The rain poured relentlessly outside, giving the illusion that Mother Nature responded to the feelings of Chris Redfield. He had taken the weather man's advice in bringing an umbrella this morning, but had forgetfully left it in his car. He trudged slowly through the torrent, feeling indifferent to his soaked clothes. Things had not been the same lately. His immense attraction to a coworker threatened his sanity. He couldn't seem to keep his mind off her, she dominated his every thought. All the while, she seemed oblivious to his advances, and in some cases pretended not to notice. In seemingly perfect sync with his thoughts, he heard the rumble of thunder as he looked to the crying sky.
"Hey, Chris!"
He slowly looked behind him, to see no other than Jill Valentine walking up to him with a light blue umbrella and a matching raincoat. She smiled as she hurried towards him to share her umbrella. He let a smile slide across his face, a nice change of pace from his depressed state.
"What possessed you to come out here without an umbrella?" She asked teasingly, giving him a playful nudge.
Chris' eyes studied her features which seemed to brighten the stormy day. Her light eyes glimmered as she smiled, tossing her short hair and tilting her head expectantly for a response.
"Left it in the car like a dumbass."
She laughed, motioning for him to follow her.
"Well come on, I'll walk you to your car...even though you really can't be any more drenched."
He chuckled as he began to follow her, the two huddled under the umbrella. It undoubtedly lifted his spirits, at least for the moment. Jill was like a drug to him, taking him so high only to let him plummet back into the same dreary sadness. Sometimes being around her only made it worse, but he wouldn't trade it for the world.
"You know Jill, a little water never hurt anyone."
She looked down at her raincoat.
"You don't understand Chris, it's a girl thing. Water does terrible things to us."
He smirked as the two crossed the street.
"A girl thing?"
"Yeah, it makes my makeup run, my hair frizzy...it pretty much makes me ugly."
"That could never happen." Chris said, watching her face for a response.
She scoffed a bit, smiling politely.
"Thank you Chris, I'm flattered."
"...Sure."
Chris started to feel the same dull pain in the pit of his stomach, an echo of what felt like rejection. He wanted so badly to just say something to her, settle it once and for all...the worst thing she could say was no...
"Where the hell did you park anyway?"
Chris pointed over to his old red Ford truck solemnly. Jill's bright face looked over to study his expression, having grown as quiet as he had. Perhaps it was out of embarrassment, but the awkward silence and tension was thick enough to be cut. The minute it took to walk over to his truck felt like an eternity of listening to the rain fall, but finally they had made it.
"Uh, Jill..." Chis muttered, feeling like an adolescent again as he prepared to speak his piece.
Jill's light eyes darted over to his attentively.
"I...I have a lot of feelings for you. You're really special to me, and I don't really know any other way to say it. I'd really like the opportunity to uh, take you out sometime."
Jill's facial expression remained blank, and she looked to the ground while Chris' heart felt like it was going to explode.
"Chris, I don't know what to say, except you're a really great friend and I don't want to mess that up..."
Chris looked away from her as she held her gaze to the ground.
"...You're an attractive guy, but I'm just not interested in dating right now. I'm sorry."
She looked back to him, who remained silent and expressionless.
"Okay." He replied "Thanks for sharing your umbrella with me."
She half smiled. "No problem. See you around Chris."
With that, the two separated. Chris watched Jill walk away, who never once looked behind her to see if he was looking. He felt a numbing pain all throughout his body, the hot words of rejection branded into his mind. He wanted to scream as loud as he could, he wanted to cry, he wanted to punch something...but simply stood and watched the woman he felt so strongly for walk away from him. The rain battered his head, soaking him and vibrating as a thunder bolt reverberated in the sky. It was all just wrong.
He slowly walked over to the driver's side of his truck, removing the keys from his pocket and as he looked to unlock the door noticed his window cracked open. He sighed loudly, opening the door and feeling the sopping wet seat. Shrugging, he hopped into the seat with a loud squishing noise. He turned the key, the engine roaring to life as he turned on the headlights and then the windshield wipers. He went to turn on the radio, but it appeared the radio was no longer working--perhaps from the rain reaching inside the truck's cab.
"Story of my life." He said bleakly, throwing the truck into drive and exiting the parking lot. It was going to be a rough night.
I'm not dead!
I'm really, really sorry about this, what, six month hiatus?
I lost all interest in pretty much everything, what a turbulent time we live in.
I did some thinking, and long stories just aren't my thing. I enjoy developing shorter stories where my plots and ideas can be developed much faster. Because of this, I will be deleting my incomplete story "Lipstick and Bullets." I don't believe I should leave an incomplete story up...it just seems lazy.
Hopefully you found this little one-shot comeback entertaining. I thought it was a nice "what if" change of pace from what I've usually written.
I'm baaaack!