How it Happened

Nine

Nine

70 and ½ days until the wedding

"Let me guess, there's a problem with the florist?" Nate passes me an amused sideways glance before focusing his attention back out the windshield.

"Yeah, something like that..." Is my vague reply before my arm flings out. "Take a right here!"

"Dude, you don't have to yell, I'm sitting right here." Nate's chuckles cover his slight wince, and I only lean back against the leather seat sheepishly.

"Sorry, I'm just so-wait! You need to turn here." My leg starts bouncing again and my fingers coil themselves around my purse strap as my eyes take in the slightly familiar intersection.

"Right, or left?" Nate throws me another look, this time serious, and my lungs burn when I don't immediately exhale. "Right, or left?" Now Nate's the one to yell, and my arm flings out again.

"Left!"

"Are you sure?" His brown eyes sear me again.

"Yes! I'm sure!" My shout now stems from both my own anxiousness, and general anxiousness because with traffic so congested he should really keep his eyes on the road.

The turn is a little rough, but as my eyes trace over the line of buildings surrounding us, I find that's the least of my worries. A drop of water hits the windshield in front of me before it's followed by another. They slowly patter down and Nate immediately flicks on the windshield wipers, wiping them from existence. I begin to chew on my thumbnail as my eyes land on the conga line of cars ahead of us. Our speed dwindles down to a slow crawl in sync with the slow glide of the rain drops that begin sliding down my window. Only moments later do the buildings beside us finally become rectangular blurs as the raindrops begin racing down the glass. One by one the rain falls and I tear my eyes away from the movement only to have them land on the time.

"I bet you weren't expecting this."

My brain barely processes the snide comment about the weather. All I know is I have two minutes. The windshield wipers are in full power now and my eyes land back on the expanse of cars trailing in front of us.

"Stop the car."

"What?" Nate's eyes are on me again, but my hand is already poised on the handle.

"Pull over."

"Avery-" He tries to reason, but I shake my head.

"Please, pull over. The sidewalks right there, I'm just going to run."

Thunder rumbles above us just as Nate flicks on the hazards and pulls us up to the curb. Before he's even parked I leap out onto the sidewalk and slam the door on his protests. I'm not athletic and my heavy footsteps prove that as they carry me along. My white blouse immediately sticks to my skin as I'm submerged by the raindrops I was only a witness to moments before.

On days like these I usually relish in it. I usually welcome the contrast of cool drops when it relieves me from the sticky air, but as I continue to stumble down the sidewalk I can't even allow myself to do just that.

I wrench back the heavy glass door when I reach my destination, and almost slip on the black tiled floor. My footsteps squeak as I avoid the nonsense of the elevator and opt for the stairs at the end of the hall. My steps blur together as I'm running again up the two flights. Just when I reach the right floor, my foot slips, and my knee slams into the step. I groan in annoyance while my wrists groan in protest when I immediately ignore the pain and scramble back up, brushing wet strands of hair away from my face.