In the Rain

A story of a man who finds what he is looking for, but something else along the way.

In the Rain

 

J

onathen Quentin was sitting alone in his home, deep in the city of Raleigh, North Carolina; laying on his couch watching some old rock videos from back in the day. Everything was calm and tranquil, just the way he likes it. Coming home from a long day working as an air traffic controller, he’s tired, completely worn out. Stressed out to the point where he can’t handle it anymore. But his favorite time of the day is almost here. No, not because his favorite show is almost on, because his girlfriend is about to come home. It’s seven O’clock and she should be here any minute. He absolutely loves his girlfriend; there is nothing more in the world that he loves more. He once thought there was something, but it consumed him, and the universe told him, “Enough is enough”.

It’s now seven forty-five, and he’s wondering where Nevaeh is. He can’t help being worried about her. He keeps waiting and waiting, all he wants to do is see her. He loves waking up having her there next to him. He loves going to sleep and knowing that she’ll be there. He knows she’ll be there, forever. But right now, she isn’t, and it kills him knowing that. So thinking something is wrong, he calls her. But there is no answer. He calls her three more times, and still nothing. Now he thinks something is very wrong, he drives to her work. He is relieved to see her car, but is wondering why it’s in such a weird position. As he pulls in, her car looks as if it was rammed into the drive-thru pole. Sure enough, it was. Now he’s back to normal, all the stress from not knowing where she was is gone. But all he can think is, “How on earth did she do that?”

He gets out of his car and looks at how much damage was done. Minimal, but enough to have the front bumper be replaced, and the car be put in the shop for a few days. He meets Nevaeh inside after she’s done talking to the police.

Jon asks calmly yet with complete seriousness, “How on earth did you do that?”

“I don’t know! It just happened” She says speaking with an extremely loud, obnoxious tone.

The lady at the cash register overhears without difficulty, she turns toward them and exclaims, “I can tell you how! After getting off work, she left but came back to order a Frappé. We’re out of the mix, so I tried and explain to her why I can’t give it to her. But she gets all mad and stuff; and storms out the door and goes to her car. She gets in and starts driving, and while she’s passing the windows, she flips me off! But then,” she chuckled, “she ran straight into the pole! The funniest thing I ever saw!”

Jon turns towards her and stares at he for a moment. He then asks her, “Is that what really happened?”

“Well... Yeah! But... Uh...”

“Don’t worry about it...” Jon assures her. “We’ll talk about it later at home, and find out exactly what we’re going to do about it.”

Jon and Nevaeh leave, and as they were walking out the lady behind the cash register yelled, “Where’s your damn Frappé now?”

He thought quick and realized he should cover her mouth to make sure she didn’t say anything to her, he doesn’t want any more troubles tonight.

Jon asks, “Why do you work there? You could be at a place so much better.”

“I like the discounts.” She smiled as she said that.

“Why does it matter? You could eat Red Lobster for breakfast, lunch, and dinner if you wanted to! Hell, same with any other restaurant!”

“But I like McDonald’s!”

Jon, fed up with the conversation by this point, tells her “Okay! I was just curious. I was just thinking, why not put your hard work to good use at a better place?”

When they arrive home they do nothing but go to their room and lay down. No dinner or anything. They’re both completely exhausted from their jobs. Almost instantly when Nevaeh lays down she falls asleep. Jon on the other hand has trouble falling asleep, no matter how tired he is. It’s been that way for many years, ever since he was a child. He always wondered why he couldn’t fall asleep, until one day he thought long and hard about it. He theorizes that he needs to protect Nevaeh. But if she wasn’t there, he’d feel as if he needed something. That something was missing, and something would be. All he needs in his life is Nevaeh. He feels that he lives for her, to protect her, and to be there for her. “She is the one” he’d always say to people. But soon, he falls asleep, and the house goes tranquil for the rest of the night.

Everything is normal when Jon and Nevaeh awake. Jon takes a shower, and gets ready for work. While Nevaeh inconsequentially craves eggs, sunny side up, just like every other morning. Jon walks in the kitchen, hair still wet from his shower, he sees Nevaeh making a pot of coffee for herself.

