Rainy Day Out -part 3

A little short story about a woman and her man during a rainy day.

Characters:

-Paula Porter -AGE 24

-Richard Rhodes -AGE 28

-3:10PM-

 

The two were browsing around some bookshop downtown, it was actually a place Richard came by a lot whenever he was in the city. He was looking at some books here and there, walking around with his hands in his pockets while Paula was reading magazines. They got inside the store just as the rain began to pour outside, it wasn’t windy, but it came down hard.   

The store was busy with plenty of people roaming around; some of them old, but mostly young. They were chatting amongst themselves while speakers in the store were playing some of the current radio hits. He thought that things were getting better since he got her the coffee but as soon as they got into the store, she became quiet and distant again. She was reading magazines silently while still wearing her sunglasses with a blank expression, maybe closer to a frown. When she made her way to the magazine section, Richard wandered off on his own and made his way around the place, looking around at books and various other things the store had.

The whole walk over didn’t fly by his head, the way she had been acting this morning had been picking away at Richard and her aloofness in the bookshop hadn’t helped the situation. He figured he would just give her a little space for now before reattempting talking to her. Sure, she seemed happy with her coffee, but Richard wasn’t too sure about that, so he did his best to carefully walk with caution when speaking to her. She was also still no doubt a little pissed off at Jean for her little show that morning, even though she tried to keep cool about things like that, Paula had a habit of getting jealous.    

It was about half an hour before Richard slowly made his way back to his girlfriend, hoping things have warmed up a bit since he left. She was standing there in the same spot in front of a shelf of magazines, the only difference is that she was reading a different one and she had since taken off her grey coat, having it draped over her arm as she read. Her sunglasses were still on, as well as her blank expression. Richard, hands tucked in his jean pockets, took a deep breath and made his way towards her.   

“Whatcha reading?” Richard asked nonchalantly.

“Rolling Stone, there’s an article in here about Jim Morrison.” Paula explained., not looking at him. He was already off to a great start. Even though she was trying to preoccupy herself with reading about some of her favorite things, her mind was still a bit bothered by crap from earlier.   

“What band was he in?” Richard asked, taking a stab at it.

“The Doors.” Paula answered, genuinely surprised. Sometimes she forgot that not everybody listened to 60s rock and roll. “They were huge.”

“What did he sing?”

Paula started rattling off song titles. “Light My Fire, The End, People Are Strange…”  

“They still making music now?” Richard asked.

“Nope. He died in 1971, he was twenty-seven.”

“Oh wow.”

“Heroin.”

“Very fun.” Richard chuckled. “What else is in there?”

Paula shrugged. “Mostly new album reviews and some political junk.”

“Any good albums?”

“They all suck.”

“You say that about everything.” Richard chuckled.

Paula just looked over at Richard and gave him that look she gave Jean earlier that morning, sticking her tongue in her check with her mouth open, it looked weirder with her sunglasses on.

She was a weird chick.

“Have you been listening to any new music?” He asked.

“Not really.” Paula replied.

“Any new books? TV shows?”

“Not really.” Paula shrugged.  

They stood there looking at magazines for a while, there were attempts at small talk, but Paula wasn’t having much of it.

“Are you enjoying your day so far?” Richard asked a little playfully.

Paula just shrugged and kept reading and all she said was “I guess”. Richard just chuckled a bit, trying to ignore her lackluster response. He shouldn’t let it bother him, all they did was grab some coffee and walked around the city for a few hours. He was still optimistic that things will get better after they get some real food in them and finally go back to the apartment and relax without the noise and clutter of other people around them. Not to mention that he was pretty tired from the last week of working and the drive to the city took a few hours, so that didn’t help his body much. Even if Paula was still in a bad mood and he had to spend the night on the couch, he wouldn’t care as long as he can finally get some much-needed sleep.

Getting some sleep with her would be infinitely better, but he would have to see how the rest of the day goes before he can think about something like that.    

