The Boy Who Wore Boat Shoes

08⎜The Rain

08⎜The Rain

I stared up at the bare ceiling above me, my eyelids threatening to close, though not daring to do so. It wasn't that I was necessarily tired, but more that the conditions for sleep were perfect. I had endured a full day of classes, and as I was walking back to my dorm from my last class, it began to rain. Well, "rain" was putting it lightly. It was pouring buckets and buckets upon buckets of water outside. Lightning flashed every few minutes and the clouds boomed, creating the ideal makings for a thunderstorm.

           Because I didn't really feel like getting sopped in water, I figured that my best bet was to go inside. Unfortunately, I wasn't exactly in sprinting distance to my dorm building, so went to the closest one that I saw, hoping that it would suffice. Fortunately, the dorm building that I happened to duck into was that of two girls with whom I had built somewhat of a connection. I had somehow remembered their dorm number and went to it, praying that they wouldn't think I was being intrusive or weird to randomly pop up. Lucky for me, they let me in without an ounce of hesitation, and there happened to be two others of the male gender crashing in the room for refuge from the storm, as well, in addition to yet another girl.

           It was a bit cramped in the small room that wasn't quite built for six people, but it somehow worked out just fine. Seth and Noa were both comfortably sitting on Noa's bed, Ari had opted for the chair on Kay's side of the room, Houston took Noa's chair, and then there were Kay and me. I had claimed Kay's bed pretty shortly after entering the room, tired from the day's events, and just dropped down on my back, not even minding how thin the mattress was. Kay then proceeded to sit down on my legs, her back perpendicular to the wall that bordered the long side of the bed. Everyone was happy. Well, as happy as one could be, trapped inside while the outside was drenched in liquid precipitation.

           "This is so boring, y'all!" Kay complained, crossing her arms across her chest.

           "It's not 'boring'—it's raining," Noa corrected, leaning her head against the shoulder of my roommate, who just so happened to also be her boyfriend.

           "I hate the rain," Kay expressed. "The only good thing about it is that I look really cute in my boots and jacket."

           "That's my favorite part about the rain," Houston said from across the room, grinning at the blonde girl.

           "I like the rain," Ari stated simply from her curled up spot on the chair. Like when I had first seen her at Houston's barbeque, she had bent her knees up to her chin, her arms securely hugging her legs. An earphone was in, the matching one dangling vertically in slow revolutions.

           "Why?" I found myself asking, my voice hoarser than intended.

           And with that voice of hers that complemented the weather so well, she responded. "Because it's calm, gray, and new. After it rains, everything feels new and fresh. Also, I like the feeling of being inside and secure while turmoil occurs outside. It's nice," she paused, the room a still silence, waiting for her to continue. I had noticed that a lot when Ari spoke. Everyone listened. She was always serious and sincere in what she was saying, and there was never a time that anyone disregarded her words. People cared...or pretended to.

           When Ari didn't say anything after a while, Kay pursued a question that made sense coming from such a jovial person as she. "But how can you like something that's just so...so...so sad?" Kay asked her friend, her words sounding happier than they were intended with the addition of her accent. Everything that Kay said always sounded happy.

           "It is sad weather," Ari agreed, "but it's a good sad. It's a cleansing sad that isn't from some form of grief or anger or loss—it's just sad, with no other emotion fueling it." Unlike the emotion of the rain, Ari didn't appear to be sad as she expressed herself. She was just being honest and telling how she felt about the particular topic. "Tom hated the rain. He always got scared of the thunder when we were younger. My mom loved it, though. She used to say that without rain, there was no life, which I guess was true, considering the ecosystem and all that stuff. She liked it—just like me."