His hair was dripping wet as the rain poured relentlessly against his back. The gentle beating of raindrops almost matched his heart as the weather continued to get stronger and angrier.
Who knew it would rain on this faithful day?
Luke clenched his fist. In shame, in anger, in resentment. The blackened tombstone staring up at him, the grass slowly being drowned by the pooling rainwater by his feet, the bouquet he'd brought just moments ago, now soaked and ruined.
He didn't know what made his face a sopping mess, was it his tears that magically appeared; being blanketed by the facadé of rain? or was it the pouring sky disappointed in him time and time again?
He couldn't tell but was glad of the latter, too headstrong to let his dad see him so vulnerable.
"Luke, let's go" The devil himself spoke by the canopy. He was sitting in a bench, smoking that damned cigarette that made his already fucked up system cough up in agony.
Looking back, he stared at his father blankly and approached; indifferent to his orders. He walked past him toward the car.
"Hey" his dad spoke out, stopping him in his tracks. "You know I'm doing this for you right?"
And with that, he walked ahead. He knew what his dad meant. It wasn't for him, or the family, or their relationship. As if they had any more to begin with.
It was merely business, a partnership.
He almost blamed his dad more for his mom's demise.
Almost.
-
The day had been a hectic one. With the ever near midterm examinations looming over his head, came the countless quizzes and work the professors had to dump on them to put the cherry on top. He had been sleeping 2 hour intervals for the whole month with barely any food and the sustenance of energy drinks to keep him barely sane.
The formulas of his physics booklets are a mashed up mess inside his head.
But the other thing that kept his mind off of things was during the weekends.
And today was one of those days.
For the last couple of semesters he had been trying out a painting course offered by the university for those interested. An extracurricular if you will. It pained him to have let go of his hobby long before he could truly reach his full potential so when he got news of this opportunity, he immediately took it.
It was one of those small, lecture rooms with barely 15 pupils present. The learning environment was all conducive.
Luke sat with his arms crossed, listening to the lecturer talk about today's topic of interest. Her voice was barely audible given the lack of paying attention he was giving.
"-to the heart. For one of our final projects before gallery week, it's up to you as a student to paint a piece that represents city life for you. Whether big or small, I'm sure this class environment in the urban city can give you a pretty good idea on what to draw" she spoke confidently as she clasped her hands, smiling cheerfully at the crowd before her.
This caught his attention. Straightening up his posture, he listened intently once more and pulled out his sketchbook.
"But, everyone. The painting shall not be administered today as we speak. I will be expecting your works to be submitted the following week as this week's meeting is merely a lecture to let you all allow your minds to explore. Even your feet, to find inspiration within the city" she added, waving a finger and gesturing fantastical buildings with her hands. Whispers and murmurs ensue as some people started sketching right away and some decided to pack their bags and go on with their day.
After a couple more minutes, the class concluded and Luke left feeling distracted but determined to seek out his latest masterpiece.
-
The city skylines were immaculate during early mornings. The hustle and bustle a wake-up call for those still groggy from their evening slumbers. Luke walked briskly as he was dragged about, bumping shoulders alongside the majority of people just getting to work.
Saturday's are still workdays after all.
He stared up at the towering buildings, visually inspecting the measurements and materials in real time and drawing it on paper. From all that he inherited from his dad, there was being idealistic and having photographic memory. He'd been lucky to get the latter.
One particular building caught his attention, a white glass adorned structure with a big cross in the middle.
U-Held Langone Health. A fairly new hospital, but due to its traditional, run of the mill style architecture; gave a timeless look on both the exterior and the landscape surrounding it. His eyes progressed upwards, attention diverted by a singular figure up at the rooftop.
It looked to be a female patient with brown wavy hair. Her locks haphazardly spewing about by the forces of the wind. Luke immediately went to alert mode, his mind going straight to the worse case scenario.
But she looked to be peacefully staring down at the scenery below here, seemingly stuck in a comfortable trance.
A momentary lightbulb flashed in his mind, the picturesque scenery catching his wandering attention.
He now had his painting in sight.
"Lu-bear, let's hurry up!" a high-pitched tone snapped him out of his thought as he stared ahead of him. His date excitedly pointing at one of the local brunch spots they'd agreed to eat at.
