A/N: Hello, Monica here... Uhm so this story was supposed to be posted last summer, since that's when I finished it, but I couldn't think of a good summary (still can't)/ I was lazy, thus this story is up uh now.. This was something I just experimented with; the writing style and such is def not something I'm used to. But anyways, I know we haven't updated in like forever... It's cause we don't meet up much anymore, and uh yea...
Enjoy?
Almost Rainy Days and Watercolours
She is an artist, or at least, she likes to think she is. An artist who draws with markers and paints with watercolours, she is an artist who likes to express herself with wavy strokes and blurred lines.
He is a typical business man. Many of his business trips has concluded him to be nothing special, doing things that other business men as himself do for a living. He lives a boring life, one filled with streaks of grays and blacks, a life without much colour.
On sunny days, she doesn't paint. Instead, she takes a walk in the park, looking at how all the colours of nature compliment each other, and how happy it all looks. Then she goes home, takes out her markers and watercolours, and attempts to paint what she thinks is happiness.
He is seldom home, and when he is, all he does is sleep. He hates his house, always lonely and sad, so he doesn't stay for long. He feels like he's drowning in syrup, it's sticky and hard to move in, and he wishes someone would throw him a rope to hold onto.
She has always been like the rain. Her movements are soft, her presence is calming, and she never lingers in one place too long. She likes to move around a lot, and she says that helps fuel her imagination for her artwork. She is simple. With her markers and watercolours, she produces simple images of small minute things that no one would notice unless they tried.
Cold and hardworking are two of the many words people use to describe his personality. He is often reserved to himself, not opening up to someone unless he has absolute trust in them. He is what you would call a lone wolf, only focused on his own personal goals, not caring what others think about him, always separated from the "group." He is complex. With constant thoughts of random things in his mind, and the worry for his grey future, he ponders about anything and everything that goes his way.
She loves the park. With its bright but calming atmosphere, she feels it's the perfect place for inspiration to occur. She loves the mornings, with its orange and red hues blending with the blue and white in the sky, and she feels it's the perfect time of day to let go of the past and look forward to the future.
He loves drinking tea. It warms him and relaxes him, and he feels complete when he has his daily drink of tea at the end of a very long day. He loves the evenings, where everything is complete and calm and he can go to sleep knowing that everything is just as it should be.
She is at the park, walking on the grassy hill overlooking the city. She is looking at the trees, with its various shades of green, when she sees streaks of lightning in the sky. Taking her purse, she holds it above her head and runs towards the bus shelter before the rain comes pouring out from the sky. She is halfway there before the wind surges, reminding her how close the storm is. She runs faster, and manages to reach the safety of the shelter just as soon the thunder arrives.
He is at work, in the safety of his little office, dealing with matters that were really of no importance. Stretching, he looks outside the window at the wonderful view of the city. He stands up and puts the pile of documents to one side of his desk. He grabs his jacket from the back of his chair, and heads for home, deciding that a bath is the first thing he needs. Just before he reaches the bus shelter, he sees the lightning; a sure sign a storm is brewing. He slips inside the shelter just as a strong gust of air blows around him. He is there for two minutes before a frantic woman runs inside, breathing heavily as the thunder strikes.
She gasps and leans against the wall of the bus shelter catching her breath before turning around and calmly breathing in and out. She shakes herself slightly and notices there is someone else in the bus shelter other than her. She squeaks in surprise and smiles sheepishly, "Sorry, didn't see you there. I hope I didn't startle you."
He tries to hold in his laugh, but fails and ends up letting out a small chuckle of amusement. "I'm perfectly fine," he smirks at her crazed expression, "although I can't say the same for you."
She sighs and stares up at the sky, "I hope it doesn't rain."
"It won't."
She turns to look at him, puzzled by his certainty, "How can you tell?"
He smirks and points to his nose, "I can smell rain. And right now, I don't smell any."
She quirks an eyebrow at him and smiles. What a strange person this man was.
Their conversation ends there, and they wait in silence for the bus, both eager to get home, away from the loud cracks of thunder and whips of wind that engulf the city.
