Chances (Chapter Eleven)
XI. Goodbyes
James was lying on the jeepney seat. The rain was still drumming loudly on the jeep’s roof. He looked at his watch, they have been waiting for almost two hours, but the rain looks like it is not stopping. There are no news about the road clearing, either.
“This is the worst trip ever,” James said loudly.
Devon was watching the rain near the jeepney’s door. She looked at the frustrated James. “Think of it as an adventure.”
James laughed. “We should have this documented and written. We would earn bucks from this,” James said.
Devon laughed. “Look at how beautiful the rain is.”
James sat down and looked outside. He saw Devon’s profile looking outside. Not as beautiful as you, he thought. He shook his violently with that thought, think of Allie, he told himself. “You call that beautiful? That is why we kept on getting nowhere,” James said exasperatedly.
Devon looked at James. “Sometimes is not about the getting to the destination, it’s about the trip.”
She got off the jeepney and stood in the middle of the pouring rain. “What are you doing,” shouted James.
“Standing,” Devon answered.
James answered crossly, “I know you’re standing in the middle of rain. Get inside, you’ll get wet!”
“When was the last time you played in the rain?” Devon asked.
“I never did that,” James answered.
Devon looked at him and walked towards the jeep’s entrance. “You have never played in the rain?”
“Not because I wanted to,” James said. “I get caught in the rain and I had played a few soccer matches while raining, but I never played in the rain before just because I wanted to.” Devon was looking at him, bewildered. “In Manila, it’s acid rain,” James explained.
Devon shook her head and pulled James out of the jeep. “We’ll get wet,” James exclaimed and tried to get back into the jeepney.
“You’ve got spare clothes, why do you have to worry about getting wet,” Devon pointed out.
Devon jumped into a water puddle, making James pants entirely wet. James looked at Devon incredulously. “You will be paying for that, wifey.”
A few minutes later, there are two adults frolicking in rain, jumping on water puddles and trying to get the other one wetter than the other. It looks like the rain has no plans to stop. In was a downpour, but James and Devon were totally enjoying themselves.
James sat down on the jeepney step and watched Devon who was standing under the rain. Her hair was completely wet, plastered in the back of her head. Her face was directed upwards, her eyes closed and her lips moving. Is she praying, thought James, or was she calling on the spirits. She looks like a nymph. No, she looks like an angel who landed in the middle of the rain.
James smiled when he saw Devon opened her eyes and started to walk towards him. She sat beside James and sighed. James got a whiff of Devon’s sweet swell of rain. He never knew that rain could smell so sweet. James doesn’t understand if it was the rain that got through his head, Devon’s sweet scent or the craziness and happiness that he felt when he was with her.
James pulled Devon towards him. Her body close to his. Devon looked at him surprised, but anticipating. Devon’s mind was telling her to pull away. He’s getting married, her mind kept on telling her. But she could not pull away, his intent gaze was on her. James held her chin and started to inch towards her rain-kissed lips.
