A Friend Like Me

Rain, feel it on my finger tips
Hear it on my window pane
Rain - Madonna

“Hey, this is pretty good,” Joe commented, his mouth full of the spaghetti that I ordered for myself.

I, in turn helped myself to some of his french fries. “It is.”

Joe looked outside. “The rain's letting up.”

“No. It looks the same. There's still thunder and lightning.”

“But they're more spacious.”

“What?”

Joe squinted a little at the ceiling, trying to figure out how to say what's on his mind. “Like…you know. The sounds of the thunder and the blinking-ness of the lightning –”

“– have more time in between them,” I finished for him. “I know what you mean.”

I dipped a french fry into mayonnaise.

Joe frowned. “That still disgusts me. Ketchup is supposed to go with fries, not mayonnaise.”

I stuck my tongue out at him. “This tastes better. Plus, ketchup is disgusting.”

“Mayonnaise is supposed to go on turkey sandwiches only.”

Rolling my eyes, I dumped some mayonnaise on Joe's burger.

His eyes widened. “Ava! EW!”

I laughed as Joe wiped the mayonnaise off of his burger.

“Hey, this is a Polaroid moment,” Joe said.

“Kodak,” I corrected.

“That's where you're wrong,” Joe said, pulling his Polaroid out of that camera case thing he carries around. “It's Polaroid because of my Polaroid…geddit?”

“Unfortunately.”

Joe grinned and took a picture of me. As he waited for it to develop, he said, “We should get some more photos. Because one day, we're going to look back on today and laugh. Even though we're laughing right now, still.” Then he added, “We should get some photos of us two together later, also. I'll ask the waitress when she gets here.”

The film developed soon, a picture of me appearing. I took it and handed it back to Joe.

“I look weird.”

Joe looked at the picture and shook his head. “No you don't. You look really – nevermind.”

{∞∞∞}

“Let's go outside now,” Joe suggested.

“It's still pouring,” I said.

“So?” Joe shrugged. “Let's go, while it's raining. We can go play games and stuff.”

He gave me a smile that sent me weak in the knees.

Thank goodness I'm sitting down.

“Alright,” I said, giving up. “Let's go. You paid already, right?”

Joe nodded.

“You paid?” I teased. “You actually paid? Usually, it's me paying…”

“Oh, ha ha,” Joe mimicked my laughter, which made me laugh harder.

As soon as we were out of the door, Joe jumped on a particularly large puddle, spraying the both of us with water. He looked back at me.

Joe was laughing, his eyes completely alight, reflecting his playful mood. I felt warmth pass through me. I loved it when he let loose with me, like it was just us, like there was absolutely no chance of a paparazzi or fan catching him like this.

Like before he became famous.

I jumped into a big puddle next to him, drenching my Converse again.

“Hey!” Joe yelled. “Yours is bigger than mine!”

He paused then said, “That's what she said.”

“You're not supposed to say it after your own sentence, Joseph.”

“Well, that's just the way I roll,” Joe said.

“You are so weird.”

Joe grinned at me. “But I'm awesome.”

“You sure about that?”

“Yeah. You were staring at me earlier, I've noticed.”

“Oh, shut up. I was not.”

“I – you were staring at me, too!”

Actually, I'm not all too sure about that, because I just invented that. To my surprise, though, Joe turned a light shade of pink.

“No.”

“Why are you blushing, then?” I teased.

“I'm not blushing.”

“Have I mentioned how cute you look when you blush?”

Joe blushed harder. “Oh, stop.”

“So, I bet you can't beat me to the car.”

“I can too! I actually run.”

“We'll see about that then. Ready…go!”

I sprinted off, not daring to slow down as Joe yelled at me, “Hey! What happened to 'get set'?”

I slowed down as I neared the place where the car crashed, already pretty tired. As I did, Joe sped past me, laughing. He ran down through the trees to where the car was.

When I arrived, he took off his jacket, placing it on the roof of my car.

“I win,” he said victoriously.

I rolled my eyes and ran using the last bit of strength that I had left over to him. But my foot slipped on something. I tumbled into Joe, my hands and forehead landing on his chest. He caught me, his hands on my waist.

“Whoa,” Joe said. “You alright?”

I straightened up, but Joe's hands still remained at my waist and mine on his chest. I nodded. “Y-Yeah.”

He was close. Extremely close. I was feeling a swooping sensation in my stomach and he was taking away my breath by how close he was. If I wanted to, I could move my head just a little and I'd be kissing him.

Don't get me wrong. I do. I so do.

Except I didn't want to ruin everything.

So I didn't. Besides, he had a girlfriend and I…had James (which I'm pretty confused about. Is he my boyfriend?).

Instead, I pulled away a little and said, “We better get in. I'm getting a little cold now.”

Joe pulled me back close to him. “Then let's stay here.”

“That doesn't make sense. Standing out in the rain won't do us a-any good.”

But right now, I was feeling extremely enjoyably warm.

“Things don't have to make sense,” Joe said. “I mean, if you ask me, I feel fine right now, just standing out here with you.”

I looked up at him, smiling. “Really.”

I loved this moment. I wanted to press pause and live in this forever, just being in his arms.

The thing is, I had a horrible feeling that it would end. And by the time we'll get back to the hotel, it would be over, forgotten, and we'd go back to the way things were again – Joe with Demi and I with James.