Without Rain the trailer felt depressingly empty. I lifted my guitar from the wall, snatched a pic, and headed to the bench at the centre of the trailer park to practise - it didn't sound the same unplugged but I could get an idea of what worked. As I warmed up with some Hendrix, my mind wandered to Rain. I'd laid next to them until they fell asleep, like I promised. How anyone could look so gorgeous in their sleep baffled me. Once satisfied they were sleeping nightmare free, I'd tumbled to the floor with a pillow and blanket. Warmed up, I began strumming some chords for a song I was working on, trying to find the right melody for it. It was one of the songs I'd written for my own project; Corroded Coffin had kinda run it's course since graduation when we realised we had to get actual jobs. Music couldn't just be a hobby for me though, I needed it to be more. My plan was to compile a bunch of songs to take to Canada and play for Adam, hopefully bag some time in the studio to record them and go from there. The distinct sound of Max's mom's beat up car tore though the otherwise peaceful trailer park.
Less than a half hour later Max's shouting broke my concentration. "You're insane, like clinically insane!" she stormed out of the trailer; her mom followed, looking like a Zombie. "I will not stand for you having orgies in my home." She accused max, snapping my attention. Max vehemently shook her head, "An orgy, seriously? The guys crashed here after a party. That's all. How could you even think that?" The expression on her mom's face turned sour, "You expect me to believe that there were three boys staying the night and there wasn't some kind of debauchery going on? Why else would they want to stay here Maxine?" Max recoiled as if she had been slapped, then turned and fled. Although I didn't personally know her well, Max seemed like a cool chick, and Lucas and Rain cared about her a lot. I ran to grab my keys and shoved my guitar in the back of the van before driving after her. After a short while I found Max sitting on a curb with her head in her hands. "Hey, you want a ride somewhere?" I shouted out of the window. Max seemed surprised by the offer but shook her head, "No thanks. Nowhere to go." From the sound of her voice I could tell she had been crying. Thinking on my toes, I called out, "You want kentucky fried chicken?" at this Max licked her lips and after a few seconds nodded. I leant to push the passenger door open for her to climb in. We ate inside the van in the parking lot, I'd flipped on some softer Metallica tunes in the background. "Thanks Eddie." Max said quietly. "Don't worry about it," I replied, "I'm sorry your mom said those horrible things to you." I added. After this short exchange, we ate in silence. Back at the trailer park I asked Max if she was sure she didn't want me to take her to Lucas' place. "Nah, i'm gonna grab my board and go to the skatepark." she replied.
It was five minutes to 3PM and my uncle had been on the phone since I'd gotten back. I was beginning to flip out internally; I really didn't want to be late calling Rain, I wanted them to be able to rely on me. My uncle entered the kitchen bang on 3PM, "alright it's all yours kid. Must be an important call, eh?" But I didn't even answer, sprinting to the phone. "Hey, hi, hello." Great start dork. Rain's chuckle from the other end was crystal clear. "It's 3:01 Munson. You're late." they teased. I smiled into the phone, "my apologies, I'll accept any punishment given. How're you feeling?" There wasn't much of a pause before they answered, "I'm good, been able to spend time with my mom, which is nice. You?" I began tapping the wall whist I spoke, "I'm stellar now. I actually spent time with Max today." I recounted the events of the afternoon and could hear strain in their voice when Rain said, "Thank you for looking out for Max, her mom can be awful, I'm sure you've heard much worse." There was a short silence before Rain spoke again, "So, come up with the 'best first date ever' yet?" I clicked my tongue, "I have indeed. Friday night, I'll pick you up at 6. That's all I'm telling you." thinking about it lit a fire in my stomach, this week was going to drag. "Okay...I can respect that. see you friday then." Rain sounded intrigued. Hanging up, I hoped I'd see them sooner than friday.
At 5PM Karen Wheeler almost had a heart attack when she saw me, "What happened Eddie?" I gave her a large smile and said, "would you believe me if I told you that I lost a right to a leprechaun for his pot of gold?" She rolled her eyes and welcomed me in. Karen almost reminded me of my mom - devoted to her kids and bursting with maternal instincts. That evening, Mike's campaign continued amazingly, we were all sitting on the edge of our seats. During a break from the game Dustin began interrogating me about my night with Rain, then they were all on my case. Except for Gareth, who never seemed to Iike Rain. I tried dodging their gazes and evading questions like "did you get lucky?" - this one earned a "ew gross, that's my cousin dude!" from Mike. I sighed and decided I needed to give them something, "They felt bad about what happened - even though none of it was their fault. When they found me like this they were worried about me having a concussion or something. Rain slept on my couch and checked on me now and then." Jeff, Lucas and Erica seemed satisfied with that; Mike and Dustin shared a doubtful glance, but accepted it. Gareth scowled at the ceiling, "are we gonna continue the campaign or sit here gossiping like little girls?" at this Erica threw him her best "excuse you" glare and he muttered an apology. The campaign continued until 10:30pm. Back in my trailer, I laid my head on the pillow that rain had slept on, their sweet scent clung to it and was enough to send me to sleep almost instantly.