Mostly everyone in the bookshop had a dull or reserved look on their faces, there were people chatting with friends but aside from them everyone that was alone had a quiet and somewhat detached demeaner. It wasn’t too uncommon in bookstores; people just want to look at books in peace and quiet sometimes.

“People look so sad in the city…” Paula mused as she looked around.

“What do you mean?”

“They look sad, they got sad expressions…” Paula said as her eyes darted around until she spotted a man standing by himself, leaning against a bookshelf staring off into the distance, lost in thought. He was a middle-aged man, nothing really popped out in his appearance aside from his dull expression and the white box he held under his arm tied with some string. “Like him.”

Richard looked at the man Paula was speaking about and took a moment to analyze him.

“It doesn’t matter what you look like.” He finally said, causing Paula to look at him.

“What?” Paula was confused.

“It doesn’t matter what you look like, it’s what’s inside that matters.” Richard clarified.

“How so?” Now she was curious.

“Okay, say he has a mean looking face, right?” Richard began. “But unless you know what he’s thinking, it don’t make any real difference. Maybe he’s got a teddy bear in that box and he’s heading home to his sick daughter to cheer her up, despite the fact he might look mean he might have a good heart. Or maybe he’s a terrorist with a box full of dynamite and he’s going to blow up a police station, either way, he can still have the same face.”

“Oh…” Paula nodded a bit, considering his words.

Richard placed his hands on her shoulders and gently turned her attention towards someone else, a cute girl standing on the opposite side of the store with a smile on her face as she talks to a friend. “See that girl?”

“Yes.”

“How does she look?”

“She looks happy.”

“Alright, why do you say that?”

“She has a smile plastered on her face.”

“Okay, but just like that sad old man, she might be hiding her true emotions too. She might be smiling with her friend and even though she might be happy with her, there is also the chance that she hates her, she’s just hiding it with her smile.”

“Hmm…” Paula nodded.

“Maybe she is a kind and honest girl or maybe she’s a…” Richard thought about his words for a minute. “Maybe she’s a skank.” 

“A skank?” Paula looked at him in surprise. “Such a harsh word.”

“I thought of a few other words a lot worse than that.”

“You have a dirty mind.” Paula lectured with an unapproving look on her face.

“Yeah, but I try to have a clean mouth.” Richard chuckled.

Paula rolled her eyes and shook her head at his response, looking away and considered what he told her.

“People can be hiding all sorts of things in their mind, from others and sometimes from themselves.” Richard said absentmindedly, sometimes he said things without thinking.

Paula thought about his words for a bit, becoming quiet for a minute. Richard took notice of this and slowly became uncomfortable with the awkward silence between the two.

“What are we doing?” She asked out of nowhere, catching Richard off guard. He didn’t really know how to respond.

“What do you mean?”

“Like, what are we doing all of this for?... What’s the point of it?”

He didn’t say anything, he just waited for her to continue, not really wanting to make matters worse than they already might be. Paula didn’t fully realize the things that she was saying, nor did she pick up on her boyfriend’s obvious awkwardness. When you get lost in thought sometimes you block out the rest of the world, something that Paula had a habit of doing from time to time.

“I mean… If a person isn’t happy, then why should they accept it?”

“Where did this come from?” Richard asked bluntly, trying to get to the root of all of this.

“I don’t know…” Paula answered, looking away and crossing her arms. “I guess when you were talking about how people kind hide their true emotions…”

Richard did say anything for a few seconds, thinking carefully about his next words and at the same time trying to size up the situation. After the whole coffee thing, it felt like he walked from one minefield into another.  

“Who’s to say these people aren’t happy?”

“I’m not talking about these people, just people in general I guess.” Paula shrugged.

The tension was beginning to be unbearable. He tried being direct again, but he knew full well that it was risky. He had no idea what she was thinking behind those black sunglasses.

“Is this… coming from somewhere?”

