PHIL

"I've never been to a big city before," I murmured, staring up at the majesty of the skyscrapers towering above me. Dan nudged my shoulder, walking close alongside me. 'Don't stray, don't cross the street unless I give the say-so, don't let me lose you,' were the instructions he'd given me, and I planned to follow to a T. The last thing we needed during our brief romp around town was to get separated, and lost. Dan knew his way around here pretty well –I had to stay close.

"Are you excited to be here, then?" Dan asked. I caught a small smile out of the corner of my eye. "I thought you might want to get out a bit, breathe the fumes of the urban sprawl." He exaggerated a deep breath and let it out just as theatrically, and I laughed. We turned a corner and entered the tourist district, which was amazing. I'd never seen so many lights and colors before.

There were more people on the sidewalks now, which made me nervous; I didn't realize I'd sort of pressed myself against Dan's side until he cleared his throat, bringing my attention to it and making me jump back, red-faced and shaking. "I-I'm sorry. I know you said to stay close, but not that close."

He laughed nervously and lifted my chin to look at him. I felt his hand trembling and saw fervor in his eyes. "D-Don't worry, I don't mind. You're timid in the crowd, I get it. Really… I do. But you won't get lost; I won't let you get lost." He linked his arm with mine, and the flush of my cheeks kept up for a different reason now.

The sky was overcast and dreary, but we didn't let it take away from our afternoon out. We didn't stay in Times Square –I learned it was called— for long, and kept on walking northward. We'd probably have to turn back soon. I pulled back a little, but Dan tugged me forward. "Dan, it's gonna be time to go get Chloe soon—"

"Not yet, though. I want to show you something." He was still shaking, but it was dying down the further and further we got from the crowd, which would later get me thinking. But then, defeated, I let him keep pulling at my arm as he picked up the pace to a near jog. I managed to keep up, but not easily as we went faster and faster until—

"Welcome to Central Park, Phil."

If the campus had indulged my love of greenness in the city, the enormous park in which I came to be walking through absolutely spoiled me. Everywhere was lush and beautiful, even under the gray sky, and seemed to go on and on forever. I thought I'd been lucky when it came to the concourse amid the stone school buildings, but this was just unfair. It was my first time in a park in years, and I didn't know when I'd ever be able to return. I'd bug Dan with requests to drive me all the way here just to bask in the warmth of Nature. I had to enjoy it while I was here –and not forget to appreciate Dan's bringing me here.

And with that in mind, and no rational state to stop myself, I flung my arms around my friend, holding tight, face pressed into his shoulder as I murmured a string of 'thank you's' into his shirt. I felt him tense at first, then relax into the embrace, and I thought better of myself then. I went to pull away, but he had started to hug back, a hand running slowly, carefully up and down my back. And I eased into his touch, a gentler smile on my face. He was warm; I didn't want to let go, and with his arms willingly around me, I had to reason to.

I finally pulled my head back, and as our eyes met, a drop of rain hit my nose. I looked up to the sky to see more drops falling, scattered at first, then more steadily. I grinned: the day couldn't have possibly been any better.

Dan laughed and at length let me go, flinching away from the rain. He reached out to grab a hold of my arm. "Come on, Phil, we need to get somewhere dry before it really starts pouring!" He tugged but I wouldn't budge.

"Dan, this is the first time I've felt rain in four years, and maybe it's stupid to think so much of it, but I can't let this opportunity go!"

"You can get wet in the shower, let's go!"

My eyes pleaded with him to leave me be, let me stay where I stand in the rain as it started to pick up. People in the park were running for cover, and Dan would go too, if not for his unwillingness to leave me, and I refused to move. "Please, Dan…" The rain felt incredible already on my skin, raising goosebumps with every drop. Dan was shivering in a breeze that I hardly felt. "You can go take cover, I'll be fine. I'll just be a few minutes. I just need a few minutes."

He sighed softly, and sat down on the dampening grass. "Let me know when you're done." He sounded impatient, but when I looked back down at him, he was wearing a small, encouraging smile. He leaned back against my legs, and I turned my face back up to the sky, reveling in the water that fell on my cheeks.

It was the most refreshing sensation I could remember, excitement swelling in my chest as I heaved in the humid air. My hair was starting to stick to my forehead and scalp, growing so laden with moisture as it started to pour down that it dripped to the wet ground below me. I shook, shuddered, struggled to take it all in. It was a silly thing, I knew, to be so in awe over a simple rain shower, but it was important to me, and Dan staying right by even as he got wet himself made it feel just a little less silly. For once, I felt like something that I really needed wasn't stupid. Dan was giving me hope that I might matter.


As the weather started to calm, and a flood of rainwater died down to a drizzle, I told Dan we could go, and helped him to his feet. He was sopping wet and so cold, but still found the energy to pull me along, out of the park and down the street. We came to a store on the corner, and there sought shelter, in case the rain started to fall harder again. We didn't rest again until we reached a secluded back corner.

I watched Dan shivering as he pulled a sweatshirt from his backpack, and wrapped it around my shoulders. "No, I'm the one who made you wait, I'm the one who got you wet." I took it off and tried to hand it back to him, but he refused.

"I could've gotten out of the rain." He touched my arm, his touch unusually warm, and smirked, suspicions confirmed. "Ah. See, you're ice cold and sopping wet. You'll get sick if you don't get something warm on." The air in the store was cool and made me shiver. He frowned and took the clothing back, returning it to where he'd put it, and holding it in place, holding me by the shoulders.

We were standing so close I felt his breath on my cheeks –they heated up accordingly, pulling any warmth from the rest of me. I looked up into his eyes and saw a softness I'd never seen in him, not once. We'd been friendly for weeks now, but I'd never seen him look at me, or anyone, like this. The corner of his lips twitched, the shallow indent of a dimple barely visible. I will probably never know what possessed me in that moment, as I gathered my bearings, and leaned in to kiss it. My lips barely brushed the corners of his own. Reality hit me quickly, a hard blow that had me reeling back, embarrassed. My eyes turned themselves determinedly downcast.

But he lifted my chin again, and just a moment later, his lips were on mine. It was a spark that soothed into a warmth, and being as cold and damp as I was, I melted into it easily.