You wake up and the sun hasn’t risen completely yet, the curtains of your room a bright hue of red. You slowly rise and stretch, your arms and back cracking. A yawn escapes your mouth as you stand and head for the bedroom door. The floorboards creak as you lumber out of your room and towards the kitchen. The halls of your house are painted a soft white, which is reflecting the morning sun, negating the need for a light. As you enter the kitchen you hear a heavy thud on the front door.
“And there it is…” You mumble to yourself in that growly morning voice you usually get.
You make your way to the front door and unlock it, pulling it open to reveal the street outside. A crisp breeze rolls through. You look down at the rolled up newspaper sitting on the step. You reach down and pick it up, the rolled paper has a good weight to it today. You tuck it under your arm and look up at the sky, dark clouds sit on the horizon, like a foreboding warning of some kind. You shrug and head back inside, dropping the paper on the kitchen table and heading towards the sacred coffee maker. You pour in the water and change the filter, preparing for your morning brew.
As the coffee maker works away you move to sit at the kitchen table and begin to unroll the paper, looking over the front page for anything of note. It’s mostly just business stuff, but the thing that catches your eye is the weather forecast. It says it’s supposed to rain today, and into tomorrow. You let out a sigh and put the paper down, leaning back in the chair and casting a glance out the window. The red sun slowly fading behind the dark clouds that have formed on the horizon.
You hear a beep come from the kitchen, you lean your head back and peer inside: the light on the coffee maker is flashing. You stand and go to the source, shutting off the coffee maker and pouring yourself a mug. Black as tar, that’s how you like it. You take the mug to the kitchen table and begin to drink your fresh brew. The bitter taste of the dark roast fills your mouth, gripping your tongue and cheeks. As you swallow the taste lingers, leaving the bitterness behind. You feel yourself instantly become more awake. You take another sip and the same feeling continues.
A few minutes go by and you’re almost done your coffee, and you’ve read all the interesting parts of the newspaper. You stand and bring your mug to the kitchen, placing it in the sink. You head to the bathroom to carry on with your morning routine.
~*~*~
You slip a shirt over your head and pull it down over your chest, completing your morning routine. You make your way to the living room, sitting down on the couch and putting your feet up on the coffee table. The pitter patter of rain hitting the window fills your house with a constant drumming. The type of drumming that lulls a slow day by. You look around the room, lit by the greyed out sun.
Your living room is modestly furnished. A three seat sofa and two arm chairs sit around a dark oak coffee table. A fireplace sit on the opposite wall to the sofa. The floors are a dark, old wood that creaks at night. A large bookshelf is standing beside the fireplace, kind of a risky place, you think to yourself. All in all, the house is furnished with everything a single person could ever need. You sit and sigh as the rain thumps on the window behind you. Your thoughts flow to what could be outside on a day like this. Wet, grey, the weird temperature where it’s both warm and cold at the same time. You stand and turn, looking out onto the street in front of your house. Watching the children play in the puddles and the odd person go by with their umbrella up.
“You poor people, having to go out in this.” You say to yourself sarcastically, with a light chuckle.
The next hour and a half is spent going through your mail, reading the local newspaper, and doing the random chore around the house, like putting your dirty laundry away, and finally killing that damn spider in the corner of the bathroom. After all of that is taken care of you find yourself with nothing to do, and the sun is at it’s highest point, but unfortunately, the rain is still coming down; seemingly harder than it was earlier. You make your way to the kitchen and lean against the counter, looking out the window above the sink. Through the window is your garden, and you can spot puddles building up in the dirt, forming cloudy globs of mud. Your eyes dance across the weeds and wild plants that line the shallow bed of soil. That’s when your thoughts fall back to the flower stall you were at yesterday. All the different kinds of flowers, colours and fragrances.
“I wonder…” You mumble, looking over at the calendar you have on your fridge. One of those calendars you get for Hearths Warming, with those little inspirational quotes on them.
You walk over to the small calendar and trace where you are in the month. Nodding before reading the quote.
“Don’t believe in yourself, believe in me. Believe in the me who believes in you.” You read aloud before looking at the picture. The picture depicts a very strong but inviting figure holding their hand out, as if to help someone up, or possibly help you up.
You give a nod to the calendar picture before turning and walking to your front door. Grabbing your jacket which was lazily slung over the back of one of your arm chairs a few days ago; you slip it on and fasten the buttons on the front. You slip your feet into your shoes that are sloppily pushed beside your front door, and grab your small black umbrella that is hanging on a hook beside your front door before leaving your house. You open the umbrella and hold it above your head, keeping yourself relatively dry as you make your way to the market. Making sure to hop over and around puddles since your canvas shoes aren’t exactly the most waterproof things in the world.