He almost regretted the words as they left his mouth because Paula became visibly uncomfortable. Her eyes narrowed more, her mouth held what looked like a small frown, her arms tightened, and her chest heaved a bit as she sighed. Richard didn’t show it but he was a little on the edge, not a lot, but enough to make him hold his breath as he waited for her response.

After what seemed like forever, she finally talked.

“No, not at all.” That was all she said as she began to walk away, away from the magazines and away from him. He watched as she made her way past some people and deeper into the store.        

What is wrong with her? He wondered as he stole a glance of her, trying to figure out what just happened as he walked in the opposite direction, making his way around the store again. The day was just one thing after another.

Unbeknownst to them, someone happened to be watching them from afar as they had their little talk, a girl with strawberry blonde hair.

 

 

 

-

Richard was walking around the bookshop, trying to sort out his thoughts and relax his mind as he looked around at all the various books on the shelves, glancing once in a while at some of the people in the store.

Maybe she’s starting to feel bad about this long-distance relationship, he thought. No! That can’t be it, it’s been like a couple weeks since we’ve seen each other! I think…

He stopped and thought about how long it was since he last saw her, they talked on the phone from time to time, and that was enough for Richard, in person was always better but he can manage. But could she?

Then he thought about her music and her friends and other interests and all the things they didn’t have in common. He always felt like an odd man out when he was at one of her hot spots and around her friends, but he didn’t mind and above all he felt like he was sort of getting along.

As best as I can, he thought as he scratched his head, it’s not like I’m gonna bend backwards for them.

He doesn’t try to force her into any of his own interests, which sounds rude but really, he didn’t have too many interests to begin with. He liked music just fine, not like her but they could sit in the apartment or drive around the city listening to it. He liked television but she wasn’t huge on it, she wasn’t too big on the shows he liked, mostly Baywatch or Seinfeld. He liked going to the park, playing a few sports or just walking around the city and exploring some new places, mostly restaurants.

He browsed around at various books on the shelf. Books were fine, but he mostly read the same stuff while Paula mostly liked art books and magazines. He mostly liked fiction, short stories mostly, mainly because he could never really invest a whole week reading a book full of more than a couple hundred pages. Maybe one of these books had the answer to his problems, but his mind was too mixed-up to consider that.   

Something wasn’t right with Paula, his mind started to instantly get flooded with clues and hints about the situation. She’s an artsy girl, he thought, she probably wants to fly away to some university or Nashville or whatever. Richard began putting together pieces that weren’t there as he absent-mindedly walked through the book isles. After a minute he closed his eyes and shook his head in frustration, trying to clear away any paranoid thoughts in his mind to bring him some relief.

Unfortunately, he didn’t notice a small table full of books on his side that he accidently walked in to, knocking over some hardcovers onto the ground. Richard was shaken out of his thoughts as he looked around and quickly bent over to pick up some books that fell off.

“Goddammit…” He grumbled as he picked them up.

While he was doing all of this, he heard a couple of giggles from a little bit away. He looked over to see two cute redheads standing at another aisle, one with long wavy hair and the other with a shorter pixie-cut. Both were cute, both were slender, and both were smiling at him. The long haired one gave him a wink and bit her lower lip, causing the pixie-cut to shush her playfully and pull her away, both still giggling and looking back at him over their shoulders as the disappeared down the aisles.

Richard was dumbfounded as he stood up and groaned as he slapped the last book down on the table.

“First the blonde this morning and now two redheads in a bookstore…” He grumbled to himself, hands on his hips. “Where were all these girls when I wasn’t dating somebody?”

He shook his head as he walked away, still grumbling to himself.

“I come to this place how many times these last few years and where the hell have they been?”  

The world can be cruel sometimes.

 

 

 

-

This time it was Paula wandering around the bookshop as she tried to relax her mind, absentmindedly passing by all sorts of books and a few people as she walked down the aisles, passing by some giggling redheads along the way. As she got deeper into the store, she began to notice the noise a lot more with people talking and her noticing the somewhat annoying trendy music being played on the shop’s radio.

