All of a sudden I couldn’t feel any new raindrops. My eyebrows fused together as a shudder went through me from the wind. Lifting my head I saw that it was still raining, but Nick was standing over me with an umbrella over the both of us.
"Come on Rachel let’s get you home before you get sick," his tone was softer than before.
Nick held out a hand towards me which I took to help get off the bench. As we started to walk down the street he let go of my hand, but kept tugging my elbow on occasion as an attempt to have me stay under the umbrella. However, I would take a step out from the moving shelter keeping me from the rain. I looked up at the guy who was confining me now. I wouldn't mind pushing him from the umbrella so that he could get wet. As I turned to ask Nick why he did that, he stopped abruptly and pulled off my wet sweatshirt and placed his sweatshirt over my shoulders.
"Your teeth are chattering," Nick answered as if he could hear the question going on in my head.
He had my wet coat in his free arm as we headed towards our house, but he made sure to stay close to me under the umbrella.
"Are you afraid you're going to melt? Let the rain touch you, it'll make you feel alive," I sang, purposely skipping out of his reach, twirling around backwards to face Nick.
I was getting ahead of him laughing as each rain drop fell onto me then streaming down.
"Are you drunk?" Nick called over to me, which was almost hard to hear as the rain picked up.
"Nope, I'm usually like this when it rains." I giggled again, closing my eyes as my head was tilted up, my drenched hair fanning out in clumps.
"Terrific," Nick's voice was dry. "Something to look forward to every time it rains."
As I turned I noticed I was further away from Nick than I thought. I stopped twirling around to stay focused in his direction. Through the rain I watched Nick close the umbrella and start running towards me. I shrugged, spinning on my heel and kept on strolling until I felt strong arms tight around my waist with fast speeds from Nick running. The ground was muddy and the force of Nick's body against mine caused me to lose my balance and we tumbled onto someone else's lawn with Nick still tangled up in me. We rolled a couple of times until we were lying side by side. I busted out laughing and Nick joined me, turning my head a little to glance over at Nick. His eyes were closed, his lips were stretched into in a huge grin across his face. His free hand went to his chest. Seeing him, I felt extra warmth seeping through me and the smile grew wider on my own face.
"We probably should get home for warm clothes and to get rid of the mud bath," Nick spoke between laughs as he sat up.
"I thought guys loved girls in mud?" I asked raising a brow at him.
Nick raised his index finger at me, his face grew serious. "We like girls fighting each other in mud, not being in the mud ourselves unless it involves football, see the difference?"
I rolled my eyes, then shoved some mud on his shirt as I pushed him over again. I couldn't stop giggling. Putting my hands on both sides of me I hoisted myself up, the ground below me though was slippery, my hands waved around just as I landed flat on my butt. A yelp escaped from my lips.
"You alright?" Nick checked, even though he was chuckling.
Nick stood up, his own feet were wiggling about as he moved to face me, and bending over his hands were outreached towards me. Just as my hands touched his he fell forward bracing an arm on each side of me. Nick's head was hanging over me, his hair was plastered to his face around his sapphire eyes. Steadying himself Nick stood up and dragged me in one swoop, pulling me close to his chest. Through our laughter my teeth were chattering, Nick's eyes went to my lips as we got onto the road instead of the grass to make our way home. When we got inside our home the temperature difference sent chills down my spine, causing me to shake. I rubbed my arms though my clothes were too wet to move. The mud started to cake onto the fabric of my clothes.
"You go first to shower and clean the mud off," Nick said, pushing some of my soaked hair that I was sure had mud streaked through.
Nick's cobalt eyes were staring into mine with laughter and sorrow sitting in his irises. I gave a small smile, wondering what he was hiding.
"Okay."
I knew he wasn't ready to answer me if I asked him what was wrong. That and I wanted to take a hot shower. I was not going to argue over who would take the first shower. Ruining the moment or not the hot water was mine!
I went into the bathroom that we shared and started the water hoping it wouldn't take long to warm up. My teeth started to ache from the chattering as my insides seemed to be shriveling up. I left my wet clothes in a pile of the bathroom as I went behind the curtain and into steaming shower. I had put a set of clean pajamas in the bathroom because I wasn't going to walk around in a towel with Nick around. Once dressed, I went to sit on the couch with Nick.
"Leave any hot water for me?" Nick inquired, with an eyebrow raised and a smirk on his face.
Nick got up so that he was standing next to where I was sitting. He flashed me a bigger grin which I must admit, I really did miss. His smirk just made me beam.
