It had begun to rain.

She looked up at the cloudy gray sky and smiled in the middle of the street, aware that everybody else was looking up at the sky more with annoyance than with pleasure. She lowered her gaze and resumed walking, thinking that maybe the heavens knew she needed something to make her feel better.

True, it was weird that walking in the rain lifted her spirits while it depressed most people. And she could remember quite clearly when she had begun to think of the rain as a blessing.

She walked on, lost in thought, not caring that by now, her coat was drenched, as were her blouse and jeans underneath it.

"How far are we walking, Tonie?" a voice asked mildly suddenly behind her and the rain stopped pouring on her. She turned around. Someone was holding an umbrella over her, a tall, black-haired, blue-eyed someone, and she smiled.

He raised one dark eyebrow, his handsome face curious. "What's so funny?"

"I was just thinking about you," she told him.

The other eyebrow shot up. "Well, now, I'm flattered -- "

She laughed. Then paused because she hadn't laughed for days. "Where have you been, Mike?"

"Here and there. Why? Did you miss me?"

"Not particularly. No offense, but you wouldn't make good company these days."

"Neither would you." He nodded at her bulky backpack. "What's with all the luggage?"

"Oh..." She pulled her sodden pack off her back and sighed. "Just some spare clothes..."

He stuffed his right hand into his jeans pocket. "It's really raining hard now. Would you like for me to drive you home?"

"No!" she said, a bit louder than she had intended. He gave her a questioning look and she quickly averted her gaze. "I'm okay. I'll just find somewhere to sit until the rain lets up a bit."

"You have to get out of those clothes," he said firmly.

"Yes, well, I don't need your help with that," she said jokingly. He wasn't in the joking mood and she remembered how unwholesomely clever and perceptive he was. People always joked about Mike being able to read minds and somehow, he knew something was not quite right with her. "Look, there's a cafe across the street. I'll be fine in there."

She had taken no more than two steps when he grabbed her hand and pulled her back.

"Where have you been, Tonie? Your parents have been worried sick about you," he asked suddenly, his voice cool.

She sighed. "You heard about that, I see."

"I didn't dig a hole and live in it, you know." He turned, dragging her along. "I'll take you home."

"No. I don't want to go home."

"Well, where have you been staying the past five days?"

"With an acquaintance from university. But I've more or less worn out my welcome there."

"All right. We'll go to my house. And don't argue with me," he added when she opened her mouth to do exactly that. "We have to get home before we both die of pneumonia."

She sighed and gave up.

"Wow, it's a real storm out there," Tonie said, peering out of Mike's living room window. Since everything in her bag was wet, she was wrapped in one of his bathrobes.

He shoved a mug of warm coffee under her nose and turned away, muttering absently about needing to finish packing.

She looked around at the boxes that littered the place. "Geez, what else do you need to pack? The grand piano?"

"I'm having problems with that," he said with a straight face.

"Mike?" she asked as he sat down and started sorting through a pile of books on the floor.

"What?"

"Could you tell me -- How are you?"

"I'll live."

She sat down across from him. "No, really. Aaron just packed off and left me here and Jamie...exactly what happened between you and Jamie?"

"Oh, nothing much, except she decided to stop trusting me. That's about it. I'll spare you the heavy drama and the speeches."

"She really loved you," she murmured.

"I think she's forgotten that fact," he said dryly. "Do you want to tell me what happened?"

"No. Maybe later," she said seriously.

He smiled wryly at her. "Look at us. Dumped by the Jenkins cousins. I kind of feel sorry for us."

"This is why I didn't really want to hang out with you," she sighed. "You get annoying when you're sad."

"Who told you I'm sad?" he asked her. "I'm not sad. Angry would be a better term."

"But didn't you know? Anger is sadness in denial."

"Such wisdom," he said mockingly.

She stood up. "I want to take a walk."

"Tonie, half the streets are flooded."

"This neighborhood isn't."

"I'm not letting you go out there. I'll sit on you if I have to."

She smiled faintly. "Well, when you put it that way...Hey, how about we make ourselves some dinner? I'm starving."

It was almost midnight. In the next room, Mike was probably already fast asleep. She pulled the quilt he'd given her tighter about her. Her clothes had been spun dry in the machine in the basement and she was dressed in her warmest clothes but they didn't seem to be enough. And the urge to take a walk in the rain was still strong inside her. She couldn't quite explain the need for it, but it was something she had to do. The first time she had walked in the rain had been over a decade years ago, when she had only been seven years old. It was funny. It was how she had met Mike. She had gotten lost in the woods that lay between her family's land and theirs and it had suddenly rained. But for some strange reason he had never told her, he had been out in the woods at the same time and found her.

She sighed and drifted out of the bedroom and was surprised to run into him in the hall.

"It's not raining so hard anymore," he told her and she noticed he wasn't wearing the old clothes he'd gone to bed in but was wearing the jeans and shirt he'd worn earlier.

"No."

He sighed. "If you die, at least you'll die...happy?"

She smiled and took his hand. "Come on. Let's go."

She was the first to take the step out into the rain. Once again, she smiled, throwing her head back, letting the icy water run over her.

"You don't mind if I think you're crazy, do you?" he asked, still under shelter.

"Come on! It'll make you feel better, trust me."

"We have a shower," he told her.

She laughed and jumped toward him then enveloped him in a tight hug.

"I hate you, I really do," he said, looking down at his wet clothes.

"No, you don't." She laughed again and ran across the front lawn, making a lot of noise.

"You'll wake the neighbors."

"Not with all the racket the rain's making. Geez, Mike, you have one of the wildest reputations I know and you're afraid of getting wet?"

"What are you getting out of it?"

"You're going to take all the fun out of it," she said sulkily.

"Yes. This was a bad idea."

"Why?"

"Because you're cheating. Walking in the rain can make you feel better for a while. But it won't take the hurt away, Tonie. Not this time."

She stopped and stared at him. "You talk like you know everything. Your life is more screwed up than mine."

He looked down. "Maybe. And maybe that makes me see things you can't understand. You've had it easy most of your life. And now that your world's turned itself upside-down -- "

"Don't get all preachy on me, Keith," she said coldly, calling him by his first name, a warning, so to speak.

He ignored it. He stepped out from under the porch roof and went toward her. "The rain can hide your tears for now, Tonie," he said gently, reaching out to touch her cheek. "But it won't always be raining. And you can't always hide somewhere."

She stared at him for a long time and realized what he had seen before she had. She was crying. It was crazy, yes. While she had been laughing and running, she had also been weeping. It was strange how she hadn't realized that...or maybe she had tried hard not to. "You never told me what you were doing eight years ago," she said softly, staring at the hand he held out to her. "When you came across me in the rain. You weren't lost. You had me back home in half an hour. What were you doing?"

He smiled. "I was running away."

"So. That explains it," she said.

"Will you take my hand already? I'm not made right for this."

"Can I cry on your shirt?" she asked him.

"It's already wet anyway," he shrugged.

She took his hand and he pulled her back inside the house, before turning to hold her in his strong arms as she began to cry in earnest. For the first time since her life as she knew it ended five days before.