Love In The Bucket

Chapter one: First impressions

        It was early in the morning when I woke up to the sound of rain pattering against my window. I groaned and rolled over on my side, glancing at my alarm clock. I rubbed my eyes and saw that it was four in the morning. I sighed and sat up, brushing my hair out of my face as I swung my legs over the side of the bed. 

I walked into the bathroom, still half asleep, and brushed my teeth and took a shower. The water was freezing cold, but I didn't mind. It helped me wake up. 

It was the first day of school, and I was not looking forward to it. I've always been "that kid", you know, the one who gets picked on for stupid reasons. Although, I guess it's kind of karma. I can be quite the sarcastic dick sometimes. 

When I got out of the shower, I flung on an old t shirt and shorts and walked downstairs to the kitchen. I opened up the fridge and pulled out some leftover pizza from the previous night, not really in the mood for cereal. 

I grabbed a plate and walked back up to my room, as I plopped down on my bed. The sound of rain kept on getting louder and louder against my window, so I put my headphones on and listened to music. When I was done with my pizza, I grabbed my sketchbook and opened up to the page I was working on last night, which was a charcoal drawing of me. I had taken an art class over the summer at the community college, and our last assignment was to make a charcoal drawing of the person who cares about us the most. I know, that sounds kind of self-centered that I'm drawing myself, but my dad's a workaholic and never spends time with me. 

I leaned over to my desk and grabbed my charcoal pencil, and curled up in bed, my sketchbook in my lap. I started sketching out my eyes when a drop of water plopped down on the page.

"Shit," I muttered. I quickly set my sketchbook on the side of my bed, along with my headphones, and stood up, watching a steady drip of water plop down onto my bed. I sighed and pushed my bed up into the corner, and grabbed a bucket. I set the bucket down, and sat on the edge of my bed, watching and listening to the water hitting the bottom of the bucket. 

I decided to put the assignment in the back of my head, to work on later. I grabbed my sketchbook and my favorite paints, and started painting my window. I didn't know what I was doing, it was early in the morning and I knew I wasn't going back to sleep any time soon.

About three hours later, I shut my sketchbook and stood up. I realized I couldn't hear the plop-plop of the rain hitting the bucket, and when I looked over, it was almost full. I sighed and brushed my hair out of my face. There was no point, the floor was already water damaged. 

I walked over to the bucket and pushed it out of the way, revealing a giant water spot on the floor, which was now actively getting bigger, the water from the ceiling dripping down even faster. 

I grabbed a raincoat and put it on as I grabbed my duffel bag, and quickly made my way downstairs to head to school.

"Leaving without eating anything, boy?" 

I stopped on the bottom step, and looked at my dad. He was glaring at me, sitting at the kitchen table with his laptop in front of him, a piece of toast next to it.

"Oh-um- yeah, I was-I was just gonna head to school now, sorry-" 

I quickly looked away from my dad and walked quickly out of the house. In my rush to leave, I forgot to put my hood up and I immediately got soaked. 

"Shit." I set down my duffel bag and shook my head, when I saw something that caught my eye. I put my hood on and looked over to the right. There were moving trucks, that were actively being unloaded. 

I stared as a man hopped out of the car in front of the trucks, picking up my duffel bag without looking. My eyes went wide as I looked at him- he was easily my age, possibly even a little younger. He had chocolate-brown hair that went down to his shoulders, very prominent muscles, and he was in a flannel, not at all bothered by the downpour above.

The man walked up to the porch and then stopped and looked at me. I snapped my head forward, praying to whatever is above that he didn't see me staring. I adjusted my duffel bag on my shoulder and jumped down the few steps on the porch, my feet thudding softly on the soggy grass. 

I started my walk to school, thinking about him the entire way. I wasn't gay or anything, but hey, ask anyone and they'd agree with me- that man is flaming hot. 

Author's note:

Hey there, I'm the author! I'm not entirely sure where I want this story to go, but it seems like it's more than likely gonna be a romance, if ya know what I mean. 

Anyways, I have written multiple novels, they're just...not published. This is my first one that's gonna be publicly read, so I would love if anyone who reads this could leave what they think about the story so far in the comments, along with any critiques or advice you may have for me! 

        -QuirkyBear