Summer Rain

“I can’t believe this,” Faith stated, as she looked out the window. “The day we’ve been looking forward to for weeks... no, correction: months, is all of a sudden cancelled? Stupid rain.”

“I know,” I said, sighing as I looked outside with her. We’ve been looking forward to this day because today was the day they planned to open this new amusement park near us. Okay, so I know what you’re thinking: that isn’t too big of a deal, right? Well, when you lived in a small town like where we were, this was considered beyond exciting. Because, well, hardly anything happened here, and there wasn’t anything to do either. Most of the time everyone actually anticipated the new school year to just get here already; that’s how boring this town was.

And now, the one way it’s about to get just a little more exciting, is ruined by rain.

“How about we just fo to Hal’s?” I asked. “It’s much more exciting than staying here all day.”

“You have a point,” she said. “Alright, let’s go.”

>>------------------------------------------------------------->>

“Hey Hal,” I said, as I took a seat at the counter, Faith taking the seat to my right. Hal was my dad’s friend. He owned the restaurant with my dad, but it was called Hal’s because he was the one who decided to open it. My dad didn’t join him in owning it until a while later, when Hal needed help keeping the place running.

“Hey Jaee, Faith,” he said, acknowledging the two of us. “Did the rain bring you here?”

“Pretty much,” I answered. The place was pretty much deserted, except for three guys sitting at a booth. This was a small town, everyone pretty much knew one another, but these guys didn’t look too familiar. I turned back to Hal and asked, “Hey, who are they? I haven’t seen them around here before.”

“And it’s not too shocking that you haven’t,” he said. “I’m supposed to keep this hush hush, but I’ll tell you. They’re this famous boy band, the um... Jonas Brothers.”

“No way!” Faith practically shouted, making me give her a look. She put her hand over her mouth, to prevent herself from saying anything else. I glanced back over at their table, and thankfully, they hadn’t paid attention to her. Or they chose to ignore her.

“I don’t believe you,” I said to him. “I mean really, out of all the places they could go, like town or city wise, why would they choose here?”

Hal was about to respond to that, but didn’t get to seeing as someone answered for him.

“Maybe to get away from the famous life for a little while,” they said. I looked to my left to see none other than, now that I could see him better up close, Joe Jonas, sitting next to me. I opened my mouth to say something, but then shortly after closed it again, not really knowing what to say. I couldn’t exactly say that I understood, because, well... I’m not famous.

“Oh,” I finally responded. “Did the rain make you stop here? Did it get in the way of going to the real city or town you want to go to?”

“No. Well... kind of,” he answered. “We were originally going to go to this amusement park that was going to open near here, but... because of the rain...”

“Faith and I were going to go to the same one,” I said, as he trailed off. Speaking of Faith, when I looked over to where she had been sitting, she was gone. I then noticed that she had taken Joe’s spot at the table with the other guys he was sitting with. Which, I now realized, were his brothers.

“So, I haven’t officially introduced myself,” he stated, as I looked back at him. “I’m Joe, and you are...?”

“Jaee,” I answered.

“Jaee...” he repeated. “That’s a beautiful name.”

I blushed when he said that.

We talked for a little while, getting to know each other. Why on earth Joe Jonas would want to know more about my life is beyond me, but he did.

As we continued to converse, I couldn’t help but notice the rain beginning to let up. It was still raining, but instead of downright pouring, it was more of a drizzle now.

“Hey, what do you know?” Joe stated, noticing too. “I think talking to you shined a little light on this clouded day.”

I, like with the other compliment, blushed.

“So, since it’s letting up... you want to go for a walk?” He asked. I gave him a quizzical look.

“But... it’s still raining,” I pointed out.

“Well, yeah. But not as much,” he said. “Plus, we can take an umbrella. I think we have one in the car.”

After a moment of thought, I agreed. As Joe went to get the umbrella, I went over to Faith to tell her I would meet up with her later, as well as saying bye to Hal. By then Joe had came back into the diner, and we were on our way.

>>---------------------------------------------------------->>

Okay, be honest. What’s the real reason you came here?” I asked, kicking at the asphalt. We were walking along the one street that led away from the diner.

“What do you mean? I already told you,” he stated.

“I know, but why... this town? And don’t tell me because of the new park opening. Because there are plenty of other more exciting amusement parks already opened, and with better rides. So out of all the places you could’ve gone to, why here?” I asked.

“I- Well, okay. We, as in my brothers and I, came across it as we were driving. We were looking for somewhere desolate, and I guess we were lucky enough to come across this place,” he answered. “Does that answer your question? This place is a nice change from what we’re used to.”

“Yeah, it does. It is a nice change from the average city. It’s more... quiet and peaceful,” I agreed. Then, changing the subject, I said, “Oh, look! There’s a puddle up ahead. I’ll race you to it.” I didn’t give him a chance to respond, because I started running, leaving him and the umbrella behind.

“Hey!” He shouted, before starting to run after me. I laughed, deciding to slow down until he caught up. When he did, I started running again, and then we both jumped into the large puddle at the same time. Completely soaking our clothes in the process.

“Wow,” I laughed, looking down at my clothes. “That wasn’t too bright of an idea, huh?”

“I’m not gonna lie,” he said. “It probably wasn’t. But I say we just blame it on the summer rain... for even tempting us in the first place.”

“Yeah,” I agreed, smiling.

“And let’s blame this on the summer rain as well,” he stated.

I was about to ask, ‘Blame what?’, but I never got the chance. Seeing as before I could say anything, Joe leaned down and kissed me.

It made me get this feeling inside that I couldn’t explain. Like butterflies were going off in my stomach, and my lips felt like they were being electrocuted.

“Woah,” Joe and I said at the same time, once we pulled away from each other.

“Did you get this feeling inside-” he started to ask, but I cut him off.

“That you just can’t explain?” I finished. When he nodded, I did as well. “Yeah. I did too.”

He smiled, before leaning down and kissing me again, as the rain continued to fall on us.

It came out of the blue, but now I was kind of thankful for the summer rain.

Then out of the blue you came,
You shine a little light on a clouded day,
Baby, you could make a broken heart go away,
I’m not gonna lie,
This feeling inside,
I can’t explain,
Oh, I’m gonna blame it on the summer rain,
Yeah, yeah, I’m gonna blame it on the summer rain...