"i love you."

The whisper mixed with acrid smoke and then hung stagnate in the stale afternoon air, humid and oppressive, making inactivity uncomfortable and exertion miserable. An ancient ceiling fan, blades worn and covered in dust and dirt and expired insect exoskeletons, creaked in protest against the smothering heat but it was a futile battle that only created a slight stirring in the air, a broken promise of relief. In the sky outside dark clouds pregnant with rain but unable to burst hung heavy and low, struggling to stay above the treetops. He sat with his back to her, fingers tapping against a calculator, pencil scratching against paper, her presence unacknowledged, an emotionless monolith. She stood perfectly still, or maybe she trembled just slightly, her dress clinging to her small frame, dampened by sweat from running here, expectant, waiting. Waiting for the rain to come, waiting for relief from this torment as her words echoed in her ears, vowels and consonants mashing together and mingling with the creaking of the fan and the scratching of the pencil until all she could hear was a dull roar that swallowed up all her thoughts until she could hardly remember what she said and she was just about to scream when she heard it. The first few raindrops smacking against the ground. And it was only a minuscule amount of relief but it turned her scream into a shout and then lightning flashed outlining everything with a certain starkness.

"I love you!"

The clouds burst, filling the room with the roar of a billion raindrops bursting outside, splashing into the open window, beating the weary trees and weary homes, drowning them in relief. Deliberately he set down his pencil, deliberately he put out his cigarette in the ash try, deliberately he pushed back his chair and turned to face her. Beneath thick, dark bangs rose dark brooding eyes to capture her wide ones. He opened his mouth and said one word, a hoarse syllable just barely audible over the sound of the rain.

"Why?"

Suddenly she felt childish and foolish and scared and took an unsteady step backward and then another, legs shaking and breath ragged. He reached for her and then she broke his gaze and turned and fled. Irregular footsteps sounded through the hallway and then out the front door and for a moment he just sat there, unmoving, until then he was up and running too, chasing after her, running through the front door she'd left wide open and into the downpour. He closed the gap between them quickly, reaching out for her as she stumbled, catching her before she scraped her knees against the concrete and turning her around to face him. Lightning flashed again sending waves of thunder to roll over them, two ragged bodies connected by a touch, connected by a gaze, unable to move closer, unable to move apart, unable to say a thing as the rain cried in rivulets rushing down over their cheekbones.



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and that's all i have. probably sucks, and i'm not quite achieving the writing style that i want to, but i felt like writing it. i want to finish it, but i'm not sure which way i want to take it.