A couple days later, it was pouring rain, and I was out fishing as per usual. Around 5 or so, Sebastian came around the corner and stood next to me. The rain always beckoned this guy.
"Hey, so what are you having built now?" he asked me as soon as he approached. "I thought I overheard Sam's name, but… why would you be talking about Sam?"
"Long story short, I had a skateboard ramp built for him," I answered. "I know I wouldn't want to have to go all the way into ZuZu just to practice skateboarding."
"He was grinding on private property again, wasn't he?" Sebastian sighed. "Wouldn't be the first time Mayor Lewis has let him have it for that."
"Oh?" I asked. "Well, then, this ramp was even more desperately needed than I thought."
"...You're nice," he commented. "Almost too nice."
Before I could come up with a response, something tugged at my line, something on the strong side. I reeled in a pretty big tilapia.
"…You said 'had,'" Sebastian then said, after watching me put the tilapia away. "It's done?"
"It's done," I smiled. "I literally plan to show Sam next time I see him, which… may not be today, because I don't think he'd willingly come outside in this-"
"Hey, guys!" came the man of the hour's voice from some distance behind us. We both looked behind us to see Sam himself jogging over to us, waterfalls cascading off his own blue umbrella.
Sebastian turned to me and said "Awesome timing." I had to agree. That was surreal. Had fate written a TV script?
When Sam got to us, he said "I got bored, so I wanted to see if you guys had come out in this rain. To be honest, I didn't think you had. It's raining cats and dogs out here."
"I thought you knew me," Sebastian joked.
"I know, you both love the rain because you're such emos," Sam said. "But… I thought this would be a bit much."
"I'm borderline considering leaving," I said. "Doesn't help it's fall, so the rain's cold."
"You can say that again," Sam agreed.
Sebastian took his box of cigarettes out of his pocket. In five seconds, one was in his mouth and lit up.
I took note of my surroundings. The world felt pretty dark, as if the lights from Willy's shop, Elliott's cabin, and Pelican Town were the only sources of light existent. A blast of wind from the west then blew several million raindrops right at me, making me cold to the point of goosebumps.
I took a look at the fish I'd racked up. There'd be no guilt in stopping here, I decided. It was already evening, after all.
"I think I'm gonna call it a day," I said, reeling my line in and putting my rod away. I then looked up at the dark-gray sky. "If you could even call this a day."
I then looked at Sam.
"And Sam…" I said, smiling. "I'd like to show you something."
"What?" Sam asked. "…Oh, wait… is the ramp done?!"
His eyes were suddenly brighter than anything in the world around us. He also had a smile on his face akin to a child's on Christmas. My heart warmed up by a hundred degrees.
"It's done," I nodded, picking up my stuff. "Come on, let's go see it."
"See you later, Sebastian!" Sam waved to Sebastian, who had just exhaled a bunch of smoke.
"See ya," Sebastian waved back, before putting the cigarette back in his mouth.
The entire walk to the ramp, I was convinced Sam was going to start frolicking or skipping or something at any moment. Anyone could tell he was eager to get to this thing, between his quick steps and the widest smile I'd ever seen him smile.
It all honestly made me all happy and excited, too. I'd already made him this happy just mentioning the ramp was done. I'd seen the ramp myself when Robin had finished it that morning, and it looked awesome beyond anything I'd ever expected. I couldn't imagine how happy it would make an actual skateboarder. I couldn't imagine how happy Sam would be after laying eyes on it, and it made me just as eager for us to get to it.
The ramp was on my property, but on the southern edge, close to Cindersap and Marnie's area. When it finally came into view, Sam took off on a jog up to it. I just walked up to it, both watching him look it over with an amazed expression on his face and being impressed by it again myself. This was only my second look at the thing, and I still hadn't gotten over how beautifully Robin had crafted it.
It was a smaller ramp, only being chest-height, but it was enough for someone to do some decent tricks, and judging by the look on Sam's face, how his mouth was agape and his hands were both on his head, it… did the trick, so to speak.
"Robin's pretty proud of this, too," I said, looking it over again. "When she showed it to me this morning, she went on about how it's made from the sturdiest plywood, and has got plenty of coats of stuff that'll protect it from the elements, and even how smooth the surface-"
Before I could finish that statement, though, I was almost knocked off my feet by some kind of force… and that force ended up being Sam himself, who suddenly had me wound tightly in his arms. So tightly it almost hurt.
"Thank you," he told me. "Thank you, thank you, thank you!"
"H-Hey," I responded with a flustered laugh, hugging back with my free arm and feeling myself starting to melt. "Thank Robin. She's the one who put this thing together."
"It was your idea, though, and… and you paid for it," Sam said, not letting go. "So it's also thanks to you!"
"In that case, you're absolutely welcome," I smiled, relishing every second of this.
It was here I noticed he'd closed and dropped his umbrella before he'd come over to me, so I tried to position mine so we'd both be under it.
The rain didn't matter too much to me anymore, though. The warmth of Sam's arms canceled the cold out completely.