Chapter Text
The sun rises casting a warm light on your face as your awoken from your very much needed sleep, you open your eyes reluctantly, Golden light spill through your window painting the floor in an amber color, you sit up slowly and scan the room trying to find your alarm clock that is set on your bedside table, once your eyes finally make their way to it you see its 10:25, at least you got to sleep in. Your thoughts are interrupted when a wave of pain spreads throughout your head, you let out a groan in defeat,
Rubbing your temples lightly as if that will wish this awful headache away, spoiler alert, it doesn’t.
You stand up carefully, trying not to agitate your head more than it already is, and you make your way to the kitchen to find some pain pills. Your steps are slow, and the floor is cold on your feet; your hands rest at your side, and your back is slouched; you don’t have the energy to try to stand straight up right now.
Once you make it to your medicine cabinet, you look around to see what you have, you find a bottle and pick it up, to your disappointment, its a lot lighter than you would have liked it to be, you shake it around for a moment, only to be met with the sound of nothing, you open it in a hope that maybe it had something in it, but not to your surprise its empty, you don’t even have anyone to blame it on, you live alone.
You let out a long sigh, tilting your head back slowly, you close your eyes, and stand there for a moment in silence.
You decide to go for a walk; maybe some fresh air would chase this headache away. It looks nice and sunny out, Perfect for a walk! You grab a quick drink of water, grab your purse, and make your way out the door without a second thought, not even to check the weather.
You slowly walk down the sidewalk, intending to go to the convenience store to get something for this headache (not very convenient when it's this far away) after about ten minutes you find a nice little community garden, flower of all different colors cover the place, metal benches scattered around, and a grand fountain sits in the middle of it all, a gentle flowing sound radiates from it, mixed with the sounds of birds singing, and people living there daily lives, you decide you will take a break.
you take a seat on a bench, you look through your purse and pull out a small book you had been working on reading titled “maybe next time” you flip the pages until you find the page you previously stopped on, the smell of the book wafting towards you tosses your hair back gently, you begin reading and find yourself quite entranced in it, you sit for what feels like 10 minutes,
that is until you feel a drop of water hit your hand, followed by a drop falling on to your book leaving a water mark on your page, you look up and realize the sun is gone. Maybe it's just a drizzle, you think to yourself, but sure enough, it starts to pour, you shut the book to avoid further water damage, that’s when it hits you, you have absolutely no clue where you are, you took a different path then you normally would, but your brain is to foggy to remember which way you came from and which way you need to go, a wave of panic washes of you, until you realize you can just use your phone map, you reach for your purse and feel around attempting to find it, but isn’t it just your luck? You forgot your phone, maybe you didn’t anticipate needing it, or maybe your headache distracted you.
Now, you're lost, no phone, no umbrella, and it's about to pour. The realization sets in, and you hear thunder rumble in the distance,
“ughhh… I should have just stayed home,” you mumble to yourself. You start on the very long walk of shame, and within minutes, you're drenched in rain. You begin to pick up your pace. Maybe you'll find a shop and can ask for directions. You're making your way down the sidewalk, when you find an awning that should provide some cover from the rain, you stand under it for a moment, maybe you could wait the storm out, you stand there for around fifteen minutes but the rain only gets worse, lightning flashes in the distance, followed by a loud thud of thunder causing the ground the vibrate, people pass you and you try to avoid eye contact, you must look awful, should have just brought an umbrella.
But one person passing seems to slow as they get closer to where you are, you look down to the ground and try to ignore it, that is, until they stop right in front of you and turn to look at you,
You don’t look up,
“Hey?... uhmm, are you okay?” a man asks you, his voice is Deep and gentle, he sounds concerned,
Your head shoots up, and you see a guy standing there, head tilted to the side a bit, his brows furrowed, and strands of dark brown hair fall beside his face. He's wearing a blue sweater and sweatpants.
This is really embarrassing, you think to yourself,
“Uhhm, yeah, I got kinda lost, and managed to leave my phone at home.” You say nervously, and let out a chuckle,
“Oh, I can help you?... I mean, if you want.. I can- give you directions?”
“I was just going to the convenience store, and I can probably find my way back from there. If you could point me towards that- that would be great,” you say
His face lights up subtly, “That’s where I was heading!” he says excitedly
“We can walk together?” he says awkwardly, his eyes are full of hope though.