The dull grey of the clouds blended in with the dull grey of the street below you, making the world around just dull and grey. The birds sing their songs, as if to try and clear the bleak sky, but to no avail. The rain falling around you makes a light drumming on your umbrella, adding a rhythm to the mundane tone of the day. As you approach the market a sounds fills your ears, a surprising noise. People. The market is unusually busy for such a rainy day. People walk past you at a brisk pace, most likely trying to get to somewhere dry.
You make your way into the market slowly and methodically, taking your time to look over the stalls and the people around. All the people around you seem to be lifeless, like the rain has sucked the life out of them, as if coming to the market was preprogrammed into their brains, and they’re just moving along mechanically. You move to a stall that’s close to your left, looking at the small pieces of jewelry that are scattered across the table, in a lazy and unorganized manner. You look up at the older woman behind the counter, her hair grey and tied back into a loose bun with a few stray hairs sticking out in a sort of rebellion. The little pieces of silver and gold reflect the pale grey of the sky at you, displaying little warped versions of yourself and those around you. The little rings and bracelets bring you little interest so you nod at the woman and carry on to the next stall. This one holds more jewelry, but this time displayed with care. Organized by size, price and type. Behind the counter is a younger man, probably only a few years older than you are. He’s leaning against the side of his stall, staring boredly out over the market square, obviously waiting for some sort of activity. His stall was home to small wooden trinkets; necklaces, statues and carvings. One necklace catches your attention. It appears to be a winged unicorn standing upon a crescent moon. You take it into your free hand and look closely at it, taking in the finer details of the piece.
“That one’s called Luna,” The guy behind the stall says with a bored yet somewhat excited tone. “Based on the old folk legends, of the celestial sisters.”
“It’s a very nice piece, but there’s only this one. Where’s the other sister?” You ask, searching the counter for the other necklace.
“She’s gone. I sold her not too long ago. Not many people buy the other one, everyone just wants Celestia.” He says, with a small yawn at the end of his sentence, proving your earlier suspicions of boredom.
“I’ll take it.” You say, placing the necklace down before fetching the appropriate amount of change out of your pocket. The man behind the counter takes and counts the money.
“Alright, have yourself a good day.” He replies with a slightly happier tone to his voice.
“You too!” You reply, trying to sound as cheery as possible.
You hold the handle of your umbrella in your armpit as you put on the necklace. Once you have it fastened you tuck it into your jacket and nod to the guy behind the counter before continuing down the path. Your eyes begin to wander, looking for anything to grab your attention, any sort of colour or noise, or anything really. As you continue down the line of market stalls, nothing grabs your attention, you just walk alone, like an android or a puppet.
The rain begins to fall harder, hitting your umbrella with a forceful thud, and pounding the stone streets like a chief pounding a war drum. You angle your umbrella backwards slightly, so the water will run down the back. As you raise the front rim you catch the glimpse of something bright, something contrasting. You turn your head and spot some bright blue flowers, casting their bright glow on the grey world around. As you look more at the flowers you notice more colours; red, green, yellow, purple. A rainbow of flowers. As your eyes dance across the pedals you notice something, something moving. You look up to the source of the movement and you see a familiar face looking at you, waving. You give a grin as you approach the person who is waving.
“Well, fancy seeing you here.” You say as you move to stand in front of the stall, taking cover beneath the little bit of fabric roof sticking out over the front of the stall.
“I do work here, and it is such a lovely day out.” The girl replies with a cute little chuckle.
“Ah, you got me there. Who wouldn’t be out in this glorious weather we’re having?” You rebuttal sarcastically.
“Only the craziest of people.” She retorts with another cute giggle.
“That’s a very true statement,” You say, giving your own chuckle. “So, how’s business been today?”
“How do you think?” She asks, holding her hands up and looking up at the sky. “It’s been slower than molasses in winter.”
“I wouldn’t have expected anything different really.” You say, lowering your umbrella and closing it.
“Why are you out and about today I wonder.” The girl in front of you says, leaning forward on the counter, looking at you in such a way that it makes her emerald eyes even darker.
“Well, if I am honest, it was kind of to see you. I figured you’d be bored today, so I figured I could come and try to keep you company.” You say, feeling a faint heat rush to your cheeks as the corner of her mouth perks up in a slight smile.
“Well ain’t that cute. I do appreciate it though. I was just about to doze off back here,” She stands up and points behind her to where a small plastic deck chair is sitting. She hold up her left arm and pulls up the sleeve of her sweater slightly to reveal a small silver watch. “Hey, it’s almost time for me to take lunch, wanna go somewhere?” She asks, with a sort of excited tone.
