A Balloon in the Rain

The train moved along giving it’s signature sound. It slightly shook as it took me to my destination. The rain hit the glass, trickling sideways as the train sped along the rails. I like it raining when I'm on the train, especially when it's quite and there aren’t many people on board.

I looked down under my seat to make sure my bag was still there along with the shopping I had, after coming back from the city, and now heading home. Sure the town had everything a person needed but the city had more to offer and was quit a nice trip to take every once in a while.

I looked back up and down the isle of the train, taking note of the other passengers. There were only about three other passengers in the train car that I was in, and one of them got my attention.

Sitting just a few seats away from me was a girl with pink skin and pink puffy hair that reminded me of cotton candy. Everyone at CHS knew this girl as she knew everyone. She had a lot of shopping bags with her and seemed to be a little troubled. Not really doing much and with a good portion of the trip still left, I decided to go over to the pink girl.

“Hay Pinkie.” I greeted.

She quickly looked up at me and her face grew a massive smile as she waved at me.

“Hay R, what’re you doing here?” Pinkie beamed.

“On my way home. Did you just come from the city?” I asked taking a seat across from her.

Now that I had taken a seat I was able to see how much shopping Pinkie actually had. Both seats next to her were covered and there were even bags under her and the other two seats.

“Yep. Needed to stock up on some supplies.” She gestured to the bags. “What about you, what’s in the bag?”

“Just getting a few books to review.” I answered looking back inside my own bag.

“I don’t remember having to do a report on a book for an assignment?” The pink girl questioned, confused as she tried to think back.

“No, it’s for my hobby, I guess. I review books and post the reviews online.” I clarified.

“Oooo, you’ll get along with one of my friends; she likes books too.”

“Which friend would that be?” I asked a little curious. After all Pinkie Pie was the one person in the school that was friends with everyone in one form or another.

“Sunset Shimmer.” She exclaimed. “She’s really smart. She spends most of her free time at the library; when she’s not with me and the girls anyway.”

I should have guessed she was talking about the bully turned good. I didn’t hold anything against her when she made the claim that she had changed. I didn’t really know her all that well back when she was a bully, so I couldn’t form a real opinion. I was one of the lucky few that managed to stay off her radar.

“I should have guessed you would say her.” I commented earning a confused look. “I’ve seen her in the library during school and at the town library.” I explained. I looked once again at all the party supplies and found it hard to believe that she was just re-stocking. “So do you have a party planned? I fined it hard to believe that the great party planner Pinkie Pie would ever need to stock up this much in one go.”

She gave a beaming smile and nodded her head. “Yep. I thought I would throw a big party before the holidays ended. You can come if you want, I was planning on inviting everyone anyway.”

“I’ll see if I’m free. Not many people are crazy enough to miss one of your parties, especially your big ones.”

“I’ll message you the details later. I’m still waiting to get a thumbs up for the location.” She admitted with a sheepish smile.

“I’m sure it’ll work out.” I reassured. “I take it you need a big space if you’re inviting everyone.”

She gave a vigorous nod. “The place also needs to have power and enough of it for the DJ, lights, speakers, all the catering equipment and also so people can charge their phones. I also need to contact the police to let them know that we’re having a party going on and there also needs to be enough parking for everyone.”

I gave a low whistle at all the criteria. “Party planning sounds stressful.” The pink girl gave a nod and for the first time her smile dropped, into a more worn out expression as she sank into her seat.

“Tell me about.” She sighed. But quickly bounced back from her stupor, “But it’s loads of fun and it’s nice seeing everyone smiling, laughing and having fun.”

I gave a small smile. “Thanks Pinkie.” The girl’s head wiped to me quick enough that I thought she broke her neck; she seemed confused. “Thanks for everything you do for everyone. I mean you literally throw parties to make everyone else feel happy. So I wanted to say thank you.”

She gave me a friendly smile as a sign of accepting the thanks. “It’s no big deal. I do like throwing parties.”

The train started to slow down as we had finally arrived at our stop. I could still hear the rain outside so I put my shopping inside my backpack and started to exit the train. I heard the loud noise of multiple plastic bags moving around. Looking over my shoulder I saw the pink girl carrying her shopping with ease and a huge smile on her face.

Taking out my phone I typed a quick text message to my uncle. Going threw the checkpoint; I started to head for my car but stopped and looked back once again. Pinkie had stopped too as she was trying to get her umbrella and figure out how to hold it. It was a little amusing watching her but eventually I stopped watching and walked over.

“Here, I’ll get the bags you hold the umbrellas.” I grabbed the bags in her left hand, while trading her for my umbrella before taking the bags in her right.

She gave me another one of her signature smiles and opened the umbrellas. The two of us walked to where her car was parked. During the walk I felt my phone vibrating once, signalling that I had gotten a reply. At this point we had reached a pink Volkswagen bug. I couldn’t help but think it was a very fitting car for Pinkie. She opened the back and I put the bags in.

I heard the sound of a balloon popping and looked over to see the pink haired girl with her phone in hand. She seemed to read something and her face morphed into a disappointed frown.

“Aaaaaw; now I’m going to need to quickly find another place to have the party.” She groaned to herself lost in thought.

I finished putting her shopping in the car and closed the back; Pinkie was busy looking on her phone trying to think of a place to have the party. I smiled and started to head for my own car, taking out my phone and reading the message from my uncle, making my smile grow. I typed another message and sent it off.

I heard another balloon pop and looked over my shoulder to see Pinkie read the message I just sent her, and then her face had its smile again. She looked up assuming I was still at her car but stopped when she saw I had disappeared. She looked around trying to spot me with no luck.

I looked down at my phone where the message I sent was still displayed.

Hay Pinkie, I heard the party location fell threw. I messaged my uncle just before asking if we could use an old rec centre he owns for the party. Here are his contact details and the address to the centre.

Didactic Novel: 0472 567 339

Tell him you’re the friend I mentioned.

END

Author's Note:

Here is another "in the Rain" story.

Thanks for reading and I hoped you enjoyed it.

Edited by Parchment

Ruff Cut

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