God, the music is annoying… She thought, then she mentally kicked herself. Richard was right, she thought everything sucks.

As time passed by, she stopped walking and thought about what she said to her boyfriend, the words finally sinking into her mind. Christ, why did I say that stuff? The thoughts were running through her head a mile a second. It was sounding like I’m suicidal or something! 

She stood there in between two bookshelves, messaging her temples trying to relax. She knew how she was feeling, and she knew that she was doing a crappy job at hiding it today from everyone, especially him.  

“I just don’t want to tell him… I really don’t want to tell anybody…” She said to herself, trying to sort out her thoughts and calm herself down.

“Feeling alright, Paula?” Came a voice from nowhere.

This snapped Paula back into reality as she spun around to see where the voice came from. Standing behind of her was the strawberry-blonde girl that was watching them earlier, Tambourine Jane. Her hair was long, wavy and beautiful, complementing her lovely natural features, with a pair of aviators sitting atop her head in her hair. She had on a loose dark orange long-sleeved blouse with ruffled ends, baggy tan boho pants, sandals and a leather purse. The strap slung over her chest as the purse hung carelessly on her side with a worn-out jean jacket draped on it. Her hands had various gold and silver rings, she had many bracelets on both of her wrists as well as a few beaded necklaces around her neck with one of those black hippie chokers. She also had a golden cross earing dangling from her left ear, it shined in the light. She was a very flashy girl.

One of her most defining features was her eyes, her eyes were bright and playful but also had a worn-out sense to them, they were eyes that have stayed up for far too long for far too many nights. Paula had eyes that shared that same trait.

Jane pulled Paula into a kind hug as she smiled lovingly.       

“Hello, Jane, where’s your tambourine?” Paula teased as she took off her sunglasses. Jane was an old friend and former roommate, as well as a bandmate from time to time. She was better known as “Tambourine Jane” because of her affinity for the instrument, which she usually carried around.

“I left it at home, it was such a dreary day that I didn’t feel the need to carry it since I’m not gonna bother standing outside to play it, even if it might get me an expresso at Starbucks.” Jane laughed.

Those were a few things her and Jane shared in common, Starbucks and music. Although, those weren’t much to build a decent friendship off of. Sure, they genuinely enjoyed each other’s company, but Jane’s style of music was more free spirited and easy going while Paula preferred to put more work and dedication into hers, something they would often clash over. Most of the time it wasn’t really about the music with Jane, she just seemed like a girl that wanted to have a fun time, hopping around from place to place and band to band, earning her both a loving but sometimes questionable reputation.         

“It’s been a while, how have you been?” Jane asked kindly.

“It’s only been a week, Jane, but I’ve been doing well. How about you?”

“I’ve been doing fine, same, same.” Jane chuckled. “Getting by on the skin of my teeth, like always.”

“Like always.” Paula mused, remembering her days living with Jane. “What are you doing today?”

“Not too much, just hanging around.” Jane chuckled. “I was at the KingsGarden Mall this morning with some of the girls, just having fun and passing time on the west side.”

“How did you get there? Did you take the bus?” Paula asked.

“We all hopped in Kennedy’s car to get to the mall, but I took the bus back home.”

“How come?”

“Just felt like it.”

“The bus is awful.”

“At times, no bums today though.” Jane sighed as she continued. “So, I just came back home for a bit before getting bored and heading out again.”

“Good, good.” Paula nodded, half paying attention as she leaned against a bookshelf.

“Then I came to the bookshop and saw you chatting with some boy and it’s been a bit since I talked to you, so here I am!” Jane smiled, biting her bottom lip as she gave Paula the jazz-hands, her bracelets jingling as she did this.

“Cute.” Paula deadpanned with a small smirk.

“Sooooo, who was that guy you were talking too? Someone new?” She smirked.

“He’s my boyfriend.”

“That was your boyfriend?” Jane was surprised. “The one you talked about before?”

“Yep, we’ve been dating for a bit.”

“Does he live in the city?”

“Naw, a few towns over. He’s visiting for a few days.”