You nod slightly, “Yeah, that would be great, thank you,” you say, a smile growing on your face
A gentle smile grows on his as well. He takes a step to the side, making room for you on the sidewalk. You step out from under the awning, being drenched in rain once again for a moment, he quickly extends the umbrella over you, shielding you, despite getting rained on himself, you move in a little closer so that the umbrella can cover the both of you.
“Oh, uhm- I- im bob.. by the way,” he says, unsure of himself
To which you reply with your name, “It's nice to meet you,” you say, looking at him
“It's nice to meet you too!” and he sounds genuine, not like he’s saying it out of politeness.
You and Bob begin on the walk to get pills for your headache, that’s when you realize you don’t even have a headache anymore. You should probably still get some pills, just for next time you have one.
You walk with him for a moment in silence, all you can hear is the rain pattering on rooftops and windows, the sound of drops splashing in puddles, occasional thunder, and the soft sound of your and bobs footsteps.
“I really appreciate you helping me out…” You say, breaking the silence
“Its no problem! Plus, I don’t mind the company,” he says with a crooked smile on his face
To which you return a smile
A short moment passes without a word said, it was then that you feel your foot get stuck on something as your flung forward, you brace yourself for impact, extending your arms out in front of you, you feel no impact, but instead you feel hands on your back, you open your eyes, confused, you see bob standing there holding you in his arms with a concerned look on his face,
Time stops
And for the first time, you actually get a good look at Bob; his eyes seem to sparkle despite there being nothing to reflect on them, the deep blue color of his eyes looks like the sea, and you could just get lost in them.
“Ar- Are you okay?!” Bob says his voice full of worry, snapping you out of the trance you were in,
You feel heat rising to your face, and your cheeks grow red,
“Shoot- Yeah im okay!”
“Are you sure?” He says, eyes tracing your face as if examining you, his eyes settle on your lips for a moment more than the rest of your face, but you don’t see that.
“Yeah, I'm okay.. sorry, I just tripped.” You say, making your way back to your feet,
His arm lingers on your back for a moment, making sure you're standing steadily
“Don’t apologize, I'm just glad you didn’t get hurt.” He said he steps in front of you and gently sets his hands on your arms and looks you up and down, “Are you sure you're okay?” he says.
You nod, “Thank you for… catching me.”
A small smile grows on his face
A silent moment passes once more before you both continue your walk,
“Its right up here,” he says, pointing slightly to the left
You nod, giving a hum of recognition.
You come to a little crosswalk connecting the sidewalk, and the store is right on the other side. Bob extends his arm out
“Ladies first.” He says, almost sounding like a question, you smile and walk across the crossing closely followed by Bob, and finally you're at the store, all this for some pain pills, what a hassle.
Yet you can't bring yourself to regret it.
Bob opens the door for you, and a bell chimes announcing your entry,
“Welcome in,” a woman's voice says kindly. You give her a small wave and make your way to the medicine aisle and browse for a moment. You pick up a box and inspect it,
You decide it will work, and you make your way to the cashier. Bob is waiting for you. You walk up to him and lift the box, and shake it a bit, signaling you got what you need, He smiles. You can see a small bag in his hand and realize he already got what he needed. You walk up to the cashier, who greets you with a kind smile.
You set your box down on the counter and smile back. She scans it quickly and bags it. “Would you like a receipt?” she questions, handing you the bag
“No, thank you!” you say, as you take the bag carefully. She smiles
“Have a good one!” she says as you're walking away
“You too, thanks!” you say as you look over your shoulder. Bob props the door open for you, and you walk out.
“Hey! It's done raining,” you exclaim cheerfully,
“It is!” He replies, mirroring your enthusiasm
You turn to Bob,
“So- you said you know your way home from here, then?” he says
You nod, “Yeah, thanks so much again!”
Of course! It was real- really nice meeting you.”
It was nice meeting you too.”
You both go your separate ways down the sidewalk, you look back and see he's still glancing at you for a moment, when he realizes you see him, he quickly looks away, that makes you smile for a moment, you turn back, your mouth open about to say something, but he's already over the cross road and out of earshot.
You walk home with butterflies in your stomach, but this feeling that there might have been something between you and him, but he's gone now, and you have no clue if you will ever see him again.
You can't sleep that night. Any time you close your eyes, all you can do is remember the way he looked at you, so kindly.
You find yourself going to that garden often, deep down its just in hope that he might pass by.