-x-
Their second meeting happens to be at a party hosted by a mutual friend. She arrives at the party dressed in an elegant black dress that reaches her mid thighs with a white frilly strap, with her chestnut coloured hair in soft curls, and makes her way to her friend smiling and nodding her head at those who greet her. "Elisa!" she calls and taps her friend on her shoulder.
Elisa turns and smiles widely. "Rina! Glad you could make it today."
Rina nods and she notices the man behind Elisa. They must've been having a conversation before she came. Mentally scolding herself for not paying attention earlier, she finishes greeting her friend and heads into the crowd, looking for some food to eat.
He is wearing a suit, like any other day, his black hair somewhat dishevelled as always, as he arrives at the birthday bash his friend Elisa invited him to. He arrives, and takes in all the colours and lights, and proceeds to find Elisa. It's only proper to greet the host of the party. He sees many people he does not know, but that would be a given, considering how anti-social he was. After a while, he spots her and taps her on the shoulder. They exchange greetings, and he is about to ask where he should put the birthday present, when a young woman appears and takes Elisa's attention.
He waits patiently; after all, that's what he does best. He inspects the person that was talking to Elisa. She is the same person he met at the bus shelter a week ago. He watches her as she finishes her conversation with Elisa and heads back into the crowd. "Alex," he turns his attention back to Elisa and gives her a questioning look, "You were about to ask me something."
"Oh," he tries to remember what he was going to ask her. Oh yes, the present. "Where do I put this?" He holds up a small gift-wrapped box.
"I'll take it." Elisa takes the box from his hands. "I'll put this away. Why don't you go grab some food?" She turns away from him and he is left standing by himself.
Following Elisa's suggestion, he heads out and looks for the table filled with food. He soon spots it; it's the one with the piles and piles of meat, but he also sees her. The girl he met on that almost rainy day, the girl that somehow knew Elisa and ended up at this party. She's awfully small, he thinks, and decides she needs to eat more meat.
With that in mind, he walks over to her and tells her, "You're very tiny. I think you should eat more. How's dinner Friday night?"
She is confused and sort of pissed; but more confused. Who was this guy and why was he telling her to eat more, and why was he inviting her to dinner? She continues to stare at him while trying to make sense of everything in her head.
He is nervous. Maybe he should have talked to her first, he thinks. He is thinking of something to say in order to make her stop staring, when she talks, "Who are you?"
She doesn't remember, and he is kind of offended. He remembered who she was, so she should've done the same.
"Well, if you're just going to stand there without speaking, I'll just get some more food."
He snaps his attention back to her and nods, "Uh, yea, sure."
He watches her walk away, mentally slapping himself for saying something so rude to someone that didn't even remember him.
She comes back a moment later with a plate full of fruit and dessert, "Do you think this is enough to eat?" she asks, amusement dancing in her eyes.
He stares blankly and eventually nods, "I guess so."
They stand in silence as she slowly munches on her plate of yummy goodness.
An hour passes, with both doing nothing; just standing without a word.
The clock strikes 11, and she puts down her empty plate on a passing tray.
"I think I'm going to leave now," she says and heads for the door.
"What a coincidence. I was just about to leave too," he chuckles and follows behind her. Outside, it is dark and pouring, "Uh oh, I didn't bring my umbrella."
She looks up at him from the corner of her eye and takes out her umbrella, "Would you like to share?"
He is surprised. He looks down at her and smiles gently. "That'd be great."
She opens up her umbrella, and they head out together.
The wind blows savagely, and she almost loses her hold on her umbrella.
"I'm sorry, did you get wet?" She asks and looks up at him worriedly.
"I'm perfectly fine. Although I can't say the same for you," he smirks and looks down at her.
She stares at him. She's heard that before. Then she remembers. The almost rainy day at the park, the man she met under the bus shelter.
"Oh," she says and smiles sheepishly.
He laughs, "Finally you remember."
She blushes and nods.
"Do you have a ride home?" He asks.
She shakes her head, "I was going to bus."
