drive (mithzan short story)

chapter one

I always had a thing for brunets, at least I had thought I always had a thing for brunets. My last three boyfriends were those of brown hair, maybe that's why they didn't work out, maybe they collectively rose up against me because of their brown hair, maybe it was a coincidence they all had messy browness atop their heads, I'll never know. Hair was - as shallow as it seems - the biggest thing I found physically attractive about people, if someone didn't have nice hair, they were automatically less attractive to my eyes. My daddy would have said it wasn't shallow, my daddy would have said "to be in love with someone, you have to love every aspect of them, obviously, baby, looks aren't everything, but if we stress so much over them then they must be something, love someone you can love everything about."
That's what my daddy taught me, so no I wasn't ashamed of my love of brown hair,
If I even had one.
Anyways.
It was raining and raining. I had no umbrella and my dress was getting wet, I had no choice but to try and hail a cab.
It was my daddies funeral that I was coming from, I disliked my Mother for the sole reason that she left me when I was ten years old, and I hadn't met much of my other family, so as I walked into the church, I was leaving the church, alone.

I wasn't on a crowded street, but it sure was urban, cars going by and by, people walking here and there, rain pouring down and down, hailing a cab would be difficult.

I walked to the corner, feeling numb, wanting to cry at the loss of my father but having no more tears, and that's when I saw him, a man, of maybe about my age, wet as I from the downpour, soaking brown hair and a trimmed beard, standing taller than me, at the corner I was heading to, and my gosh he too was hailing a cab.

I walked to him, and shyly stood ten feet away from him. We both stood there for a second, me in my black dress, he in his black sweater, both knowing we both needed a cab, until he spoke up.

"Where are you headed?" He asked, though over the rain it was not audible.
"Pardon me?"
"Where are you headed?" He asked again, stepping a little closer to me this time. I told him the street my apartment was on,
"Wow, that's the same street I'm on.." He said,

"Lilah," I said, smiling.
"Max." He shoved his hands in his pocket.
Suddenly, around the corner came a taxi, and max quickly threw up an arm, the taxi squealed to a stop in front of us. He opened the door, but before getting in, he looked at me,
"You coming? Or what," he said, holding the door. Gratefully I got in, and he followed suit, closing the door behind him. Once in, Max told the driver where we were headed and off we went.
"You lived here for long?" He asked,
"Well no, I uh, was actually living with my dad a few towns over and I just recently moved." I know mentioning my dad should have made me sad, but I decided that my dad would have wanted me to be happy, so I threw on a smile.

For a few more minutes, we sat in silence, and finally, it was our street. We both got out.
"I'll see you around I guess," said max, before adding "hopefully."
"Yeah, hopefully." I said.
He turned on his heel and shoved his hands in his pockets, walking down the road towards his place, I did the same.
I didn't think much of the encounter, just a stranger being friendly.

Max's POV
The next day.
On a little sticky note, i scribbled down some words, folded the paper and put it in my pocket before putting my headphones on and clicking into my editing screen.
One hour,
Two hours later, I got a visit from someone special, Ross. Just great, my favourite person alive, oh how wonderful.
Without saying a word, he threw his hands on the back of my chair and began rocking me back and forth. For a minute, I closed my eyes, allowing him to.
"You have three seconds to stop that."
He continued.
"Three."
And he continued.
"Two."
And he continued.
"One."
I was readying myself to get up and cause him pain, but he stopped as fast as he started, and ran out of my office. Hm.
Yesterday's rain was still pouring down, oh how crappy the weather was here, but certainly a change from the weather in Louisiana.
At seven O clock, Ross, Tim and I headed home,

"Hey Ross?" I said in the car,
"Hey what."
"What do you know about the girl living down in the apartment that was for sale?"
"Why? Is she pretty?"
"Well I dunno, I just ran into her yesterday getting a cab, she looked like she was coming from a funeral." I said.
"Bake her a casserole!" Tim chimed in,
"No, no, I was just wondering if you guys knew who she was is all."

- - -
Later that night, I took the sticky note out of my pocket.
"Lilah" it read, I knew I would forget her name so I wrote it down, and it surely came in handy.

I followed the sound of the TV into the living room, where both Ross and Tim were watching the last man on earth.
"Ugh" I said, after seeing it on the TV, don't get me wrong it was a good show, but the internet ruined it for me.

"What, you a little mad max?" Tim half heartedly teased from the couch, I closed my eyes and counted to three before ignoring the comment.

"The girl down the street? Her name is Lilah." I said,
"Oh yea?" Asked Ross, making his disinterest very apparent.
"Yea, I want to go say hi but I'm not really sure how you know?" I asked, abruptly, Tim grabbed the remote and paused the last man on earth.

"Make her a casserole." He said, turning around,
"That's weird."
"Casserole, casserole, casserole!" He began to chant, Ross joined in,
"Guys no."
"Casserole! Casserole! CASSEROLE!" They cried.
"Fine!" I said, "but I'm buying it, from the grocery store." I added.
"Fine." Said Tim, returning to his TV and unpausing it.
"Fine." I replied, I grabbed my jacket and my car keys and headed to the grocery store, hoping that it was still open at nine O clock.