Chapter 4 - Stuck in the Rain

As they left the library Jimmy was about to make his exit. "Well, I'll see you around," he waved her goodbye.

"See ya," Cindy waved back. "We should study again sometime."

Yeah right, he thought as he opened the door. What neither of them expected was completely different weather. It was sunny with some clouds when they started. Now, it was a monsoon. Shoot, I forgot my umbrella, he facepalmed. I should've prepared just in case. I wonder how she's-

He turned to see her pulling her umbrella. "What? You didn't bring one?" Before Jimmy could answer, she put it closer to him. "That's surprising. Wanna share?"

To him, it seemed like a miracle, until he saw her playful expression. It then clicked what it meant. He remembered reading somewhere that when two people share an umbrella, it means they're together. He hesitated for a moment. Relax, it's merely a means to an end that we stay dry. Besides, it's not like everything you read is true anyway, he attempted to rationalize the situation.

"Lemme guess," Cindy noticed the hesitation. "You're afraid that people will get the wrong idea about us sharing an umbrella. That we're a couple or something, right?" she teased.

Challenge accepted, Jimmy rose to it as he stepped next to her under the umbrella. "Please, it's not like anyone will immediately assume that based on the weather." They both started to walk together. "I'm only doing this so I can stay dry."

"Mmmhmm," Cindy smirked. Now that they were close together, almost brushing each other, Jimmy started to get a tad nervous. What's going on with me? This is just a friend/rival from my childhood. There's nothing for me to be nervous about… As they were walking, he thought back to the brief memories he had with her before he moved away. Specifically, the time he was affected by 976-J and right after the Intergalactic Showdown when they almost tested the trust seal, among a few other examples. Okay maybe there's some relevance to the apprehensiveness, he corrected himself. He then looked at her, still… There's something different about her than before. Outside from the obvious maturing, her personality, her demeanor, it's…

"So are you gonna keep staring at me or are you coming in?" Cindy broke him out of his train of thought.

Jimmy blushed and turned the other way. "Crap, sorry I didn't mean to…" He then looked to where she was motioning. "We're at your dorm?"

"Well yeah, Neutron. We gotta dry up somewhere." Cindy opened the door. She managed to get a dorm to herself which merely consisted of a bed, a loveseat in front of it, a TV on the other side, a kitchenette, a small bathroom and a desk with her PC. She was on the 2nd floor. Various knick-knacks and posters were about. "You especially since you decided to have half your shoulder in the rain the whole time. Are you good with holding up here for the time being?"

"Yeah… I guess so." Jimmy scratched the back of his head. Cindy nodded as she left to get changed. "Beats being in the rain any longer."

A couple minutes passed, Cindy came back from the bathroom with an orange t-shirt, her hair down and some relaxed shorts. She also had a towel around her neck. Jimmy was in awe but only for a second before looking away.

"Thanks for waiting. I'll let you borrow this for the time being." She handed him some clothes that looked like they could fit him more than her. The t-shirt was even Ultra-Lord themed.

"Why would you have these in the first place?" Jimmy wondered.

"No special reason," he gave her a look. "It's not what you think. Sheen and Libby were here one night to play games with me and because of a crack I made at Ultralord, he demanded I have this Robofiend shirt."

"Heh, that's Sheen for you," Jimmy chuckled. "I'm good though, I'll just wait here until the storm ends."

"You'll get a cold at this rate, plus the rain's not going anytime soon," she motioned to the window.

Jimmy crossed his arms. "...Was it washed?"

"Of course it was, I wasn't gonna take any chances."

"Alright Vortex. I'll take you up on that. Thanks," Jimmy walked into the bathroom to get changed.

Cindy followed him in to instruct him. "You can just put clothes in this basket, I'll run it to the dryers once you're done. Same with this towel," she handed him one and walked away.

Jimmy was about to dry himself until an intrusive thought crossed his mind. This wouldn't happen to be the towel she just used, would it? I didn't see it around her like when she first walked out… A few seconds of hesitation passed before he decided to smell it. This is purely to make sure that this is an unused towel and for no other reason. After he realized it was the typical linen scent, he dried himself while mentally facepalming the idea. Shortly after, he changed and got out.

"About time, I'll take the clothes over. In the meantime, here's some tea."

"Oh thanks!" Jimmy smiled.

"Sure thing." A couple minutes passed until she returned. "Alright, I set the timer for the dryer. It should take no longer than an hour." She then noticed Jimmy looking extra nervous than he did with the umbrella or in the library. As she sat down with him, she noticed further that the tea wasn't even touched. Jimmy was looking down and his face was a tad red. "Neutron, what's going on? Why are you acting extremely suspicious?" she smirked.

"N-no special reason," he stated.

"Yeah right." She then leaned her face on to one of her hands while giving the same smirk. She figured out what was going on with how he was looking everywhere frantically when they first walked in, his hesitancy to leave the door and the time it took to get changed. "Is this your first time in a girl's room?"

"No!" he immediately denied. "I've been in some before!"

"Oh really mister wise guy? I'll call your bluff! Anything in particular you did while you were in one of them?" Cindy asked.

"Mainly to study for exams." Jimmy explained. Where's she going with this?

"'Mainly', huh? Was there any other reason?"

"What are you cross-examining me for?!" He got defensive.

"Ah so you admit there's another reason?!" She egged him on.

"Oh you don't know anything!" He retorted.

"Why don't I show you what some people would do then?"

"Wait what?" Jimmy's defenses were collapsing. "What are you implying?"

She then touched his arm. "Why don't we let our hands do the talking and get to some smashing if you catch my drift." She spoke in an almost sensual manner.

