Hard to Speak || l.h.

Three

I spent the majority of the hours before Raine came back becoming nervous.

Raine. What a name.

I took a shower and managed to get ready within about an hour, and spent the next two sitting in different sections of the house, fidgeting, and moving again. Finally I grabbed a bottle of water and climbed out on the fire escape, breathing in the surprisingly cool weather for July in America. The fire escape was sturdy, at least, and I leaned my elbows against it to watch the sun dive into the horizon, splashes of orange and red lining the sky. Gulping from the water bottle, I heard a familiar laughter to my right. Looking over, I saw that Raine was sitting cross-legged on her fire escape in an oversized hoodie and wet hair. She was talking on the phone. She didn't see me.

I didn't want to overhear her conversation, but there wasn't much noise on the street right now, and her voice carried over to me. As I watched the colors explode in the sky, I found myself smiling at the sound of her laugh.

"Tell the other girls I'm sorry, we can all go out after rehearsal one night this week... yes it's a real date, Marnie... well, I got the impression he was serious... no, I'm not telling you his name yet. If this dinner goes well, then maybe... because I don't want you hunting him down, he's new around here... yes, he's sweet. It's a nice change, I know. See you tomorrow, bye." She was quiet for a moment, and then her voice carried over to me again. "Hey, Luke," I could hear the smile in her voice.

"Oh, hey, I didn't see you there," I said as smoothly as I could, but I knew she knew I had been out here. She glanced back at the sunset.

"Isn't it gorgeous?" she said, and I wasn't sure if she actually wanted an answer or not. "I come out here every night I can and watch it."

I looked back over at this girl, Raine. "Raine," I tried her name out on my tongue. She turned back to me and tilted her head curiously at me. "That's a pretty name."

"You'd be the first to think so," she laughed, looking down at the street below us.

"You don't like it?" I asked, bewildered.

Raine stood up and turned to the window. "See you at eight, Luke," she stared at me a moment more before climbing back into her apartment. I shook my head and turned back to the fading colors. I watched until they had disappeared.

- - -

There was a knock on the door at exactly eight o'clock. I stopped by the small square mirror I had placed by the wall and ran my fingers through my hair quickly before swinging open the door. Raine stood there, her hands clasped behind her, in a gray flowing crop top, little blue shorts, and old vans. It was the first time I'd seen her with her hair down since I met her.

"So... hi," she smiled slowly, looking up at me, and I could see for the first time that she had green eyes that reminded me of the ocean back home in Sydney.

"Hey," I rubbed the back of my neck awkwardly, biting on my lip ring.

"So I figured that you didn't know anywhere to eat around here, but there's this little Italian place a couple of blocks down that's to die for. We could go there...?"

"Sounds great," I tore my eyes away from hers, so I could think clearly, and locked the door behind me.

Once we left the apartment building, Raine hopped down the front steps and looked up at me. "How old are you?" she asked as I came down after her.

"Nineteen," I answered, walking beside her. She smiled and looked down.

"I'm nineteen too," she replied.

"Okay, my turn. What's your full name?" I watched her profile as she tilted her head back at the few stars that you could see in the sky here in the city.