She Loved the Rain

Brian pored himself a cup of coffee as he gazed out the window at the storm slowly approaching the sky. He sighed as the rain came down harder with each minute. ‘She would’ve loved this’ He thought to himself. He took a drink of his coffee and sat down in a recliner as the memory of his sweet past with Julie came rushing back to him…

“Hey Bri, don’t ya just love April showers?” Julie said over the rain as Brian walked towards her. He looked up into the sky then back at Julie.

“April showers bring may flower, but YOU my dear, are the most BEAUTIFUL flower of all.” Brian said, a smile plastered on his face from ear to ear. He twirled her around with his arm and watched as her long, blonde, wet hair swirled around and into her face just a little bit. She smiled wildly as Brian pulled her in for a kiss…

The thunder rolled around in the sky, Brian propped his feet up on the coffee table a few feet away. He heard his dog give out a loud sigh and turned to look over at him. Brian patted his leg and Tyke jumped up onto the recliner and curled up in Brian’s lap.

“You miss her too, huh boy?” He said sadly…

“Morning Beautiful.” Brian whispered into Julie’s ear as she lay peacefully sleeping.

“Hmmm, Brian, How’d you get in?” She asked quizzical as she rolled over to find him laying next to her, smiling broadly.

“You told me where you hide the extra key, remember?”

“Oh. So what ’cha doin’ so early in the mornin’?”

“Bringing you ONE of your MANY birthday presents from yours truly.”

“Oh really? Must we celebrate me being the ripe old age of 24?”

“Yes. Now close your eyes. Please.” Brian stuck out his bottom lip, pouting. Julie closed her eyes as she lay on her back she rested her folded hands on her stomach. Soon she felt a small, warm, slightly fury creature laid on her chest, her eyes shot open as the small dog started to lick her face. Brian laughed at this and pulled the dog back a little so she could breathe.

“Happy birthday.” Brian choked out before laughing again as Julie smiled brightly and wrapped her arms around Brian in a big hug before going back to playing with the dog.

“What are we ganna name him?” Julie asked as she looked up at him.

“I don’t know but he sure is a little tyke ain’t he?” He laughed, Julie’s eyes grew wide and looked over at Brian.

“That’s it! We’ll call him Lil’ Tyke!”…

Brian was snapped out of his trance by the loud shrieking of a phone ringing. He picked up the small cordless and put it to his ear.

“Hello?”

“Hey sweetie, how ya doin’?” He heard the familiar voice.

“I’m fine mom.” He said, unenthusiastically.

“How’re you holdin’ up without Julie?”

“Truthfully? Not good, I miss her so much. It’s a disaster around here without her. Even Tyk’s depressed.” Brian looked down at the small sleeping dog.

“Well you can always come home for a little while if you want. Y’know, get away from everything.”

“Yeah mom, I might do that. I guess I’ll call you later, huh?”

“Okay son, we love you, we miss you.” His mother soothed. They said their good-byes and hung up. Brian sat back in his chair and remembered back to when Julie first met his parents…

“Bri, what if they absolutely HATE me?” Julie asked with wide eyes from the passenger seat of Brian’s dark blue BMW.

“They are not ganna hate you. Baby, just calm down a little, relax.” Brian soothed as he placed a hand on her knee.

“How do you know? You can’t be sure.”

“I just know. Besides, I love you,” He looked at her with a wide grin before continuing. “And mom’s heard so much ‘bout you that she ALREADY loves you. Don’t worry.” They pulled up into Brian’s parents’ driveway. Julie breathed in deeply, Brian patted her leg before opening his door and stepping out. Julie followed suit and they walked hand in hand up to the front door. The door swung open and Jackie Littrell came running to her youngest son.

“Mom, this is Julie. Julie, Jackie, My mommy.” Brian said smiling widely at his girlfriend then at his mother. Jackie laughed at the ‘mommy’ comment and engulfed Julie in a big bear huge before she had time to think. Jackie stepped back and admired the girl she had heard so much about from her baby boy. ‘I think I like this one.’ She thought to herself…

Brian sighed once more before looking up at the clock, it read 10:00 and even though he wasn’t tired he made his way up to his bedroom. He looked around the room; Julie’s things were still there. He hadn’t had the heart to move her things out yet. Every time he tried to he would break down in tears and spend the day looking through old photos of the two of them and relish in his memories. He looked around the room for a minute then got ready for bed. He sunk down under the covers of his waterbed and looked to his left, remembering when Julie was once there, tears welled up in his eyes yet again…

“Well I guess that’s everything.” Julie said softly, looking around her tiny and empty apartment. Brian came through the doorway leading into the hallway.

“Yep. I checked these rooms back here; we got everything. You ready to go?” Julie looked around the room once more before nodding and walking out of the room with Brian behind her shutting the door as they left. They got in his car and drove the thirty minute drive to Brian’s house…

“Hey, why don’t we leave this stuff in here for now, take a break.” Brian smiled over at Julie and winked at her, they jumped out of the car and raced up to the door, taking a minute to unlock the door, they ran inside the house and the door closed behind them. It was now Brian AND Julie’s house…

Brian tossed and turned but didn’t get much sleep. He paced around the dark room before he made his way down the stairs and out into the back yard where he sat in the night rain for awhile. He sat comfortably in a lawn chair for awhile before somehow falling asleep and drifting into endless dreams…

“Brian…If something ever happens to one of us…I love you.” Julie said as she sat up from the ground where they lay on a hill under a big willow tree, looking up at the cloud filled sky.

“Baby, let’s not think about that, Kay? I hate the thought of loosin’ you.” He said quietly as he sat up next to her.

“But, if somethin’ did happen to me…don’t miss me too much, okay. I mean…don’t be one of those kind of people who just sit around and waist the rest of their lives grieving over someone. You know I love you, and that if I do…die…I’ll be watchin’ you. And I don’t want to watch you grieve over me.”

“I love you.” Brian whispered softly to her as he gazed into her dark green eyes. She mouthed the words back to him.

There was a loud crack of thunder in the sky, startling Brian awake. He sat up in the lawn chair he was in and looked up at the sky where the rain had settled but there was still immense thunder and lighting.

“You’re watchin’ me huh?” He asked her as he looked up at the dark sky filled with dim stars. “Well, I’m missin’ you…baby…But I’ll get better…I love you.” He said as he stood up from his chair, still watching the sky out of all the dim lit stars came a bright shooting star out of the sky and drifted off into the night. Brian smiled and walked into the house, closing the screen door behind him and walking up to his room to get the first good night sleep he had had in a long time.