Umbrella
"You picked a great day to be all gallant and walk me home, Nick."
Nick ignores Katherine's sarcastic tones and tries to keep the thin flimsy umbrella upright over their heads so that it provides some version of shelter from the rain that dashes furiously against the pavement.
His coworker huddles a little closer under what suddenly seems like not a great amount of fabric to keep off the inclement weather. Nick's fairly sure his supposedly waterproof mac isn't doing much anymore, so concentrates on buffering the umbrella against the wind. They're hurrying along the pavement away from Calimov, in the vague direction of the town centre. They're the only ones out here, he notes with slight displeasure as another car drives past, narrowly avoiding soaking them both with yet another ever-deepening puddle by the kerb. Nick's honestly considering swallowing his pride and calling Rebecca to come pick them up, even though she and Katherine are notoriously hostile towards each other.
Katherine shakes drips from her damp hair, unwittingly giving her friend another shower. "Seriously, who invented rain?" she mutters.
"Amen British weather," Nick seconds, pulling his hood a little further over his head with his free hand. It had been perfectly sunny when he had set out from home this morning, figuring that he might as well get some exercise beside chasing after one of Eve or KT's recent shenanigans. That had been a different story, of course, when he next got access to a window, happening to be in Katherine's office when he was signing off for the day, and both Calimov employees had sighed in unison at realising the skies were black with storm clouds that didn't look like letting up soon. At least Nick was prepared for this eventuality and had a raincoat and umbrella stored in his locker. Katherine just looked a little – lost, staring out at the bucketing rain with a face like thunder.
"Is it far to your apartment building?" he wonders a moment later, a sudden breeze blowing the umbrella nearly out of his grip.
Katherine gestures vaguely down the main street they're rushing down. "About five minutes from here?"
"You walked all this way in?"
"Yep." She pulls her soaked blazer closer around her waist, casting another dark look at the heavy shower that they're caught in. "Regretting it now, obviously…" She hesitates, throwing Nick a grateful look. "Thanks for this, Nick," she says gruffly. "I should have brought my car."
"Same, don't worry about it." Nick inhales as another larger gust of wind takes the umbrella and nearly turns it inside out with the force of the storm. He would have lost it completely if Katherine hadn't lunged and grabbed the handle with him, her hand grasping on top of his as they wrestle the disobedient umbrella back over them. "Thanks," he puffs.
"No problem."
They hasten on through the rain in silence. Nick only realises that both their gazes are drifting towards the windows of the shops they're passing when he looks back towards Katherine and she's staring through the glass at a bustling restaurant, waiters efficiently rushing around passing delicious-looking meals to smiling families.
His eyes meet hers. "Hungry?" he asks, almost timidly.
She shrugs casually, like he had expected her to. "Kind of," she admits.
Nick grimaces as another icy droplet of rainwater slides down the back of his neck and gives up entirely on the useless umbrella, shaking it off on the pavement as another cushy car speeds past. "Shall we go and wait out the storm, then?" he asks. "You weren't in any hurry to get home, were you?"
Katherine pretends to think about it, while furtively glancing at the little restaurant again. It does look warm – and dry, more to the point. And that pizza doesn't look half bad. "Yeah," she says carefully. "Why not?"
They share another long look, then both chuckle to themselves and hurry around the growing puddles into the cosy café.