He pulled her inside and stared at the scene before them. The smell of freshly baked croissants and the ever-lasting scent of brewed coffee beans danced around his senses. It smelled like home.
The waitress led them to their table. Claire settling herself in the booth as she placed her purse on the table, holding Luke's hand in a firm hold.
"So, what do you wanna order?" he asked eyeing the girl sitting across from him.
He had met Claire at a party one of his friends invited him to. She had been one of the eye-catching girls who had clouds on their feet and were living each day, one margarita at a time. But she was fun, very bold and got him out of his comfort zone. She even introduced him to the so-called ritual as she'd call it; of belly shots.
The waitress approached, clipboard in hand and a modest smile plastered on her face.
"Hi, what can I get you two?" she spoke, looking back and forth between the young couple.
"Can I get the french toast and one iced mocha latte?" Claire replied, gently rubbing Luke's hands in hers.
"Just black coffee for me" Luke soon followed, smiling vehemently.
The two sat in a comfortable silence for a while, the melodic cafe music bouncing around the speakers that decorated the place.
Claire suddenly crossed her arms and feigned a frown, looking at Luke with her best dog puppy eyes.
"You know, I'm still mad at you" she spoke, rolling her eyes with a heavy huff.
"Claire," he started, pulling his chair closer to the table. "We've talked about this-"
"No!" she half-shouted, catching the attention of a couple of guys just behind them. Luke looked shocked and slightly embarassed, giving them an apologetic
glance.
"Babe, you know how my dad is. The company is what comes first, even before me" Luke tried to reason; careful not to raise his voice as to not draw more attention on them as they already have.
"God; that's what you always say!" she rebutted, flailing her arms around.
It happened all too fast.
The waitress who had momentarily left them suddenly appeared with their orders, tray in hand. Claire's frenzied arms accidentally hit the tray and the waitress toppled over, spilling a little of the mocha latte on her arm. The whole place went silent as Claire glared at the poor waitress. Then, rounds upon rounds of curses came hurling out of her mouth. The waitress couldn't do anything else but bow her head and repeatedly apologize.
Claire stood up unexpectedly, toppling her chair over as she reached toward the tray to get her latte. Everybody was shocked when she poured the remaining liquid on the waitresses' head, the white foam and ice cascading down her back and soaking her uniform.
Luke immediately stood up, went over to Claire's side of the booth. Manhandling her hand as he got between the two of the women.
"Claire, stop this!" he yelled, now glaring daggers at his befuddled date. She gasped in shock.
"Fuck you!" she screamed, walking past the two but stopping midway to point at the poor waitress. "And fuck you too!"
The cafe turned silent as the doors were abruptly slammed shut. Luke apologized the best that he could, giving the waitress his napkin and quickly settling the bill before running out of the establishment to find his date.
He found her near an alleyway, tears embedded in her cheeks as she looked to be calling someone on her phone.
"What the hell was that!?" Luke angerly walked towards her, somehow more disappointed than mad at the display she did just moments before.
"She got what she deserved, that's what that was!" Claire replied, rolling her eyes and looking at her camera app to fix her rundown mascara.
"Don't be so childish, Claire!" he shouted back.
"Oh that was childish?" Claire feigned a laugh. "What's childish is you not knowing boundaries with your deadbeat dad!"
She pointedly mockingly at his chest. Hot tears now streaming down her face once more.
"Is that what this is about?" Luke replied, furrowing his brows. "I defended you, I defended us! I'm making it work!"
"Yet he continues to demean you. Demeans me!" she reasoned, now hiding her face in her hands. "I don't know how long of this I can bare"
Luke shakes his head, walking closer towards her, "Claire, no-"
"I'm breaking up with you"
He didn't know how long he had stood there staring at her. He didn't know how long until she had walked away as he stared at an empty brick wall. The sky cracked bolts of thunder as the rain started to pour again. It was an ironic scene, no doubt. His well-groomed locks soaked again for the second time this week. His tailored polo shirt sopping wet and uncomfortably cold as water startes dripping down his chin onto the pavement below. He wanted to curse, wanted to scream and throw up. But instead he just heaved a heavy sigh, looking down at his watch and realizing three hours had passed.
He still had an exam to study for tomorrow.