Stranded In The Rain | Teen Ink

Stranded In The Rain

November 23, 2021
By Anna-Sully GOLD, Louisville, Kentucky
Anna-Sully GOLD, Louisville, Kentucky
16 articles 0 photos 0 comments

Her chest was pressed against mine as we crowded under my little sister’s Hello Kitty umbrella, desperate to get under a sliver of dry space.

 “You couldn’t have taken the time to find a bigger umbrella?” She questioned as I wrapped an arm around her, holding her close to me, away from the downpour around her.

“I wanted to get here before the rain,” I protested as she wriggled around, trying to get comfortable. She was stepping on my feet in the process, but I wouldn’t tell her that. “Guess it beat us.”

She laughed in an almost sarcastic manner. “No kidding.”

A flash of lightening passed over us, making her jump. She buried her face into my chest, the same way she’d done on our first date, dared to watch a horror movie by a couple of her friends, who knew she was terrible with jumps scares.

“You look like a drowned rat.”

She laughed genuinely this time, quiet yet real. “So do you.” She looked up at me with those big brown eyes of hers, soft and warm and perfect. She reached up, her hand just inches from my face, but she bit the inside of her cheek out of nervous habit and lowered it again. “Why did you want to come here, anyway?”

“I wanted to tell you something,” I said, fishing around in my pocket for that little hard surface. “I’ve been waiting to tell you all year, I just hadn’t gotten the chance to tell you…”

“No, Roger I- please don’t tell me you’re not-“

Finally, reaching the little box, I pulled it out of my pocket, unable to stop smiling. “And maybe it isn’t perfect, but I feel like that fits us, right?”

She shook her head, ruddy, soaked curls sticking to her cheeks and neck, her mascara running in black smudges down her face. She was beautiful even in her worst moments. “Roger, please don’t say it,” she whispered.

“Will you marry me?”

And she paused for a moment, a pained expression crossing her face, one that I’d seen too many times over the years we’d spent together. “I’m sorry, I just… I can’t.”

My heart dropped into my stomach. “Why can’t you?”

“I can’t explain, I just- I need to go.” And she ran off into the rain as thunder crashed around us, but she didn’t jump this time, and she didn’t look back.

And I stood stunned and heartbroken, under my little sister’s damn Hello Kitty umbrella.



Similar Articles

JOIN THE DISCUSSION

This article has 3 comments.


on Mar. 28 2022 at 12:09 pm
TessaDreamAuthor_3000 PLATINUM, Tomball, Texas
37 articles 2 photos 147 comments

Favorite Quote:
"The way I see it, if you want the rainbow, you gotta put up with the rain." - Dolly Parton
" Balance your life with spiritual experiences that remind and prepare you for continued, daily ministering to others." - M. Russell Ballard
"Love is expressed in a smile, a wave, a kind comment, a compliment." - Thomas S. Monson

Thanks lol

on Dec. 7 2021 at 5:30 pm
WolfGurl PLATINUM, Not A Real Place, Indiana
20 articles 5 photos 177 comments

Favorite Quote:
Until one has loved an animal, a part of one's soul remains unawakened. –Anatole France.

A dog is the only thing on earth that loves you more than you love yourself. –Josh Billings

Men are from Earth, women are from Earth. Deal with it.- George Carlin

A nation that destroys its soils destroys itself. Forests are the lungs of our land, purifying the air and giving fresh strength to our people. —Franklin D. Roosevelt

Never lose. Either win, or learn. - Me

I agree with previous comment.

on Dec. 6 2021 at 1:07 pm
TessaDreamAuthor_3000 PLATINUM, Tomball, Texas
37 articles 2 photos 147 comments

Favorite Quote:
"The way I see it, if you want the rainbow, you gotta put up with the rain." - Dolly Parton
" Balance your life with spiritual experiences that remind and prepare you for continued, daily ministering to others." - M. Russell Ballard
"Love is expressed in a smile, a wave, a kind comment, a compliment." - Thomas S. Monson

For a minute I thought it was going to end happily. :(
Great writing though, I really felt it. A good and bad kind of feel. You know? anyways, great writing! Please write more!