"I have my car today," he motions to the parking lot, "Would you like a ride?"
She smiles, "That'd be wonderful."
-x-
She sits in front of her easel the next morning, holding up a paintbrush to the already painted on canvas.
Then, very slowly, she produces soft strokes of blue all over; enough to make it seem as if they coiled around the greens and yellows on the canvas.
This, she thinks, is his image. The warm blues covering, protecting the thin streaks of green and yellow. So kind and caring, so comfortable. She sits back and stares at the canvas. She starts to dip the paint brush in red paint, when her phone rings.
"Hello?"
"Rina! It's Elisa. Are you free tomorrow night?"
"Of course. Is there something wrong?"
Elisa chuckles over the phone, "Oh no, someone wanted to see you really badly."
She furrows her eyebrows. Why didn't this person just call her themselves?
"Rina? Are you there?"
She snaps her attention back to the person she was on the phone, "Oh, yes, I'm still here."
"So tomorrow at 6, at that Italian restaurant in front of your condo. Is that okay with you?"
"Actually Elisa," she starts to pace, "I'm not going to go to anything unless I know who it is that wants to meet me."
"That," Elisa pauses, "is a secret! Don't worry your pretty little head, he's a good guy!"
"So it's a guy," she sighs, "Elisa, thanks for the offer, but I'm fine being single right now."
"Rina, I'm not trying to play matchmaker again. He requested that he meet you tomorrow, and seeing as I know the both of you, I decided to help him."
"But Eli-,"
"No buts darling. Have fun tomorrow. And if I hear that you were a no show, I'll start playing matchmaker again!"
She puts down the phone and stares out her window overlooking the tall buildings of the city. Elisa is so predictable, she thinks, always wanting to set her up with someone. She sighs exasperatedly, but deep inside, she is sort of looking forward to her dinner date.
She chuckles and sits back down at her easel, and picks up her brush, one more time.
-x-
She walks into the small, cozy Italian restaurant at exactly 6 pm, on the dot. She looks around the place to see if, perhaps, the man that wants to meet her is someone she knows. She looks around the restaurant some more, but everywhere she looks seems to be an unfamiliar face. She sighs and turns around, considering just leaving and heading home before it gets any darker.
He spots her as she heads inside. He smiles and makes a mental note to give a big thank you gift to Elisa for setting this up. He stealthily makes his way inside and stands a foot away from her. He sees her looking around, and before he could speak, she sighs and whirls around.
She jumps in surprise, he smiles and waves, "Well hello there."
"Uh… uhm," she stares up at his face in surprise. She is at a loss for words, but she decides a simple 'hi' should do, "hilo."
He cocks one eyebrow up and smirks as she flushes in embarrassment.
"I mean, hello!" She splutters, "Or hi, I guess. I mixed the two words together. I meant to say hi, but then hello came out so it got mixed…" She stops to take a breath and notices that he's smirking at her.
"You're rambling."
She sighs, "I know. I'm sorry, I have this terrible habit of changing my mind last second with words, and it just jumbles together," she pauses and sighs again, "And I'm rambling again, aren't I?"
He lets out a soft laugh and nods.
She smiles and motions to the general area of the tables in the restaurant, "Shall we sit?"
-x-
"I'll pay."
He looks up from the pasta he was spooning in mild surprise.
"For the dinner, I mean." She is looking down at her plate of food, not yet meeting his eyes.
He chuckles, "You say the most absurd things."
She looks up and frowns, "I meant that, you know."
"I know."
She continues to frown at him, "So you'll let me pay?"
He gives a slight smirk and leans forward, resting his chin on his right hand, "What do you think my answer to that will be?"
"Uh… yes?"
He just smiles and continues to eat. She frowns at his silence but continues to eat as well.
After their meal, the first thing they do is argue.
"I said I'd pay." She insists and tries to grab the bill first.
Having longer arms, he manages to take the bill before she can even reach it, "And I say no."
She huffs but stays quiet. He's already pulled out his card and handed it to the waiter.
