„Take the umbrella honey, it's going to rain."

She could hear her mother's voice echoing in her head. She had told her it would rain and, considerate as always, had even brought it to her attention, but she hadn't listened. Her mind had been full of other thoughts. Thoughts of her boyfriend.
Ex-boyfriend, she corrected herself sadly in her mind.
In the end it wouldn't have mattered anyway, she thought. Her face would've gotten wet anyway and even now as she jogged through the heavy downpour she couldn't discern her tears from the raindrops rolling down her cheeks. Long pink strands of hair clung to her face and she breathed heavily, her pace only broken by sobs and low cries. She should have known something like that would happen eventually. She had always felt, that he didn't really love her; it hadn't started as love after all. She didn't even know if he had actually ever considered her his girlfriend, or if he ever really bore the concept of loving her in his mind. Not even she had considered it in the beginning, but somewhere along the way, her heart had started longing for more than just the touches, the empty kisses and the empty declarations of love that didn't exist in his mind.
She had been stupid enough to fall for his physique, charm and cute clumsiness and that got her spiraling down into a hole where she didn't know how to get out of anymore.

The thing about love is that you don't fall together. You trip and fall alone and all you can do is hope, that the other one is brave enough to jump with you.

The girl came to a halt in front of her school gates. It was Sunday, so the school was closed, but she still had gone there, one of the only places she didn't directly connect to him. He had been in almost every action she took, most of the things that crossed her mind and she always seemed to know just the thing about him which seemed to fit the situation. She talked about him a lot. Her best friend always told her to stop, but somehow she couldn't. His name seemed to slip out of her mouth even if she didn't intent to mention it at all.

She had fallen deep and everyone close to her had noticed it. Only he hadn't. Only he never quite got it. And now he had broken her. Every time she closed her eyes, she saw the picture before her. His beautiful body, bent over another, too familiar, one. Her pink eyes had widened when she had seen the red hair nuzzle the other boy's neck as the lips she so adored left marks all over it. Before she had consciously realized what was happening she could feel the tears prickling in her eyes and her stomach twisting. Was this really happening. Had she really just witnessed her boyfriend showering her ex-teammate with hickeys. Had she really just heard the faint remains of the blond model's outcry? She didn't really want to know. Her analyzing skills had always told her, that the redhead did not solely fancy the female body, though she would never have thought it possible for him to go and betray her; with a good friend of hers at that. They had kissed, they had touched, and now he did all those things to him. She hadn't been able to pry her eyes away from the scene, no matter how much it hurt, no matter how much she just wanted to sink to her knees and clutch her chest.
She blinked several times, pushing the pictures out of her mind, as she slid down the cold brick wall by her school. Pulling her knees close and sinking her head onto them she hugged herself as tightly as she could.
She tried to be angry, she tried to be disappointed, but all she could feel was fooled. Fooled by herself, rather than fooled by him. She shouldn't have read things into it that weren't there, but wasn't that what most girls did? Didn't girls always search for love in every situation? Because in retrospective she felt pretty damn stupid doing that. Oh how she prayed one could simply fall out of love as quickly as the other way round.
That's when she felt her phone vibrate. She ignored it, but it rang again. And another three times after that until she finally picked up without saying a word.
"Satsuki?" came the voice of her best friend through the small speaker.
"What do you want Dai-chan?"
"Hey don't be like that. I wanted to ask you something, but your Mom said you were at Bakagami's, but he said you weren't. Where in the world are you?"
"He did?" she spat sarcastically. "He wasn't too busy for actually answering his phone."
Maybe he had heard it from the tone in her voice, or he could simply hear how stuffed her nose was and how often she sobbed lightly, but he immediately noticed that something was wrong.
"Satsuki, what happened? What did that asshole do?"
"He didn't do anything. He rather did someone, but that's not the point," she sniffed loudly. "I'm just so stupid, Dai-chan."
"Oh, so it's like that. I swear to god, if he ever shows his face again, I will-"
"No, don't do that! Please. It's not his fault. It's mine for being to naïve."
"That's not true Satsuki. But if that's what you want. Where are you right now?"
"Dai-chan, stop that. That's not-"
"Nevermind," he suddenly cut her off before the line died.

She stared at her phone in confusion until he heard a loud cough over the sound of the heavy rain. When she looked up she saw him standing there, soaked to the bone looking slightly out of breath. Her puffy eyes widened in disbelief.

"Troublesome woman," he murmured before he kneeled before her. "Don't look like that. You're not the only one who can read people, you know? I know you long enough now."
He reached his hand out for her to grab and she gladly accepted. Even though he had been out in the cold so long his big hand was still warm to the touch. One powerful tug later she had stumbled to her feet right into her best friend's arms. She quickly grabbed onto his shirt, pulled him close and sobbed into his shirt.
"That jerk doesn't even deserve someone like you, I hope you know that. And no matter what you say, I'm still gonna kick his ass." he murmured, which made her smile slightly. His tan arms also felt warm around her back as he hugged her tightly, resting his head lazily on hers.
"I'm so sorry Dai-chan to make you come out here in the pouring rain."
"Don't worry about it. I knew something was up when you weren't where your Mom said you would be. That's just not like you. You had me worried there for a second you know?"
"Sorry. But thank you. I don't know what I'd do without you. I'll treat you to some ice cream next time, alright?"
"I won't say no to that," the tall boy smirked.

"Great, because I could really need some right now. And chocolate. And simply every sugary, sweet, fat food I can get my hands on."
"Women," he chuckled as they strolled down the walkway, Momoi's arm hooked into her best friend's. With him at her side, she knew she would get over it somehow.

The thing about friendship is that there's no need of complicated communication, because simply the presence of a friend is enough to make your world light up.