“Ohhhhh, well that’s nice… Gonna have some fun?” Jane gave Paula a mischievous smile, hands on her hips as wiggled them a bit.  

Paula shook her head and chuckled. “Yeah, yeah…”

“Well that’s good then…”

Paula inhaled a bit and cracked her back; she was wondering what time it was and where Richard was. She wasn’t really that ready to talk to Jane again, hoping to do it in a few days after Richard left and when she was hopefully feeling better. 

“Been up to much?” Jane asked, cutting through her thoughts unpleasantly.

Paula took a second to think of a decent response, she didn’t really want to tell her about her life the past week. “Not too much, just been around and such.”

“Doing what?”

“Sorting out stuff, spending my free time at home.” Paula said, not really giving much.

“Just hanging out?” Jane chuckled.   

“Yes.” Paula said bluntly, she wanted the conversation to end already.

“Everyone’s been worried about you.”

“Why?” Paula already knew.

“Because you just left.”

“I explained why I was leaving.”

“Not really… You were just acting all mopey the last few weeks and suddenly you just grabbed your stuff and decided you were going to quit! I can’t believe what happened!”

“Nothing much happened…” Paula said, crossing her arms.

“You got in a fight with everyone and left the band!” She stood strong with her hands on her hips.

“It’s not the first time I left a band.”

“But it came out of nowhere! What’s been on your mind?”

“Nothing…”

“Your family okay?”

“Yes.”

“Things okay with Jean?”

“Yes.”

Jane thought for a minute.

“How’s that boyfriend of yours?” She asked.

“He’s… good.” Paula answered, caught a bit off guard.

Jane saw this.

“Just good?” Jane raised an eyebrow.

“Yeah, what’s it to you?” Paula was getting defensive; she didn’t like the idea of Jane prying into her love life. She did that a lot.   

“Nothing, I just never met him before…”

“I think you did once…”

“Well, I didn’t remember what he looked like… He’s pretty handsome though.” Jane commented with a giggle.

“Thanks.” Paula deadpanned. There she goes again.

“He doesn’t seem like the type you would date.”

“What does that mean?”

“Well… you used to date more… artsy kind of guys.”

“What?” Paula spat.

“He looks more…” Jane thought of the best way to say it. “Rough.”

“Rough?” Paula was puzzled, getting a bit annoyed.

“Not a bad rough, just a working-man rough.” Jane shrugged.

“How do you know he’s not artsy?” Paula’s eyes narrowed. “Sometimes there’s more to a person than how they look.” Richard’s words ringing through her mind.

Jane was quiet for a minute, feeling a little guilty as she stared at her feet. Then, she tilted up her head and looked at Paula eye to eye.   

“Is he?”

Paula looked away for a moment.

“No…”

“So, why are you with him?”

“I like him…”

“How so?”

“I don’t know.” Paula shrugged.

“Didn’t you used to say he was gone most of the time?”

Paula just shrugged.

“Are things alright with you two?”

“I don’t know…” Paula shrugged thinking about their day together, but then turned her face towards Jane again. “What’s it to ya?”

“Nothing! Just some people were… kinda worried about you…”

“Why?”

“Because of the band thing. What about your music?”

“Well, there’s a lot more going on in my life than just my music, Jane.”

“You didn’t think like that before.”

“Well, people… slowly change over time…”

“Not you.”

She was really getting agitated now, Paula’s fuse was getting short. “How would you know? You were always bumming around with the other girls, sleeping around in basements and on raggy couches.”

“You did too!” Jane barked back.

“Yeah, but I got tired of it, that’s why I grew up and got a job!”

“You hate waitressing!”

“At least it’s a real job!”

“Some job!” Jane huffed.

“Well, maybe I’ll get a better one…” Paula huffed, not making eye contact with Jane as her eyes drifted away.

“Sure, you will.” Jane scoffed.

“Better than playing a tambourine on the streets for coins, living in crammed up houses or rubbing up against some cokeheads for a place to sleep!” Paula barked.

