Page 31 of As the Rain Falls
“You’re welcome.”
“And thanks for driving me.” She opens the door and gets out of the car. “I really owe you.”
“Don’t say that,” I smile, rolling my eyes at her.
“Or what?” Cassandra stops by the door in an act of sudden bravery, leaning back inside the car. “You might finally ask me to repay you this time around? Yeah, right.”
She winks at me and closes the door really quickly before I can respond.
What a silly girl.
I watch my neighbor as she runs up to the school gates, her ponytail swinging behind her like some kind of adorable cartoon character. Unaware of my staring, Cassandra holds my jacket over her head, the only thing protecting her from the rain falling from the sky.She stops in her tracks, trying to skip over muddy puddles.Something tells me I’m not getting that jacket back.
My phone starts to ring, and I pick it up, fighting the grin off my face.
“Yes?”
“Hi. I need you to stop by the store and pick up some hot glue again… Beckett? Are you listening?”
Well’s voice echoes through the speaker, rough and tired, and I blink myself awake. He has a thick accent and nasal intonation, always over-pronouncing every syllable when he speaks. We balance each other out because I feel like my words come out slurred half of the time.
“Sorry.” I turn the truck on again. “I was, uh, dropping my neighbor off at school.”
“Cassandra Rivera?”
“Yeah. Uhm, her brother overslept, or something.”
Well hums in understanding, “Good. She’s a kind girl.”
I might have grown a soft spot for her since we were children, but Cassandra is more than just kind. She is the nicest neighbor one could ever ask for.She doesn’t make any noise, and gives me my mail back when ours gets mixed up. She even walks Pepé back to my house when he escapes to hers and asks for food, like I don’t feed him enough already.
Her parents don’t deserve her. I know firsthand what it feels like to be a child of neglect, left to sink or swim, without any help. It fucking sucks, and Cassandra has a family who doesn’t seem to give a shit about her.
Her father might be the school’s principal, but he is rarely ever around. Her mother is some kind of religious freak, always stuck at church praying for God’s second coming like she has some fucked-up shit to repent for, and her brother…
Clearly Nathaniel Rivera only ever cares about himself and his own shadow.
“Right.” I grip the steering wheel a little tighter. “I’ll be there in forty minutes, an hour in the worst-case scenario. Hopefully the rain will have stopped by then entirely, but ring me up again if I don’t show up soon.”
“Alright.” Well chuckles, his voice cutting. “See… soon…”
“The line is cutting, Well. I’m going to end the call now.”
I throw my phone towards the backseat of the car.
The screen immediately cracks.
***
“Get Maribella for me!” Well yells, awkwardly running after me and the poor chicken who refuses to let him get any closer. “Get her!”
I hide my giggle by looking at the ground, combing my hair back with my fingers when it starts getting in my eyes.
“I’m trying, sir!”
Rain is pouring down strongly now. My rubber boots are drowning in bright green grass and red mud. I don’t even want to check what’s going on with my sweatpants right now. I really need to get that haircut soon. That, and stop using all my clothes for work.
“Grab the bag.”
