Matrimony Homies

7. Rain (Harry)

We're running down the street with the water falling lightly from the sky. It had been a fairly warm spring day until the clouds rolled across the blue heavens and the raindrops started. Laughing and holding hands so neither of us gets lost in the storm, we giggle. Loren jumps in a puddle with both feet, and the water splatters everywhere – covering not just our shoes with the muddy dampness, but also the legs of our jeans. Tilting my head up to the clouds, I open my mouth and allow the water to trickle in to touch my tongue, but also my eyes and cheeks.

The feeling is pure glee, and I want to experience this forever. Loren shrieks with laughter, and I look up to find her soaked through. Her t-shirt is completely damp, making the fabric sheer, and I spy her bra through the material. My mouth, recently coated with rainwater, goes dry at the sight. Where did those boobs come from? Certainly, they hadn't been there moments before. I can't stop staring at them, and naturally Loren notices. She's aware of everything, especially when I don't want her to notice.

"What?" she demands, glancing down at her chest. "You've never seen breasts before?"

My mouth open, I shake my head slowly, my eyes travelling to her face. "I mean," my words stutter out, and my lisp becomes pronounced like it only does when I'm super tired or nervous, "Of course I've seen them. I've got a sister and a mum. It's just..." I reach out to touch, but pause with my hand mere centimetres from her damp clothing before dropping my fingers to my side. "Why are they so pointy?"

"My nipples?" When I nod my head, she laughs. "Cause I'm cold." Her body shivers as if for added effect, and my own skin does the same, raising goose pimples. Rather than covering her boobs in embarrassment, she lets me look for as long as I want. When I once again move to touch, though, she steps backwards and crosses her arms over her chest. "Your mum will wonder where we are since Gems is probably already there. Race you to the house!"

Her body twisting around, she takes off running. As competitive as I am, I let her win this time, walking behind her, waiting for my erection to disappear. Not my first time having one. They seem to happen at the oddest moments that are never related to anything that should be arousing. This is the first that's appeared around a girl, and I would prefer for Loren to not be aware.

As I wait for her at the first venue at which we've agreed to meet, I'm reminded of that rainy day back when I was 13 and Loren was what? 16? 17? Something like that. Squinting my eyes, I try to recall if she'd been dating someone then. She must have been. After all, she was hot. Stunning. Gorgeous. In my young teen eyes anyway, she was the whole world.

The rain in London at this moment does not make me want to tilt my head to the sky. In fact, I worry that it's filthy after collecting the pollution on the way down. The innocence of youth – totally wasted on the young. That must have been the spring before she went away to uni, right?

Signalling my server, I order a drink. Loren's late, and I'm impatient. Maybe we should have told Gems we couldn't do it? Buggered off? It might have been less torturous than trying to sort our way through a long-dead friendship. The way she'd shut down in our Monday night call was all I needed to recognise that we're not going to get beyond our past. Whatever happened will stay buried, and we'll both move forward without ever reconciling.

I rub at my chest because it makes my heart hurt to think that what we once had will never exist again. That carefree easiness we had with each other just vanished. Gone like the clouds that had delivered that rainfall all those years ago.

With that, my phone buzzes, indicating a text from Loren.

"What the hell name u using? Won't let me in. Said no H Styles."