“Well, you see… I kinda have this thing, at a place…” You give an obviously fake response, which is is met with emerald puppy eyes. “Yeah, sure. I’ll go to lunch with you.” You say with a grin.
“Yay!” She lets out an excited cry and turns around, picking up a small handbag and tucks it into her armpit. She spins herself around and places a closed sign on the counter. Looking at you with a bright playful smile she steps out of her stall and moves to your side. “Well, let’s go!”
“Uh, y-yeah sure. Where did you have in mind?” You ask, opening your umbrella and holding it in your left hand, between the two of you.
“Oh I don’t know, there’s that little café down the road.” She says, linking her arm with yours and squeezing in close to you, trying to stay as close to the center of the umbrella. You feel your cheeks become flush once again.
“Yeah, that works for me.” You say, taking the first step forward towards the small café.
As the two of you walk the rain begins to lighten, and the sun becomes a little stronger. You look up at the clouds and smile a little bit, but quickly return your gaze forward, remembering you have a girl on your arm, and if you trip, both of you are going down. You feel a warmth radiating off her as she holds on, pressing herself against you so she fits more under your umbrella. The corner of your mouth curls up slightly as you think about how the pair of you look, probably damn cute.
The light rain drums a soft tune as it falls on you two, bouncing off your umbrella and the cobblestone beneath. You look forward, the café coming into view. You pick up the pace slightly, trying to get to the dry interior of the café faster. You hear some soft hum come from your left, you look over quizzically and realize the girl on your arm is humming. A tune you’re not familiar with becomes slightly louder as she looks around at the buildings and people walking by. You smile and return to looking forward, a warm fuzzy feeling filling your chest. A few people walk by and glance at you, smiling. Some even whispering amongst themselves, most likely the small town gossip that is common here.
“So uh, have you been to this place before?” You ask, getting closer to the café, seeing the lack of people inside almost makes your heart skip a beat.
“Yep!” She happily exclaims. “Been here plenty with friends. One of the best places in the market. Plus one of the employees really seems to know how to make you smile, no matter how blue you feel.” She says, her tone still excited.
“That’s good to hear. I’ve never been here myself, I don’t usually eat out.” You say as you approach the door of the café, lowering the umbrella and closing it.
Reaching forward you grab the handle of the door and pull it open, the door giving little resistance. A small bell chimes as it opens, filling the near empty shop with sound. Rose smiles, nods and enters in front of you, a bounce appearing in her step. You follow her in, shaking off the umbrella a bit before closing the door. Looking around a sense of friendliness and companionship hits you, like this is a place for everyone and anyone. You spot a bucket beside the door with many umbrella handles sticking out, you reach out and drop yours inside, eyeing where it lands. A sudden feeling in your left hand catches your attention, a cold, soft sensation wraps around your palm. Moving your gaze to see what’s touching you, you notice it’s Rose, grabbing your hand as a signal to follow her. You oblige and follow suit. She leads you over to a booth in the corner, well away from the few people who are in the shop, and looking over the street out front. As she sits she lets go of your hand and you move to sit across from her, taking your jacket off and tucking it in the corner beside you.
“Yeah, I mean, look outside. There’s no reason any sane person would be out in this,” She narrows her emerald eyes, the window beside you casting a dull grey light over her face. “So. What’s the answer.” She says, her tone deadly serious. You feel your cheeks becoming flushed and your stomach beginning to tighten.
“Um, well…. I uh…” You stumble over your words, trying to find an answer that doesn’t sound like you were trying to stalk her. As your mind tries to find its way through the minefield that has just been laid by a single question, you hear a light giggle come from the girl across from you.
You look forward and see her eyes wide, soft and inviting. Her giggle turned into a laugh. You raise an eyebrow and lean back.
“Don’t worry, I wasn’t accusing you of wanting to murder me,” She laughs again then suddenly stops, looking serious once again. “Unless you want to, please don’t do that. That would be bad for my health.” She says, ending with another giggle before calming down and leaning back with a light smile.
You smile back at her, looking over the features of her face. Her skin pale and soft looking. Her lips showing a very subtle layer of lipgloss, her nose small and perky. You blink and look away, feeling the heat returning to your cheeks. Hoping she didn’t catch you staring you look up at the waitress coming closer. This woman appears to be a year or two older than you are, her hair pink and curly, almost to the point of being an afro. Her outfit bright and flamboyant, miss matched colours, bright almost blinding colours and an apron that is just a little bit too short to be practical. The tattoo on her neck is three balloons.