“Want to try some coffee today? She asks him.

“You ask me this like, every day!”

“Uh... Your point?”

He sighs, “Not today, not today.”

“Whatever! You’re missing out on amazingness!”

“My morning coffee is seeing you every day. That is what’s amazing to me.”

“Why are you so nice to me?” Such an expectable question for her to ask him.

“You’ve been asking me this even before we started dating.”

“Well! I like hearing you tell me.” She let out a devious-like smile as she told him that.

Jon surrenders to the argument. Then there is a slight pause between the two, and they look at each other for a few moments.

“Can I have my eggs now?” Cracking up as he said that.

“Oh of course you can! Anything for you!” She said without any seriousness.

He chuckles for a few moments and tells her, “I love your seriousness! Just another reason why I love you.”

After finishing his eggs he explains how he must go to work. Because, “If I don’t make sure people don’t die, no one will.”

Jon works from eight to five every day, while Nevaeh works from around noon to six.

When Jon comes home he usually sits down and plans what to have for dinner that night, then watches a little bit of T.V. But today was a different story, when he came home he heard something fall in the attic. He goes up there to see what happened, He notices his hard case from 15 years ago is laying next to the attic entrance. His worry has now left him, but he is puzzled, and stares at it for a few moments. He proceeds to take it out of the attic.

He walks downstairs, sets it on his coffee table, and opens the case. He is amazed by it. It felt as if a light shined from the case and a slight breeze hit him. The electric blue guitar he babied for so many years. Nevaeh steps in the door but Jon doesn’t hear her.

“Jon... What the hell is that?”

Jon, knowing he’s caught, tells her it’s his old guitar from 15 years ago. She just walks away and doesn’t say a word to him.

She comes down about an hour later dressed up and pretty smelling.

“Where do you think you’re going?” Jon asks.

“I’m going out; Jane is picking me up in about... Now!”

“Well... Okay? You decided not to tell me?”

“You have your guitar, why do you need me?”

She then storms out the door. Jon is speechless. He takes her word for it, and thinks he only needs his guitar.

She wakes up the next afternoon to Jon packing his clothes in various duffel bags. She asks him what he’s doing.

“Why does it matter? Apparently I only need my guitar. So I’m going to see how that works out for me. My old band recently got back together and asked me to play. They have a tour set up and everything, so I’ll be leaving around three today to go to California, for our first show tomorrow.”

“Are you really that bold? You’re just leaving me, acting all like you don’t give two s***s about it? Is this a joke?”

“No, actually, it’s not. I’m leaving today, and look at that, it’s 2:57. That’s what happens when you go out and party without telling your boyfriend that loves and cares for you. You brought yourself up to it. Don’t get angry with me about it.”

“After 15 years Jon... You’re just giving up?”

“Don’t think of it like that, think of it as a ‘break’.”

“Wow Jon... I’m just disappointed...”

Well I have to leave. I’ll call you when I get there, goodbye, I love you.”

“Yeah...” She has nothing else to say. He only just said goodbye and she already feels alone.

Nevaeh calls her best friend and her mom, and right after that, a moving truck. She moves out of his house as quickly as possible, but the only thing is he’s gone, and has no idea she’s leaving. She’s always wanted to move to Arizona, so she decides it’s the perfect time to go. After a 33 hour trip she’s there, and using his credit, rents an apartment for herself.

•  •  •

Nevaeh is doing great since she moved. It’s been four years, and she’s almost as happy as she was in North Carolina. But everything changes when Jon arrives at his home. Only to find the walls, shelves, and rooms to be empty.

He calls everyone he knows to ask where she is, and no one has any idea. He goes to work and asks everybody there, but no one knows anything. But he remembers he forgot to call one person, her mother.

After a long, antagonizing phone call with her, she finally tells him where she is; address, phone number, and all. Jon doesn’t even need to pack, everything is ready to go since he just returned home. Jon takes his luggage to the airport and gets a ticket to Arizona.

