I watched intently as the rain droplets pounded rhythmically against the screen of the window. Sighing heavily, I allowed the concept I had been hiding from to finally sink in. Clearly, she just didn’t care. I was nothing to her. Obsolete. Like, a...like a what? Ugh. Like her boyfriend apparently.

Rising quickly from my seat, I walked to the door, placing my hand on the doorknob, unable to decide what to do. If I took a walk, where the hell would I go? And, the rain? “Oh, well.” I said aloud, sighing as I walked outside. A wet mixture of swift wind and rain drops chilled me immediately, sending shivers straight up and down my spine. Already my jeans and white T-shirt were harboring a decent amount of water, and I hadn’t been outside but a moment. I walked towards the road, and as soon as the bottoms of my shoes hit the slick pavement, they started some sort of incessant squeak fest.

“God,” I mumbled to myself, “I’m such a freakin’ moron. I should’ve known that she didn’t...” I couldn’t even say it; but, inside I knew she didn’t. She was just like the rest of them. She didn’t love me; and it took eight months for me to realize this. Eight months for me to fall madly in love with someone I’d met completely at random.

_______

Nick walked out into the parking lot of the mall, immediately spotting a cute brunette with what appeared to be car trouble. The hood on her deep blue car was raised and she was leaning over looking into it. “Need some help?” He asked, walking to her. She looked towards him, her deep green eyes meeting his blues.

“I guess I could use a little help,” she laughed lightly.

He approached the vehicle, setting his bags down onto the concrete of the Mall‘s parking lot. She watched him closely as he leaned over, inspecting the unfamiliar metal objects under the hood. “This would be the point in the cartoon where the main character has a huge, bold question mark above his head,” he laughed as he backed away from his inspection.

“Oh, you don’t know what’s wrong with it either?”

“I’m not really the mechanic-type guy. I just thought I’d come over here and at least pretend to know what’s going on. Never hurts to try to help someone.”

“That’s really sweet,” she said smiling in gratitude, “I really appreciate your trying to help.”

“I feel bad though, ya know? Not being able to do anything about it. If you need to get somewhere, I can take you there.”

“Oh, no,” she spoke quickly, “You don’t have to do that.”

“It’s no problem, really. And it’ll help me make up for not knowing anything about cars,” a smile played on his lips as his bright blue eyes twinkled.

“Well,” she began, weighing her options. “You do owe me. For false advertisement, I mean,” she said impishly.

“I’m Nick,” he said, offering his hand.

They shook hands, “Julie,” she replied.

Nick leaned down, picking up his bags as well as hers, “My car’s over here,” he said, walking just a few cars away to where his green Durango sat.

“Oh, I like this,” she said, taking a nice look at and even into his vehicle. “It’s quite nice.”

“Thanks,” he said, popping open the trunk and placing their bags gently inside. “So where do you live exactly?” He asked, as he unlocked and opened her door.

“Oh, I live on Orange Grove,” she said, getting inside. She watched as Nick made his way to the driver’s side, unlocked his door and got inside quickly.

“Orange Grove?” He asked, fastening his seat belt. “Hmm...” he pondered as he stuck his keys in the ignition. “Yeah, I think I know where that is. It’s not too far from where I live.”

The entire drive to her home, Nick tried getting more information from her - was she in college? - did she have a boyfriend? - what kind of music did she listen to? - had she always lived in Florida? Some of the answers she gave we quite vague, pretty much just one or two word answers, and Nick took it that she either wasn’t comfortable around him, or didn’t like him. Maybe it was a combination of both? He found out that 1. “No,” she wasn’t in college; 2. “No," she didn’t have a boyfriend; 3. “Rock,” was her preferred style of music. 4. “No,” she hadn’t always lived in Florida. And when asked where else she had lived, she said she was originally from North Carolina. He could barely get anything else out of her.

“Which house is it?” He asked, driving slowly down the street.

“It’s the house with the blue shutters; 154.”

He pulled into the driveway, put the car in park, and looked in her direction, if perhaps to wait for further instruction.

“Thanks so much for the ride, Nick. I really do appreciate it.”

“It’s no problem; I’m sorry again that I couldn’t help you out with your car.”

She smiled, “Well, you’ve helped me plenty anyway, so don’t worry about it.”

“Do you want me to get your bags?” He asked, opening his door and hopping out quickly. She got out as well and followed him to the back of the car.

“Well, it looks like you were going to anyway,” she laughed as she watched him locate which bags were hers, and then shut the trunk, following her up to the door. He wanted to come inside, just to talk a while and get to know her a little better...but if she didn’t ask, he decided he wasn’t going to push it. After she unlocked the door, he handed her the bags. “Thanks again, Nick. Maybe I’ll see you around sometime?”

“Yeah,” he smiled nervously, backing away from the door. “See ya.”

He thought that was the end of it. Early the following morning, however, he began rummaging through his bags and found that one of them was hers, meaning she had to have at least one of his bags. What luck! He could go back to her house and not look like a stalker! So he did just that.

Walking up to the door nervously, he knocked. After a few moments, Julie came to the door wearing a small tank top and oversized pajama bottoms. “Nick?”

“Um, you left this in my trunk,” he said taking a moment to eye her ensemble.

“Oh, thanks. Hey, c’mon inside, I’ve got some of your valuables as well.”

“Valuables?” He asked, walking into her living room. He decided to wait in there as she located his belongings, since he thought it was unlikely he’d have the opportunity to stay long.

“Yeah,” she called from another room, “I found some weird video games in one of the bags, and I knew immediately they had to be yours, especially since I was missing some wonderful pajamas,” she laughed.

“Man, I looked into one of those bags, and when I saw that, I was like, ’what the hell - I didn’t buy this!’”

“I thought the same thing,” she said, emerging from an unknown room.

She handed him the bag, “Well, I guess I’ll be going then,” he said, turning on his heels and heading for the door. It was a disappointment. She wasn’t going to ask him to stay, even though he did want to. He wanted to get to know her.

“Aw, you don’t have to leave so soon. You can stay - unless you have somewhere to be.”

______

I remember from the first moment I saw her, I immediately liked her. It was as close to love at first sight as humanly possible. That day that she invited me into her home, we sat down and talked about all sorts of things. I learned that when she was little, she wanted to be an actress, but she gave up hope after a while, and stopped working at it all together. I also learned that her father died when she was ten, and her mother was very overprotective, but they didn't get along well, and hardly ever spoke. She told me that she’s an only child, and her best friend’s name was Kayci. I found out so many wonderful things this time. Most importantly, I found out that she worked at a children’s hospital as a volunteer. I’d never really met anyone like that. Someone who would volunteer their time for kids. Of course, I volunteer and go to children’s hospitals myself, but this was different. She didn’t work to make money. She worked there for the good that it did. That alone showed me she was a good person. Already I was falling in love. And now that I look back on it, I feel so stupid.

I had been out of love for so long, this newfound feeling was unimaginable. She was wonderful. How could she not have a boyfriend? I wanted to ask her out on a date, but thought I’d be rushing things way to much. And just by talking to her about different things, and by getting to know each other, I found Julie. I found a friend at first, and then later the lover I thought I could quite possibly spend the rest of my life with. She was everything to me, and then all of a sudden, she left me. Alone. Devastated. Heartbroken.

I sighed heavily as a car rode by, splashing me with cold, gritty water from the road. Shivering lightly, I wrapped my arms around my chest, trying to gain more warmth from my own body since there was none living in the fabric of my wet clothing.