Shadows in the Rain.
1614 Words
wobbles, voice breaking. “What are you doing here?” I wipe the sweat from my forehead.
Confused, he narrows his eyes at me, the edge of his lips turning into a hard line. “I just left. How’re you here so fast?”
God dammit, where the hell’s Maya? “Huh? Oh,… uh, Maya asked me to get something for her. I was just leaving.” I swallow. “Uh, what are you doing here?”
His breath fans over me, and I can’t help but relish it. Even his confused face is captivating, but he never lets me get up close.
“Business Meeting.”
Yeah, right. Lying to my face, aren’t you, Luce? I stare hard at him.
A chunk of my tension dissolves, as I’m not the only one lying here. But I can’t tell him I know.
Both our phones buzz at the same time and I panic. What if he finds out? I’m positive he heard my phone notification.
Quickly, I pull mine out first, freezing when I read it, and blood rushes in my ears. Then I shake myself out of it, laughing as if I read something funny.
“Well, Maya’s here. So, uh, see you at home?”
It’s the most I’ve spoken to him and it feels very weird to talk to him like this in public, like we’re not pathetic, lying, housemates living in a penthouse.
I don’t wait for his reply, and rush out into the rain with my hand on my chest, straight to my car, soothing the base of my throat.
One word pulls the air out of me.
Outside.
Clutching the wheel in front of me, hesitating, I put the car in reverse, so I can find another spot.
This text is all the evidence I need, but my desperation doesn’t let off. I park at the west side of the diner; cream, red, and orange lights from outside are blurred through my windshield from the rain, but I can still make out the silhouettes of people.
Lucian’s especially, when he walks out in his black coat—tall frame with a mop of black hair, as he heads straight to his car; another tall blurry figure in white stands beside his car, an umbrella over her head.
I turn on the wiper to give me a better view.
At that instant, my phone blares off, ruining the moment. Maya’s name appears on the screen and I answer, returning my gaze to the culprits in front of me.
The other figure is a woman—with copper hair, her face is obstructed from view by the umbrella.
I gasp, my heart does painful weird things and my blood quickens through my veins; Maya’s voice is a far distance away, when Lucian smiles tenderly, sweetly, at her.
I can almost touch the happy energy that radiates from that smile.
Then he draws her in for a hug—A HUG!—shattering my heart finally. The lady rubs a palm on his chest and they stare at each other like newlyweds.
“Babe, what’s going on? You’re scaring me.”
I don’t say anything for a long time, my throats close up, burying words and emotions that are desperate to fly out, but do so through my eyes.
I still stare at them as they enter his car, and watch them pull away.
He looked so happy with her. He’d never smiled at me before.
He finally has a reason to be happy about something other than work, I tell myself. My thoughts fly back to when he was all I wanted.
I had ignored every warning; my dad, Maya, Uncle Rob… I’d thrown myself at him at every given opportunity, even at major events, embarrassing my family, but I didn’t care.
So, when Lucian finally showed up in front of my home, asking me out on a date, I took a trip to heaven and back before I said yes. But that smile wasn’t there.
When he asked me to marry him three months later, after five dates and a French kiss, in front of my father on my 25th birthday, with an exquisite ring, the world felt right again.
I was on top of the world, in a cliche trope: a Billionaire Greek god loves a struggling New York girl.
But he hadn’t smiled at me like that, never.
Grateful Maya is still on the call and hasn’t hung up on me. I sigh, leaning the back of my head on the headrest, my voice breaking when I find it again.
“Can you come pick me up? I drove but I don’t think I’m in the mood to drive myself home.”
She hangs up and I send her my location, before I slip back to my reality, tears pouring down my face like the rain I’m in.
Only it isn’t falling from a heartbreak, mine is.
I don’t know how long I stay like that, or how Maya finds my car inside this parked lot, but when her knock on my window interrupts my wallowing, I’m grateful someone has my back.
A gust of cold wind whooshes into the car when I open it, and I instantly feel terrible for bringing her out here.
“Hey,” she says coolly when she enters, pulling me into a deep hug. The familiar warmth breaks me and my mouth parts with a cry.
I lay in her arms, as she soothes me, refusing to be comforted. Then she joins me and I’m back to that day I got a phone call in my dorm, informing me about my mom’s death.
We’d both cried like this for hours before she helped me pack up to go home.
Now, it’s all replaying before my eyes. He doesn’t think I’m worth it, and he’s leaving me for a copper-haired Mon cher.
Maya sniffs, cleaning her eyes before she pats my hair, “What happened, babe?”
I try to control my voice as I tell her everything that happened, and I see her reaction when I tell her that Lucian hugged her. It was like the opposite of what I did, but still the same.
She bit her lips, eyes and brows quirked. “He did that? Lucian really did that?”
Insane right? I nod.
“Well, that’s bull load. What are we going to do now?” she asks, dark curly hair and warm brown eyes peering into my soul.
Honestly, I don’t know. Everyone knows just how much I love Lucian, and I still love him. I’ll very well forgive him with bended knees and grateful arms if he comes crawling back.
But I can’t tell her that. She’ll kill me first.
“I don’t know.” I simply say, and we fall back into silence, watching cars come and leave the premises, the rain having let on a bit.
“You want to go check any guy out, in there,” she turns to me, “follow him home to mess with Lucian?”
I scoff at the idea, if this happened in college, I would’ve taken her up that challenge. Or if it were the years I spent, managing my dad’s company before Lucian inherited it for the marriage…
Maybe yes.
But now, the only thing stopping me is that I’ll be like Lucian if that happens, and end up breaking both our hearts.
I shake my head, suddenly tired and spent. I need my bed, and the assurance that this is all a dream again. None of this is happening in my pretty safe and harmless life.
Maya stays silent before she speaks up again. “Well, you pulled me out in the middle of a one-night that was about to be a mistake. I say we order every bucket of ice cream on the planet, and complete that movie we ditched last time, then knock ourselves out.”
She doesn’t wait for my reply and starts the car, blurring every resisting strain out of me. Maybe I’ll just go with that.
Sounds better than wallowing in self-pity.
Friday, March 21st.
Lucian is home already when I push the front door open, letting myself into the apartment by nine am the next morning.
I couldn’t tell if he was worried or was just standing there, staring at the door, lost in thought.
Oh, well, who cares anyway?
I ignore him and continue to my room. He stops me with a finger, burning into my skin.
I look at where we touch, suppressing every thought to jump him, then I look up at him, eyes glazed.
He quickly retreats his hand, as if I lashed him. He slides it into the pocket of his pants. I recognise a faint trace of irritation in his face.
What does he want now? Does he know I’ve been stalking him?
“I left you the dress on your dresser. Dinner’s by seven. The car will be outside by four.”
Oh, lurwd!
He hesitates before he adds, sliding the other hand into his pocket, calmly. No trace of guilt on his beautiful face. “Please, don’t be late, will you?”
He raises an eyebrow when I don’t reply.
I gaze at him in the light of yesterday’s revelation. Everyone will feel lucky to be chosen by him. Who would pass out a face like that, with such power he wields?
I turn around and disappear into the bedroom, too reminded to give him a reply.
Well, s**t. I forgot I’m going to be facing off with the titan herself. I bite my tongue, wishing it were over already.
- Writer
