The rain was washing away everyone's plan for a great walk on a Friday night. It had become so heavy and persistent that Sharon and Andy were now running to his car, seeking shelter from it.
"Phew," Andy wiped away drops from his forehead. "Thank God, we walked in the direction where my car was parked,"
"Yeah, my car is on the other side," Sharon was looking outside hoping that the rain would stop immediately.
"Hey, I have to go that way anyway. I can give you a ride to it so you get just partially wet again, instead of completely," he offered her a charming smile, and he was so attractive under the dim light of neons in the street. Less than a few minutes ago, they had shared such a passionate kiss, she couldn't still believe she actually did that. She let her guard down and let him enter into her comfort zone.
Sharon had accepted that short ride to her car, it was raining too heavily for her to be able to walk on high heels without falling. And as soon as they had arrived to it and she had tried to start the engine, it hadn't started.
"Damit!" Andy had left when she had gotten inside the car, and getting out to look for help was out of the question. She nervously threw out the inside of her purse seeking for her phone.
One ring. Two rings. "Well, I didn't think you'd miss me so badly after only five minutes after we parted," he was annoying but very sexy when he teased her.
"I do not! But I have a situation here and I don't know what to do,"
"Don't move!" He hung up without letting her to say any more words. It had passed just a few minutes when Andy's car parked in the empty spot in front of hers, and he got out to run into hers. "Okay, what is the problem?"
"The problem is that I have a very old car, and I don't have the money to spend for a new one, and this thing won't start," Sharon was visibly nervous.
"It's alright," Andy took her hands to stop them from gesturing. "Here is what we do. It's raining heavily outside and we don't have space or the right conditions to try and see what the problem is, so now you get into my car with me," he pointed to his car just parked in front of them, "I drive you home and tomorrow morning I take your car to a garage," Sharon was looking at him puzzled. "I have the day off, don't worry! Just doing a favor as a friend, okay?" He waited for her to shake her head and walked out of the car.
As Sharon entered Andy's car, she was surprised to find it in perfect order. She'd expect him to be messy, like most of men, his own partner for example, instead she found it rather comfortable to sit in it. It smelled of clean and fresh, and not a single piece of paper or pack of food was thrown anywhere.
"What?" The whole drive passed in silence, with Sharon inspecting the car and Andy smiling stealthily watching her doing it. He finally broke the silence, "You are eyeing around for something compromising?" He laughed, so he wasn't actually mad at her.
"It's… odd, your car is tidy and that is odd for a man,"
"I am the one of a kind type," Sharon had pointed him to park because they had arrived. "Here? Okay" Andy signaled he was going to enter the parking lot and stopped the car.
The rain hadn't stopped one moment, and it didn't seem like it was going to end any time soon. "Andy, you cannot drive home in this rain," Sharon broke the silence between them.
"How do you…? Oh right. You have my files,"
"Yes! I know where you live. And where your family lives." She looked embarassed now, "my daughter is visiting, but she can sleep with me and we have a spare room. I cannot let you drive for such a long distance. It's not safe,"
Andy looked at her, her concern was sincere and he found it rather cute. She was worried like a girlfriend, "To be honest, I am a little tired to drive. But you don't need to bother your child. I can sleep on the couch," he had decided to accept the offer. "Although, I don't have anything to wear,"
"One of my son's pajamas will be good," Sharon chilled his allusive smile with a few words.
As they entered the elevator, the embarassement on Sharon's face made even more visible on the lights. "So, what exactly am I in front of your daughter?" He questioned. "A friend, a collegue, a boy…"
"A Friend!" She rushed to answer.
Andy nodded his head in agreement, "Friends.. with benefits?" He asked then.
"NO! Friends. Just friends!" Sharon thought that the moment was never ending. More than 16 floors, it had seemed 200.
"But you kissed me," Andy observed.
"You kissed me!" Sharon was hoping that climbing had ended much sooner.
"No, no. I remember vividly that you took my face in your hands, got closer to me and…"
"I get it. I get it." She rubbed her temples, "this wasn't such a clever idea."
"Which one? Kissing me, denying you did or inviting me to stay for the night?" Andy was having a lot of fun seeing her not focused and not always having a prompt answer. "Hey, Sharon. Relax! I will not tell your kid you fell in love with me in just one night,"
"It was surely a bad idea," the doors finally opened and Sharon rushed out as if she wanted to get rid of him.
Andy walked behind her with his hands in his pockets and smiling. When he reached her by the door, for a few seconds he smelled the rain in her hair, and a delicate touch of roses, it was probably her perfume. He smelled that in the house as well, as the door opened and they entered it.
The lights were on, and so was the television. Emily was on the couch zapping from channel to channel. "Hey mom," she stood up moving away the blanket away from her legs. "And mom's date, hello!" She waved at the man standing in the hallway next to her mother.
"Ha! That is funny, this is Andy," Sharon cleared her voice. "Lieutenant Andrew Flynn, and he is…" she paused and moved nervously to put down her purse and turn away from her daughter's look. "He is staying here for the night," she turned to Andy quickly, "I'll get you a towel." Sharon disappeared in the hallway and into a door.