She watches as he takes the card machine from the waiter. She has a slight tingly feeling inside; if described in colours, it'd be flashes of reds and yellows. Sort of like fireworks. Not butterflies, though. This one's a stronger feeling.
He looks up and catches her staring at him. He gives her a small smirk as he finishes paying for their dinner.
"Can't stop staring at my face, eh?" He teases, "Or do I have something on it?"
She blushes and quickly looks down at her lap, "I wasn't staring."
He chuckles and quirks an eyebrow at her. "Of course you weren't." She continues to stare down, refusing to meet his eyes. He sighs. Girls who couldn't take a joke weren't really his type, but he'd make an effort. After all, it was far too long since he had someone to talk to.
"How does a walk sound to you?"
She looks up at him in mild surprise, and nods. "A walk sounds nice."
-x-
Their stroll leads them to the park. This is the general area of where they first met.
He tries to hold a long conversation with her, but she seems a bit too shy and somewhat reluctant to talk.
She notices him stumbling over his words, asking her about weird things; he's making an effort to talk to her. She feels bad for cutting answers short, not saying much. He makes her nervous and her usually bubbly attitude seems to be dormant tonight.
"I just realized," she looks up at him. Maybe this time she will hold his conversation. "I never got your name."
She stays silent for a second, before laughing out loud. "You asked Elisa to get me to have dinner with you without even knowing my name?"
"Well you don't know mine either!" he retorts and stops her in the middle of their walk. "Let's start over." He puts his hand in front of him. "Hi, my name is Alex. What's yours?"
She smiles and puts her hand in his. "Rina. Nice to meet you, Alex."
She hopes this person will stay in her life for a while. She also hopes that he will ask her out on a second date.
"Well Rina, how does a movie next Friday sound?"
She smiles and nods. The fireworks are back again.
-x-
Their second date at the movies goes well, and so does their third date, and their fourth. By the time their fifth date comes around, she makes a mental note to stop counting.
A month into their relationship, she finally invites him over to her house.
She gives him a small tour, and out from the corner of her eye, she spots her covered canvas sitting alone by her window.
"Here, I want to show you something." She takes him by the hand and leads him to her easel; the one that has her most recent work.
"A painting?" he rubs his chin with his hand and squints at the covered canvas.
She giggles and lifts the white sheet on the easel. "Tada!"
"It's…" he struggles to find the right words to describe the mess that is in front of him. "blue." He continues to squint to try to make sense of the picture.
She frowns a bit, but she kinda figured he wouldn't be able to get it. After all, he wasn't a very artsy person. She sighs, "This is supposed to be you, silly!"
He stares, "That's supposed to be me?"
"Yes."
"That looks nothing like me," he is confused, "that's just streaks of paint!"
"Figuratively, Alex. Not literally," she follows the path of the blue with her finger, "see? The blue covers the yellow, which is me. You're protecting me. Keeping me safe."
He quirks an eyebrow, "You want me to protect you?"
She shrugs, "Every girl needs a knight in shining armour."
He chuckles and ruffles her hair. He does a slight bow, "Well, princess, I am honoured to serve you."
She laughs and gives him a hug, "Alex, have I ever told you how awesome you are?"
"I know."
"Oh, arrogant, are we?" she giggles.
She is about to say something more, when the sound of thunder startles her thoughts.
"Scared, are we?" he asks in a teasing manner.
She scoffs, "no way. It's just… loud."
He hugs her tightly and gives her a kiss on the cheek. "Don't worry, I'll protect you."
She lightly hits him and laughs, "Oh please, I never said I wanted a knight 24/7"
Another clap of thunder makes her hug him tighter.
"Will it rain?"
He lifts his head and starts to sniff the air. "Maybe in an hour or so."
"I still don't understand how you can tell." She rolls her eyes but doesn't get out of his embrace.
It was a good thing they met, she thinks. Their first meeting that started off with one almost rainy day, progressing like watercolours on a canvas; gliding and dripping, and hopefully, never ending.
A/N: -insert blurb- I can't think of much to say ._. Please comment?