unchained

seven

***

Phil
1:02pm

I parked the car outside the hotel Dan was staying at, and we made our way over to the park adjoining the building, walking side by side.
"I don't get it," I began, "Why did you rent a hotel room when you could've just stayed with your family?"
"Because we wanted to surprise them. I haven't seen them in years..."
"Fair enough." I changed the subject, anything to keep his troubled mind off things. "Who's going to be the best man, then?"
"My brother. You remember Adrian, right?" He said.
"Of course."
We stopped simultaneously at the park bridge, which looked down upon a small lake, and leaned on the stone wall. The drizzling rain had stopped, but the clouds were still gathering overhead across the city, rendering the houses and park below a darkened grey in the faltering light. The humidity of the air was precipitating and was beginning to suffocate us.
"I do love her Phil, I really do."
"I know you do," I replied, and I looked down to examine the lake below us, I couldn't look at him. There it was again. The sharp stabbing sensation slashing my chest.

song: medicine — the 1975

"I'm just sick of being messed around. Is that too much to ask? Am I being stupid?"
He leaned his elbows on the stone bridge so that he was just brushing against my arm.
"No, I totally get you," I said, and I shifted my elbows resting on the side of he bridge to look deeply into his eyes. I wasn't just looking at his eyes, I had seen into his soul. Those brave, brown eyes were not fooling me. I could tell he was hurting, and though he was obviously trying to conceal whatever it was that was hurting him, he had tried desperately to put on a front for me.
I could see right through him.
I looked deeper. This time he didn't refuse me -he stayed, transfixed. "You're not being stupid." I purred, "You need to learn to live in the moment, Dan. Don't think about the future, it hasn't even happened yet. Don't think about the past, either, because you can't undo what has already been done."

He smiled adoringly. But our gaze was broken by the low sound of thunder rumbling above our heads like a dormant volcano that had been disturbed, and we both jolted upright. A large drop of rain landed heavily onto the bridge, and before we knew it, several other drops were cascading from the sky, and scattered across the ground including the lake in front of us. Then, out of nowhere sounded another crack of thunder announcing the start of a thunderstorm, and what were heavy drops soon became sheets of rain covering the city. Even the wind stood still for a moment.

I looked up in amazement, it wasn't every day you got caught out in a thunderstorm as big as this, even in rainy England. I put my arms out to my sides, as though I was spreading my wings, and began to turn on the spot, the rain drops pounding onto my skin.
Instantly I became soaked, and my clothes turned two shades darker. Dan was watching me from the other side of the bridge with his arms tucked over his torso for protection, squinting through the storm.

"Phil Lester, what are you doing?" He bellowed, but he was barely audible through the pattering rain. I reached out towards him and grabbed his arm, pulling him closer.
"What are you doing?" He growled, but I could see him fighting hard to hide his laugh as his voice wavered.
I began to turn him around and we shoved each other playfully for a moment, and even though he may not have admitted it, he was dancing in the rain.

We started to run back to the hotel through the downpour.

We were breathless and drenched in the aftermath of the clouds as we sprinted across the bridge and through the park side by side. Our feet sank into puddles and water ricocheted splashing our ankles, and our hair was dripping from root to tip. We may have been cold and unprepared, and some of our clothes may have been ruined, but at least we were care-free.