorrow... er, today.” He scratched his head, thinking. “If you want the bed, you can have it. I don’t think I’m going to be getting much sleep tonight.”

She smiled. “Thanks, Hayden.”

“Hey, it’s no problem, really. Now, go take a shower before that water permanently soaks into my carpet.”

“Oh, crap, sorry!” she exclaimed, dashing to the bathroom.

“It’s okay!” he called after her. “I was just kidding!”

* * * * * *

Marilyn stepped out of the shower, wrapping a towel around her. She looked around. “Darn it, I forgot my other clothes,” she muttered under her breath. Oh well; it was like Hayden hadn’t seen her in a towel before.

She walked back down the hall to his room where Check Yes Juliet was now playing over the speakers, louder than before. “Hey! Think you could turn it down a little so I can hear myself think?” she said, despite the fact that it wasn’t loud at all.

He spun around in his computer chair to face her. He whistled. “Look who’s being all sexy tonight!”

She rolled her eyes. “Oh, come on, Hayden, this is about as sexy as you wearing just boxers in front of me.”

He grinned. “I know. I was kidding.”

“You do that a lot, I’ve noticed. Can I borrow some clothes?”

“You don’t have some in any of these bags?” he asked, feigning shock.

“It’s all school clothes. I don’t have anything to sleep in.”

He stood up. “Yeah, I think I can find something for you to wear.”

While she waited for him to dig through his closet to find her some clothes, she pulled on her underwear, wrapping the towel back around her quickly. He may have seen her in a towel before, but naked was a completely different story.

He tossed her a pair of jeans and a Three Days Grace t-shirt. “Don’t worry; they’re clean.”

She laughed. “That’s nice to know.”

He went and sat back down at his computer and she pulled on the clothes. She was lucky that he was so close to her size. She tossed the towel on the floor. “So, are you going to tell me what happened?” he asked, still typing away at his report.

“Can we just talk about it in the morning?” she begged.

“It is morning,” he arguing, spinning to face her.

She rolled her eyes. “You knew what I meant.”

He stood up and crossed the room, wrapping his arms around her in a tight embrace. “I’m sorry,” he mumbled in her ear. “You don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to.” He pulled back from her. “I know I sometimes push things a bit too far; this is probably one of those times. I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay, really.” She sat down on the end of the bed. “I promise I’ll tell you everything tomorrow.”

“Do you want to go to lunch with me tomorrow? I was thinking about going down to Taco Bell.”

She nodded. “Yeah. Then I don’t have to worry about half the school population listening in on our conversation.”

“Okay. Well, I’ll let you get some sleep. You could probably use it.”

She nodded. “Goodnight, Hayden.”

“’Night.” He went back to his report.

She climbed into the bed, breathing in the scent of his sheets, happy that she was no longer cold and wet. The last thought that ran through her mind before she went to bed sounded more hopeful than she felt.

I want to stay like this forever.