I'm Waiting

Eleventh

"It's going to rain."

"I know."

"Pretty soon."

"Yeah."

"So...."

"What?" He smiled encouragingly at me.

"It's going to rain on you if you stay out here."

"It's only gonna sprinkle."

"But you'll get wet."

"That's okay."

"No it's not!" He was so small and delicate that I was worried about him sitting out in any amount of rain. What if he got sick?

"You could get me an umbrella." He laughed, thinking I wouldn't take him seriously. I would get him the moon if he asked for it.

"Okay! Let me just look for the nearest place to—"

"I'm not serious." He covered my hand with his, to stop my furious search on my phone for the nearest store. I looked up at him in surprise, and he too seemed to realize exactly what he has done. He looked down at our hands, and didn't speak for a moment.

But when he did, he didn't move his hand away from mine.

"I don't want you to do anything for me."

"But I want to!"

"There's got to be another way." He smiled at me, the slight crookedness of it all I could look at. We were sitting very close.

"Well, you can't stay out in the rain."

"Since you insist."

"Why don't you come to my house until the rain is gone?"

"I don't..." He searched for the right words to say to let me down easy. But the rejection sunk in deep without even a single word form him. I pulled my hand away from his, forcing a strained smile.

"It's okay. I get it, and that probably sounded creepy or something, but I—"

"Its just that I don't want to leave. I'm still waiting."