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The rain pattered against the roof, as it always had and probably always would—it was familiar to Collin now, comforting, even. He didn’t really appreciate being wet constantly, though.
Collin ignored the sound of footsteps outside his house as he chucked his new, raw ores into his furnace. He also ignored the very pointed knocks on his window, making a point to turn his entire body away from that side of the room. Backing away from the furnace, he almost glanced over at the still-continuing barrage of knocks on his window, but managed to remind himself, no, actually, don't look over there. It thundered outside, loudly, angrily, almost, despite the fact that it had only been drizzling moments prior. Collin sighed before turning around.
“Ok. Fine. What do you want?” Collin finally turned to face the window, looking at the smiling, watery figure just outside it—the clingy one. He sighed, watching her mime around in some combination of excitement that he’s finally paying attention and annoyance at him for ignoring her in the first place. Almost as if remembering she was being watched, she hid behind the gap between the two windows on the wall, and Collin heard a wet slap of something against his front door.
Collin sighed, side-eyeing the entity poorly trying to hide outside the window while still watching him through it, glancing back and forth between him and the door, encouragingly. Collin made a show of taking slow, heavy steps towards the door, as if he was being dragged, before creaking it open. Just on the ground, wet, and slightly damaged, still missing a few petals as it lay just there on the grass, was a cornflower.
“Huh wuh-” Collin picked up the small bloom, leaving the door open as he took a step back, “Did you drag this all the way over here? I don’t even know where the closest flower biome is, man.”
She twirled her hair around her finger when Collin glanced back at the window, the water of her hair and finger coalescing together as she did so. She didn’t seem to notice, or maybe she just didn't care—cheeky little thing—the streams separated into their previous positions after she pulled back, regardless.
“What, you want a thank you or something?” He asked, turning to lean his back against the window. He could feel the cool chill from the water of her hand, sapping his body heat through the glass, just below his neck, right between his shoulder blades. He shivered, involuntarily, and turned his head so he could look out the window again, resting his cheek against the pane. “You’re just like her, you know.”
She clenched her fist against the glass, leaving wet streaks where her hand had been pressed against the window. She couldn’t answer, Collin knew; it wasn’t her, Collin thought. She was gone—she was gone, and she wasn’t coming back. She was—
Creak…
His door opened.
Collin didn’t see anything outside, but the open door was definitely not open before. Quite frankly, he couldn’t really bring himself to care; if some entity was coming to kill him right now, he couldn’t really do anything about it.
“I’m still here.” Wetness coiled around his midriff, and he almost jumped at the sudden voice, “Can you hear me?”
“I-”
“I’m here for you.” There was a soft, wet weight on his shoulder, and the pressure around his waist tightened; along with it, so did the pressure in his throat.
He knew that voice.
He knew that voice.
“Babe?”
He felt hands on his cheeks, and suddenly, he was 19 again, in their first apartment, sitting in the bathroom with her as she showered just so they could keep talking. He didn’t remember what he said then, something that led her to pull him down by the face, hands still wet, body clad in still-moist pajamas, and pressed a kiss just under his right eye. He hadn't even realized he had been crying then, not until she kissed away his tears.
It started raining outside again, just a light drizzle, and Collin sighed before closing Minecraft and shutting his laptop. He wiped the moisture from his eyes as he stood.