Downpour

I ran a hand through my hair walking down the street. I suddenly cursed myself for not bothering to bring a jacket, the season was hot, but the air outside was cool when there was no sun beating down on you.

Tayden pissed me off, no Tayden pisses me off. He’d come in the bathroom to see if I was okay, and I managed to throw up again right in front of him. He’d tried to pat my back as I did so, but I knew he wasn’t good with vomit, and told him to go.

He had been waiting outside the room for me when I exited, finally done cleaning up and brushing my teeth.

“Are you okay?” he had said, his eyes showing off that he was truly worried.

“I’m fine. Rain thinks it’s food poisoning. I wish it would just end though.” I had crossed my hands over my chest and walked into the living room, downing a glass of water and eating some crackers.

“If it were food poisoning don’t you think we’d all be sick? When was the last time you ate something that we didn’t?” I had looked around trying to rack my brain and come up with an answer. But I couldn’t, because I’d eaten every meal with someone, our food cooked together and cut up to be shared between whoever I was with, yet I was the only one sick.

I had looked up at him, utterly confused as to what he could have been saying. “What do you mean?”

“You can’t- You aren’t…” he had looked nervously at me running his hands over his face. “Never mind, I’m just being paranoid.”

“I’m not what? You can’t just leave me hanging like that Tayden.” He had been silent, letting the deafening silence fill my ears. “God Tayden, stop being an ass all the time and just tell me.”

He had looked up, shocked at the words slipping out of my mouth. “I’m the ass? Why don’t you take a look in the mirror? Going fuck some random ass guy while your best friend needs you. Some fucking friend.”

I stared at him then, the anger building inside me, before turning to the front door. I had grabbed my keys and my purse off the table just to the left of it and opened it. “Whatever!” I said, slamming the door quite forcefully before walking off into the night.



I wondered into the convenience store, muttering a quick hello to the beefy guy behind the counter, thoroughly engrossed in his comic book. I wondered up and down the aisles before stopping and gulping.

I reached my hand out to grab it. I couldn’t be right? This had to be some weird dream. Tayden was just messing with my train of thought. It was food poisoning…wasn’t it? I looked around checking if anyone I knew was around me. Once I noticed I was alone I brought it up to the counter, blushing as the guy looked at me, then at the item I placed down.

He rang me up, then bagged my single item. I contemplated throwing a candy bar on the counter to take away from what I was buying, but I figured it’d do no good. I quickly paid what was owed and left, shoving the bag into my purse as soon as I was outside the door.

I walked up and down the crisscrossed streets, before turning and heading back to the direction of my house. Getting closer I noticed Tayden’s pickup truck was still there, along with Patrick’s truck parked right next to it. He was doing a good job of not being all in Tayden’s face with the fact that he slept with, and was continuing to pursue Rain.

Pushing open the front door I peeked around, almost silently wishing someone would come forward and ask me where I’d been and what I’d been doing, knowing full well in that moment there was no doubt in my mind I would break. I would have spilled everything, every secret my body was hoarding inside. Instead I was met with mostly silence. The only sounds were the television coming from the guest bedroom, and laughs coming from Rain’s.

I quietly walked to my room, shutting the door behind me as quiet as I could. I placed my bag on my bed and sat down looking at it. Suddenly I could hear scratching on my door, and when I opened it Copper walked in quite slowly.

I picked him up and put him on my bed with me, petting his fat belly. I continued to do nothing but stare at my purse, knowing what the contents in the bag were. I scratched behind Copper’s ear.

“What should I do Copper?” he wiggled and snuggled closer to me before closing his eyes. I shoved my purse off the bed with my foot, letting it land on the stool sitting just at the edge of my bed cluttered with throw pillows and jackets.
Pulling the covers back I snuck under them and decided it’d be best to do it tomorrow. I needed time for it to sink in, to weigh all my options. I turned off the light and shut my eyes, drifting into a much needed slumber.



Pacing the kitchen, Copper sat in the middle of the door staring at me. It was almost as if he knew exactly what was going on in my mind. He had spent the night with me, and unlike most guys he’d stayed after it was daylight outside. Although, I guess being a dog he didn’t exactly count.

Tayden walked in, and my pacing came to a halt. Copper cocked his head in the direction of Tayden’s shuffling and my body trailed down his naked chest before shooting up to meet his face.

“Did Patrick sleep over last night?” I shrugged and turned to the sink, suddenly engrossed in the dirty dishes. So I did what I did best, I ignored him. I hummed, letting him know I wasn’t paying attention to anything else coming out his perfectly shaped lips.
It went on like this for a few minutes before Tayden groaned, “Can you stop Baylin? We’re both adults here. We can talk about…it, without wanting to tear each other’s clothes or heads off.” I stopped wiping the counter and looked at him.

“I ended up at the convenience store on Leener.” He nodded waiting for me to go on.

“Did you um..” I looked in his eyes, knowing exactly what he was going to ask. I nodded just as Rain bounced in the room, looking better than she had in days.

“Did you what?” she turned to me and I froze with fear. I hoped she hadn’t heard what Tayden had said just moments before.

“Make breakfast! I’m starved.” Tayden said shoving past us both and digging in the fridge as if his life depended on it.

“Oh, um no.” I looked at Rain and she looked away, uninterested in our fake conversation.

“COPPER!” she bent down and rubbed the small dogs belly, making sure to scratch every inch of it. I smiled and mentally thanked Cooper for the distraction and further investigation on our conversation.

I quickly made breakfast for the four of us. Patrick and Tayden seemed to be getting along as if nothing had happened, although when Patrick had walked out of Rain’s room this morning I swear Tayden almost dropped his fork.

I exited and entered my room, locking the door behind me. I grabbed my purse and picked up the balled up bag, bringing it into the bathroom with me, before shutting and locking that door too.

I pulled it out, unboxed it and peed. I set it down on top of some toilet paper on the counter, waiting for the stick to decide my fate.