Her mother told Jon she works as a dental assistant in Dr. Smith’s office on Valley View Road. He made pre-arrangements and set up an appointment to make sure she’d see him. When he arrives in Arizona; he doesn’t bother checking in to his hotel or anything. He just heads straight to the office for his appointment, and waits for about an hour to be called in. Jon is feeling the most excitement he’s ever felt in his life. The dental assistant opens the door, calls his name, and smiles as she says it. He walks back and sits in the dental chair and waits for another ten minutes. He finally hears the door open, he hears, “Mr. Jonathen Quent...” and a long pause. He gets up out of the seat, and she just stares for the longest moment.

She doesn’t say a word to him and walks out of the door, he follows her as he sees tears dripping off of her face onto the floor. She says bye to no one, and just leaves her work. Jon sprints to his car and follows her home. A really nice place he thinks to himself. He follows her up to the door with so much readiness and willingness to tell her all the things he hasn‘t said for the longest time. He can almost touch her, but then has a door slammed in his face. Completely shocked and riveted, he just stares at the door for around thirty minutes. He finally decides to make a move, and turns around to sit on her porch. He sits there, breathing a slow, heavy pace; feeling the warm, dry Arizona wind brush up against his skin. He doesn’t have the will to move out of this spot. After sitting there for the longest time, it starts to rain. A noise coming from behind him takes him out of his trance every so often. It’s the same thing every time, it’s her opening the blinds to check if he is still sitting there.

After another hour, she decides to come out; but walks right past him, like he wasn’t even there. He calls her name, but there is no answer from her. Feeling a knife drive into his heart, he is heartbroken. Feeling more alone and more despair than any other moment in his life. She drives off in her nice little coupe, while Jon is still sitting in the rain. He finally decides to move to his car, he’s fed up with the rain. He ends up falling asleep in his car, and when he awakes, her car is parked in front. He walks up to the door, was dry, until he walked back in the rain, and knocks on the door. She answers, but then shuts the door in his face for the second time. Finally giving up, he walks away; slowly with all the shame, guilt, and clothes on his back. As he’s walking away, he doesn’t hear her door open and her walking out towards him. He feels a light tap on his shoulder. Hoping to be a gun in his face, he finds something unexpectedly amazing. All he sees is her staring at him with the biggest smile he’s ever seen. They run towards each other and grab each other. Finally in each other’s arms they look at each other, and kiss. They kiss in the rain. This wouldn’t be a big deal, except that, that was Nevaeh’s biggest fantasy; to be kissed in the rain. They mix all their emotions in this one kiss. All the pain, suffering, doubt, worry, and deceit, is overcome by all of the care, hope, and love they put into this one kiss. The kiss: it can’t even be called a kiss; because it was more than that, it was love.

She looks at him afterward and tells him, “I missed you so much, baby. Please don’t ever leave me again...”

He sits for a moment, sees the hope in her eyes, but the worry start to come in. He finally opens his mouth and tells her, “I won’t, ever.”

After taking many deep breaths, and kissing each other for several minutes; trying to show one another how much they missed the other, they finally head inside the warm home. Walking inside Jon takes a look around, and sees everything is set up the way it was at their old house. She shows him to the “smush” room, as she calls it; and they sit on her loveseat in front of the fireplace. They sit, for a long lasting time; just holding and caressing each other. Loving the feeling of their two bodies touching, and knowing the wait will never be that long again. One of them finally speaks, and they start to talk. For hours they laid there and talked, and not for one moment, did they leave that seat. They both eventually fall asleep, Nevaeh in Jon’s arms. When awoken in the morning, by Neveah’s friend, she asks who this man is. She gladly says to her, he is my boyfriend.

After days of arranging and planning, they finally decide they want to move back to North Carolina. He happened to sneak out one day, while she was napping, and bought a ring. On the plane trip home, Jon asks Nevaeh to marry him. Looking at him, and immediately having her face flood with tears, she mumbles out a yes.

After returning to North Carlina, they found a new place to live at; a new place to call home, and start a family. After a few months from working, to get everything back together; They find out Nevaeh is pregnant. Of course, a few months after, she gave birth to a boy on August, 16^th 2035. They decided to name Reece Michael Quentin.

From that point on, they lived an amazing life; a life that was trouble free, with a love that was stronger than ever. They had finally found something they could call, true love.