“Screw you!” Jane spat back, flipping the bird.

The two just stood there, not looking at each other. After a minute of silence, Paula felt a little sorry. “I didn’t mean that cokehead comment.”

“Well, thank you.” Jane huffed.

While the girls were talking, Richard was making his way around the corner when he spotted them. He saw Paula talking to some girl he didn’t know, it didn’t really surprise him that she would run into somebody at the bookshop, she wasn’t exactly a socialite, but she knew plenty of people in the city.

Well, a hell of a lot more than him that’s for sure.

The girl had wavy strawberry-blonde hair and looked pretty cute, he guessed that maybe they were already friends, mainly because of her sort of bohemian kind of clothing. He walked towards the two girls, curious to know who the strange girl was. As he got closer though, he noticed that Paula looked a little tense and agitated from the way she was standing and talking to the girl.

Now Richard really wanted to know who the strange girl was.

Paula noticed Richard coming up from behind of Jane, she was both glad he was back and dreading him meeting her.     

“Hello. Paula, who’s your friend?” Richard asked politely, looking at the girl.

“This is Tambourine Jane, Jane this is Richard.” She introduced with little enthusiasm. “My boyfriend.”

“Pleased to finally meet you.” Jane said as she shook Richard’s hand, a smile quickly plastered on her lips. “Paula has told me a lot about you.”

“Has she now?” Richard asked, eyebrows raised as he looked over at Paula. “I hope it’s all been good.”

Jane just gave a girlish laugh. “Don’t worry, a man like you don’t need to worry ‘bout that.” It was a kindhearted jab, but it still felt a bit like an insult. Richard picked up on this, most defiantly Paula did as well, but he didn’t comment on it.

“Why do they call you Tambourine Jane?” Richard asked.

“Because she plays the tambourine.” Paula answered bluntly.

Jane giggled at her response; Richard didn’t press any further. I guess it was a dumb question, he thought.

“Well, it was great seeing you again Paula, I hope you come by some time, everyone misses you.” Jane said as she gave Paula a quick hug, although Paula didn’t sense it, she was being sincere.

“One of these days…” Paula replied as they broke apart.  

Jane turned her attention to Richard, her hand reaching out. “It was really nice meeting you, Richie.”

“It was nice meeting you too, Jane.” Richard smiled as he shook her hand again, this time both her hands were on his, he was pretty sure he felt one of her thumbs caress his hand. He didn’t say anything, but Paula noticed this right away, giving Jane a glare that can burn a hole through her pretty strawberry-blonde head. She also didn’t like how she said his name, Richie.   

Finally, she let go of his hand and gave a quick wink to Paula before she turned on her heel and sauntered off, her hips swaying a bit as she strolled. Paula shook her head as she watched her, her eyes still holding her glare. She remembered how Jane can get sometimes, she didn’t mean to, but girls like her always found a way to cause trouble.

“Who was that?” Richard asked.

“Nobody. Just someone I lived with before.”

“I see…” Richard didn’t say it, but he was thinking that maybe she was one of those girls that Paula said walked around naked in the summertime at the old house she lived at. At least, he was imagining what she might look like naked as she walked away. But Paula didn’t need to know that.

“Are you alright?” He asked as he looked back at her.

“Of course I am, why wouldn’t I be?” Paula replied.

“I don’t know.” He answered.

“You gonna buy any books?” She asked, changing the topic.

“Naw.”

Paula threw on her sunglasses again.

“Good, there are some other places I want to go to.”

 

 ~TO BE CONTINUED...

 

 

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Author's Note

Inspired mainly by Bob Dylan music and Jean-Luc Godard films. The cover picture is from the film Masculin Féminin [1966].

Reviews

[Anne’sRants]

They seem like such a discordant couple; always at odds. I find myself genuinely curious as to where this is going. Can't wait for the next segment

[MarkAndTheOcean]

Thank you very much, Anne! I'm glad you're enjoying the story :)