"Huh?!" Jimmy was caught even further off guard.

She put an arm around his shoulder and whispered in his ear. "I'll even let you pick the first stage."

Jimmy got flustered as he was doing jazz hands. "H-hold on! I'm not ready for anything like that!" Jimmy pushed her away. "Th-this is way too sudden for me!"

"Too sudden to play a game of Smash Bros?" Cindy played dumb. "Didn't you play this before?" she motioned to her Switch.

His emotions were everywhere and nowhere all at once. "Uhhhh…"

"Wait, what did you think I was referring to?" Cindy started to laugh.

"I-I'm gonna withhold my answer…" Jimmy looked away with a crimson blush.

"Was it something naughty? I never pegged you for the type, Neutron!" She teased all the while laughing.

"Oh shut up Vortex!" Jimmy grabbed a controller in an attempt to change the subject. "I'll take you on in this game!"

"Alright, I'll drop it for now," she grabbed her controller. They picked their characters and started with Battlefield. "Wow, really creative choice."

"This way, I know to beat you without any obstacles!" he claimed. As the game went on both were overall pretty good at it. It was a pretty close game until she landed a finishing blow, only for him to counter it and win the game. "Haha! Take that, Vortex!" Jimmy felt proud of himself.

"Argh, I'll get you for this, Neutron!" She retorted.

"I consider this, getting even for all the teasing you put me through!"

"Fine! Round 2 then!"

"Fine!" The next round started. The game was going as usual but towards the end, Cindy thought of trying a different tactic.

Alright, I'm almost there. About to have a good winning streak! Jimmy smiled as he was about to deal the final blow. "Take thi-"

She, in the nick of time, got close to his ear and went "BOOP!"

Jimmy flinched which drew his attention from the game. "Oh come on! Not again!"

"Yeah, I learned that from Carl," Cindy shrugged. "Also…" she won the game as the distraction bought her time to win the game. "Now that's what I'm talking about! You'll be in my dust in no time!"

"That doesn't count since that's cheating!" Jimmy argued.

"Come now," she said playfully. "You know what they say: all is fair in love and war."

"Pretty sure they weren't referring to a game of Smash Bros for either case," he retorted.

"Maybe I was referring to more than just the game," she teased.

"...What?"

"Never mind! Onto the next round!" She declared.

Several rounds passed and she employed different techniques to distract him. Some worked better than others. After a while, Jimmy thought to get even with her by distracting her for a change. As they were playing, she was about to activate her final smash. He was able to dodge it just narrowly and was about to release a counter attack. Cindy saw this opportunity to get up and block the screen from him, so he couldn't see. However, he thought of snagging her controller and having her character walk off the stage. This was almost successful as he managed to grab one of her joy cons.

"Thought you were slick, didn't you?" She teased and laughed with the other joycon. The one she was holding allowed the character to move whereas the one he's holding would only allow the character to attack and jump.

He jumped up once more in an attempt to grab it. From there, Cindy's martial arts instincts kicked in and grabbed his arm and attempted to tackle him. Jimmy was able to rotate, so he was currently on top of her. "Give… controller…" he said out of breath.

Both quickly realized the position they were in and started blushing profusely. They were in each other's embrace, albeit unintentionally. Both were hesitant to move for a solid minute. Neither were sure what to do. Then an alarm beeped which snapped them back to reality. Both immediately split up and looked away from each other. "Hehehe, so the dryer's done. I'm gonna go grab the stuff!" She awkwardly said and ran off.

"Sure," Jimmy got to the seat and looked down with a million thoughts running through his mind. I'm in so much trouble! What am I gonna do?! Is she gonna report this?! Will I get expelled?! Maybe I should explain myself, but where do I even start?! How's she taking it?! Did I unintentionally ruin our friendship? He put his head in his arms, unsure of what to do. These thoughts along with many others kept running until the door opened.

"Hey, so good news the clothes are dry if you wanna change into them now," Cindy returned with them.

"Oh, uh… thanks." Jimmy said in a monotone manner. He got changed pretty quickly and decided now was a good time to leave. He thought of what to say before heading out. "So uh. Thanks for letting me stay here during the rain. I'mgonnagobye!"

"Wait, Neutron-" She attempted to say but he already shut the door and left. He immediately had second thoughts on leaving, due to the heavy rain.

"It's okay," he said to himself. "I'll just need to book it. A little bit of rain won't stop me-" his thoughts were immediately interrupted by a bolt of lightning. "Pukin, pluto!" He sighed and walked back to the door to knock.

Cindy opened the door. "You know it's rude to rush out the door, especially after that move earlier. Not exactly a good look for you, huh?" She hid a smirk.

"I- I'm sorry about earlier. I was just trying to grab your joy con and get even. I didn't intend to… um…" Jimmy was awkwardly trying to get out.

He's funny and kinda cute when he gets nervous like this, she thought to herself. "Hmm…" She purposefully left Jimmy in suspense. Then she couldn't hold back from smiling any longer. "Ah, what the hell? I'll let you back in."

"Thank you!" Jimmy followed her inside. "I promise I won't cause any more trouble here."

"Now where's the fun in that?" Cindy teased. "But since I did kinda start by cheating earlier, I won't cause any trouble either. Promise!" Not this time anyway.

They proceed to play some Mario Kart, watch a movie, and eat some snacks. Before they knew it, the sun was setting and the rain had settled. They overall enjoyed their time together.

"Thanks for letting me stay!" Jimmy said as he was about to take his leave. "It was honestly kinda fun."

Cindy smiled at him. "Yeah, it was. We should do this again sometime!"