Emily was left standing with the man looking at her. She smiled at him, "Excuse me a moment, mooooom!" She went looking for her mother.
"Sure, I'll stand here feeling totally awkward," he whispered.
"Mom," Emily entered the bathroom door and closed it behind her. "When I set you up for a blind date, it was only for you to have a casual and fun night out. Not to bring in your date for doing-" she closed her eyes disgusted by her own thought. "Okay, I don't wanna think what you may be doing. Why is he here?"
Sharon was nervously looking for a towel big enough for Andy to dry himself from the rain, "Because you, my dear daughter, set me up with a collegue of mine and it's raining like hell outside and he lives quite far from here, and I could not let him drive in this storm, so here he is."
"Wait what? He works with you?" Emily was surprised.
"Yes, and don't tell me you didn't know it. He has written it on his profile for sure. You must have known it and you set me up with him, anyway,"
"No mom, really he didn't. He only wrote A.F., he didn't even put his full name on there, I would have never," now Emily was as well nervous as her mother. "What a damn situation,"
"Don't use that word," Sharon admonished her daughter pointing a finger towards her face and finally left the bathroom. "Here, I found this you can wash up and I will get you something to wear for the night," Sharon quickly handed the towels to Andy and ran away in another room again.
Andy stood there looking at her, and Emily walked towards him. "So you work with my mom," Andy nodded to her while putting down the towels and taking off his jacket. "Have we ever met before? My mom always tells me that she used to bring me to work when I was a kid, but I barely remember it."
"Umm yeah, I used to play with you, sometimes… the space shuttle ride," Emily looked at him puzzled. "Make me fly to the moon, higher, higher," Andy tried to emulate the voice of a kid screaming.
Sharon entered the room just that moment, "Emily don't bother our guest, Andy here are your clothes, the bathroom is down there, the last door on the right." She had thrown him the clothes and was pushing him to move away to the bathroom. Sharon didn't want him to talk with Emily more than the conventional greetings.
Emily watched him vanishing into the bathroom and her mother running to the kitchen to hide, "Well he seems very sexy," she started to tease her.
"No he is not! And you will not talk to him,"
"What is wrong with you, mom?" Emily was laughing at her mother's attempts to hide something. "You know, for a great police officer as you are, chasing the bad guys and making them confess, you are not that good at hiding your own emotions on your face," Sharon had placed a bottle of water in front of her daughter, and Emily took a sip from it. "You like the guy, mom!"
Sharon looked at Emily with an irritated look, "Emily Jane Raydor, you will listen to me carefully." She pointed her finger to her daughter's face, "I do not like him." Sharon took her bottle of water and moved away from Emily.
"Powerful speech," her daughter mocked her. "If you don't like the guy, then why is he spending the night with you?"
"Here, he is spending the night here, not with me." She stated, "and because outside there is a terrible storm." Sharon heard the noise of the lock opening from the bathroom door, indicating that Andy was done dressing and coming out. She lowered her voice almost in a whisper to her daughter, "We had a dinner and I cannot say it wasn't pleasant and funny. But we are collegues and that is pretty much where our relationship boundaries will stop. Andy," she turned with a smile to the man approaching.
Emily smiled like her mother and getting closer to her, to give the goodnight kiss, she whispered in her ear, "Do you call all your collegues by first name?" She printed her lips on her mother's cheek and turned to Andy. "Lieutenant Andy Flynn, was nice to meet you and have a good night," Emily disappeared in the hallway towards the guest room, giving one last look at her mother standing there, embarassed, in front of a man that she called only a collegue, and who was wearing her son's pajamas. It was too amusing not to laugh sarcastically at it.
Sharon and Andy remained silent in the living room. Sharon was all red in the face, as she was sure that Andy had understood what her conversation with her daughter was all about, and she had to admit to herself it was weird to see a man, who was her collegue, standing in front of her dressed for the night. Especially after she had expressely told him hours before that it wasn't going to end with them having sex. It wasn't going to happen, but nonetheless he was in her house. "So," Andy broke the silence, "I think I will need a pillow and a blanket,"
"Oh Gosh, you are right," Sharon had absently forgotten to grab those things as well, and she ran down the hallway to her bedroom and returned, almost running and handling them to him. "I am sorry, I totally forgot. Well," she motioned her hands nervously, "have a good night then."
"Goodnight," Andy let out of his wish with a louder tone, as Sharon was already running away from him. He heard the shutting of the door distinctly and smiled. He had to admit to himself that he loved to see her nervous and losing it, she seemed more human and less of the robot she used to be at work.
Before he settled in for sleeping, he wandered around the house; he had never been in her apartment before. He would have imagined a bleak house, with no frames on the walls, and lifeless furnitures, no colors; instead he found himself in a rather comfortable place, with many colors coming from the reds of the sofa-chairs, and the brown of the couch, and frames of her children placed on all the fine piece of furnitures. In only one night, Andy had discovered a completely different Sharon Raydor, and this new one was not so bad after all.
Just as he turned off the lights, he moved quietly and touching everything while walking, too scared to trip into something and make a mess. Thankfully, for once, the storm outside was helping him to see through the darkness with its lightings. As he finally placed his head on the pillow, he fell asleep with the sound of the rain tapping on the windows.