Before It Rains

I didn’t sleep much at all that night. Or maybe I slept like a rock. I wasn’t sure, but I knew when I woke up that I wasn’t well rested. Wednesday morning I walked to breakfast with Ruben. No one else was ready when we left. I sensed Austin was probably waiting for me to leave before he did.

“So Sammy, I know this probably isn’t the best time to ask this, but…” Ruben started. I cut him off.

“You’re not going to ask me to homecoming are you?” I asked, only really half-joking.

He laughed. “No way, sis. I was going to ask you about asking Asia.”

“Okay, bro,” I retorted. “You should though.”

“But do you think she’ll say yes?”

“Pretty much all girls will,” I told him. There was a moment of silence and I knew what we were both thinking. Pretty much all girls, me being the one outstanding exception.

“I think you should,” I said, desperate to silence those screaming words inside my head. Shut up! “But ask he soon, there are only a few days left.”

“Sure,” he said grinning as we stepped into the cafeteria. Max and Kai were the only ones sitting at our table.

“Where is everyone?” Ruben asked. I had my guesses.

“Shane left early to make up a test or something, Asia is God-knows-where, and Will and Austin are still at the dorms, I think,” Kai informed.

“Hey, at least you guys are here now… so we don’t look like total losers sitting by ourselves,” Max said. I smiled for the first time since the night before.

I had a grand total of zero classes with Austin that day, but I did have pre-calc with Asia, Will, and my brother. I dragged Will out right after class was dismissed. I might have been in a pretty damn bad situation, but that didn’t mean I was completely selfish. Leaving Ruben and Asia behind, Will and I header over to lunch.

“Are you okay?” Will asked. “You didn’t really seem that happy last night.”

“What do you think?” I asked him.

“I guess not, but Sam, you’re the one who turned him down.”

“I know! I made a mistake, okay!” I kind of snapped. Okay, so I really snapped. He gave me a strange look, somewhere along the lines of hurt crossing with sympathy. “Sorry, I’m just in a bad mood.” He nodded.

“I don’t really blame you,” he said.

“Do you think he’s ever going to talk to me?”

“Not unless you corner him and he has no other choice but to talk to you. Otherwise, he’ll just sulk. Tell you what. I’m out at practice right after school. I can leave the door unlocked when I leave.” I smiled at him as we picked up trays.

I decided after school got out that I would go try to see Austin, and then go over to the girl’s dorm and talk to Asia. When I got tot our floor, I dropped my baf in our empty room and took a few deep breathes. Then I walked over to Austin’s room and knocked. Nothing, but I guess I had been expecting that. I didn’t really know whether he was in there or not, but I guessed I was going to find out. I twisted the knob and pushed. Sure enough, it was open.

I was expecting Austin to be surprised, but he was sitting at his desk and didn’t even glance up. I walked over and looked over his shoulder. Math homework. The problem he was working on was 2x + 3y = 5y. He’d moved the 3y over correctly, but he’s rewritten the problem as 2x = 6y – 3y on the next line, which would’ve been 2x = 3y, a lot more complicated than it had to be.

I took the pencil from the desk and wrote 2x = 5y – 3y. HE just stared at the paper and then turned around to look at me. He looked worn out and irritated.

“What do you want?” It was pretty much the same tone I’d used with Will earlier in the day. And it stung.

“I came to sort of apologize…” Then I realized why I had really come. “And to see if you’d go to homecoming with me,” I finished.

“No,” he said. I was half-surprised, but yes, part of me had expected that answer. “You’re asking because you feel bad that I’m disappointed.” I was hoping I wouldn’t have to go through the entire thing again, but…

“Look, Austin, when Shane asked me to homecoming, he asked me because he didn’t have someone else to go with. I said no because I wanted to go with someone who wanted to go with me. I was stupid, and I thought you were pulling the same thing.”

He sighed. “Sam, I’m not Shane. I wanted to go with you, and if you think about the context, you weren’t really that nice about it.”

“I know, so that’s why I’m trying again. Will you please take me to homecoming?” Say yes, say yes, please say yes.

“Yeah,” he said.

“Really?”

“Yeah.”

“Yay!” I hugged him and he blushed. It was cute. “Sorry I can’t stay, but I have to go hang out with Asia now. And you,” I pointed back to the paper, “have some work to do.” He rolled his eyes. My Austin was back.

I practically skipped over to the girl’s dorm. Asia’s door was locked and she wasn’t there. Then I remembered it was Wednesday. The varsity soccer game!

I sprinted over to the field where the girl’s team was playing, and saw them warming up. The game wasn’t going to start until four, like the boy’s game had, but they had a mini practice before hand. I stood at the edge of the field, and she came jogging over when she saw me. I smiled.

“So, do I assume correctly when I say Sam Prindle has a date to homecoming?” I nodded. I was going to ask her about Ruben, but I couldn’t have been sure he’d really asked her yet.

“And…” I said, hoping for something.

“I do too.” She smiled. He had asked.

“Yay!” I squealed.

“So… do you want to go dress shopping Saturday morning? We can sign out and take the bus to town…” Of course she knew all this stuff. Frankly, I hadn’t even thought about attire. I agreed and she gave me the condensed version on Ruben until someone called out for her on the field.

My brother and Austin were sitting on the bleachers when I crossed back over to the other side of the field. I plopped down on the bench next to Austin, but turned to look at Ruben.

“So… I heard you found a date?” I prompted.

“Yup.” Man, he wasn’t giving me anything.

“And…?” I tried again.

“And… I’m going with Asia.”

“Wow, thanks for the detail,” I said with sarcasm. Then I had an idea. “Wait, Ruben, where’s your camera?” I asked him.

“On my dresser.”

“Can I use it?”

“Why?”

“I need to send pictures to Layla and Hanna.”

“Who are they?” Austin asked.

“My friends back home.”

“They can’t be very good friends of yours if I don’t know about them,” he said. I smacked his shoulder.

“Believe it or not there are people who I know that you don’t.”

“Oh really?” he raised his eyebrows.

And I ran back to the dorm laughing to retrieve Ruben’s camera. I’d finally get those photos for Layla and Hanna.