“Heya heya!” The waitress exclaims as she gets to your booth. “Heya Rose! Who’s this handsome fella?” She asks before gasping and cartoonishly leaning over to Rose. “Is he your boyfriend?!” She whispers at the volume of a shout.
“Gah!” Rose exclaims, pushing the waitress away. Her pale cheeks obviously becoming flushed. “No Pinkie! Geez, what’s with you asking if all my guy friends are dating me?!” She says, looking down into her lap. The waitress laughs loudly and obnoxiously, pulling a small notebook and pen out of the pocket on her apron.
“Weeeeelllll~~ What can I get the love birds~” she muses, looking at you and giving a heavy wink. Rose now has her head down on the table, resting her forehead on the edge.
“I’ll have a coffee and a piece of the lemon pie, please.” You say, thinking for a second and nodding to confirm that’s all you’re having.
“I’ll have the same.” Rose mumbles from her embarrassed state. Keeping her head down.
“Okay~ I’ll get these right to you guys.” The waitress says somewhat normally. She flips the notebook closed and slips it into her apron. Spinning on one foot, she bounces off to the kitchen. You watch her as she goes, a little bit of an extra bounce follows her rear end. You give a little nod and a mental nice.
“I’m so sorry about that,” Rose says, finally taking her head off the table and looking at you. A crease from the edge of the table apparent across her forehead. “Pinkie does this to me all the time. Whenever I’m with a friend, be it boy or girl, she makes a big fuss,” Her face becomes a deep red as she looks down at the table. “Truth is… I’ve never really dated before…” She closes her eyes, almost glowing with blush.
“So what.” You say. She looks up with big puppy dog eyes. “So what. Does not dating someone make you gross? Does not dating someone make you some sort of bad person? I don’t see why you’re embarrassed by it, there’s no reason to be ashamed of not having dated someone.” You say, looking at her. A small smile forming on her lips.
“N-no. Just some people look at you weird when you say that. When I was going through school, I got a lot of funny looks when I said I wanted to stay single. I wasn’t afraid of it. If anything I wanted to date some of the people who asked, I just didn’t want to date during school, you know? I wanted to focus on the work so I could get out of there smoothly. Then after school ended I started working and I lost a lot of time for my friends,” She stops and scoots down the bench towards the window, looking out and kinda sinking into it. “Well… Lets just say that the people who were interested in me, found other people, and yeah.” She sighs and continues to stare out the window. The wind shifting directions to blow against the front of the shop, the rain pitter pattering against the window.
“I see.” You say, awkwardly letting the silence linger, not knowing how to follow up. Luckily your friendly neighbourhood waitress appears with your orders.
“Here you go~ Hope you lovebi-” Pinkie cuts herself off when she sees Rose staring out the window. She makes a very over the top pouty face as she put your food and drinks on the table. You nod at her and she shoots you a look. “I hope you two enjoy. Uh, I’ll be around if you need anything else.” Pinkie says, her tone of voice sounding rather deflated. She waves to you before going to help other customers. You reach across the table and slide her coffee and pie over to her, doing the same with hers.
“Hey, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said anything. I uh…” You stop and try to find the words, but before anything viable comes to mind, Rose turns to you.
“It’s not your fault. It’s mine. Whenever I think about this stuff I get worked up. Let’s just drop the subject and enjoy our food.” She says, her tone cold and heavy, the look in her eyes a slightly sad one. You nod and drop the subject, taking your fork in hand and beginning to eat your pie.
~*~*~
A handful of long silent minutes pass, the air still thick with the awkwardness of the previous conversation. You keep your head down as you finish up your slice of pie and coffee. Every once in a while your eyes peek up, looking at Rose, watching as she delicately takes apart her pie with her fork. Her face seeming to change to a more soft, less troubled state. You inhale deeply as you take the last sip of your coffee, leaning back and stretching out your arms. Rose looks up at you and lets out a little, barely noticeable smile. You return the gesture and look around the café. The majority of patrons having left. Leaving only one or two occupied tables. Pinkie is doing her rounds cleaning tables and checking on the remain patrons.
“Hey, Rose. Thanks for lunch.” You say in a quiet tone, almost to the point of a whisper.
“No no, thank you,” Rose says, wiping her lips with a napkin and shaking her head slightly. “I probably would have just stayed there in that stall all day and skipped lunch. So you coming along really did do me a favor.” She continues with a content grin. A grin that makes you feel all warm and fuzzy inside. A feeling that you can’t help but show with a warm smile in return.
You give her a nod and look out the window, the rain beginning to let up. Now only small drops hit the window. You sigh and look back to Rose, who seems to be staring at you, a puzzled expression adorning her face. A chuckle escapes her mouth as you mimic her expression, doing it a little cartoonishly.
“What’s up?” You ask, signalling Pinkie to come and take your empty dishes. She smiles and bounces happily over to the table, shooting a relieved smile at Rose.
“Is there anything else I can get you two?” Pinkie asks, the chipper tone flowing around her words once again.
“Um, not for me thanks.” You reply, leaning forward and crossing your arms on the table.
“Nothing more for me, thanks Pinkie.” Rose says, giving a little shake of her head. Her hair bouncing ever so slightly with the movement.
Pinkie nods, spinning on her heel and bouncing back to behind the counter, going into the back room. Her voice echoing throughout the small café. You wince a little at the thought of having to hear that all day everyday, but you quickly push that out of your mind and give attention to the girl sitting across from you. She looks at you again making a puzzled face, quickly looking away with a small blush appearing in her cheeks.
“It’s nothing. Just taking in your face so it stays with me.” She says not looking at you, he blush becoming slightly deeper.
“Alrighty, have it your way.” You say with a smirk. You bring your arms up and rest on your elbows; giving her an exaggerated smile. She looks at you and laughs out loud. Covering her face and leaning back into the bench. You can’t help but join in her laughter. Out of the corner of your eye you catch a pink head of hair poking out from behind the counter and looking at you two.
“Alright, hold still!” She says excitedly, taking a few breaths to calm herself. Bringing her hands up to her face, as if she’s holding an invisible camera, she makes a snap noise with her mouth and laughs again.
After a few seconds of laughter from the both of you she calms and stands up. Slowly moving out of the booth, you follow suit, grabbing your jacket. You quickly make your way her side and hold out your arm, which she loops hers around and begins to walk with you to the front door. You break away to pay for the lunch, Rose comes up behind you and places the ammount for her meal on the counter. You take it in your hand and combine it with your own money. Pinkie smiles and takes the money, giving you a wink and a little heart gesture. You give a faint smile and spin around, proceeding to the front door where you retrieve your umbrella and venture forth out the door. The rain is barely even coming down at this point, so you leave your umbrella closed.
“You’re cute.” Rose says quietly, almost inaudibly. You feel yourself turn a bright shade of red, realizing what she said.
“W-w-what?” You ask, obviously shocked. She lets out a deep bellied laugh, stopping in her tracks and bending herself in half, holding her stomach. She stands upright after a few seconds of laughing and punches you on the shoulder.
“Exactly what I thought would happen,” She says with a childish grin, wrapping her arm around your again and leaning against you with a hum. “And that’s all I’m going to say~” She muses on.
“Um…. Well…. If that’s the case, then the feeling is mutual.” You say, feeling something tighten in your stomach. A cold sweat begins on your forehead. You hear a chuckle from the girl on your arm.
The rest of the walk back to the market is spent in awkward silence, only thing to be heard is the synced footsteps and the conversations of the few passers by. The clouds are thinning out, the sun shining through, warming the stone path below, also casting a soft glow on the two of you. You smile at the warmth and unbutton your jacket, expecting to overheat with it on. Rose looks up and smiles, sighing and leaning her head against your shoulder. You smile to yourself and play out a million scenarios in your head, each one ending happily. That thought alone causes a smile to sneak onto your face.
~*~*~
“Thanks for this. It was fun.” Rose says with a genuine smile on her face, her eyes looking into yours, honest and welcoming.
“Yeah, it was fun. I’d absolutely be down to do it again.” You say in reply, returning the same genuine smile. You feel a faint heat growing in your face as hers does the same.
Rose lets go of you, almost reluctantly, returning to behind her stall. She pulls her sweater off and drops it onto the chair in the back. She turns back to you, her slender frame now outlined by a plain white t-shirt that is just perfectly fit. Your eyes trace her frame then flow up to her entrancing green eyes, almost strengthened by the redness of her cheeks.
“Um….” She starts, walking forward and leaning on the counter, looking down at some of the flowers she had arranged. “How about…..” She trails off again, fiddling with a small piece of wrapping paper that was left on her counter. “H-how about Thursday night?”She finally eeks out with a shaky nervous voice.
“Thanks, I will.” You respond with a small smile, slipping it in your pocket.
The two of you exchange numbers and say goodbye, as the people of the town are starting to come out due to the change of weather. You give her a wave and back up, so customers can browse. You turn and head for home, playing through what just happened in your head. The conclusion being way better then you could have ever expected.