Rain, Rain, GO AWAY. ((OPEN))

Cara knew the storm was coming. She remembered the forecast from the eleven o'clock news last night. She actually remembered it because it had been right before her fourth glass of wine; everything after that was fuzzy... until the next morning. That morning, Cara woke up to a note left by her brother who had left for work and the start of the an absolutely horrid headache. The note informed Cara of the usual: her brother wouldn't be home until five in the afternoon and instructed her to behave herself until he got back. But after an hour or so of searching the apartment for the liquor cabinet key (Cara didn't usually drink in the morning, but she needed the perk), she decided to head out on the town for some fresh air to counteract her hangover. Cara brushed her teeth repeatedly to get rid of the alcohol breath, showered and dressed into clothes for sight-seeing... oh, and for her to see the sights as well... At ten Cara swept out of the apartment. The storm was predicted for noon.

An hour and fifty-five minutes later, Cara strolled leisurely out of a Starbucks, the final piece to her outfit, a caramel frap, in hand. Now Cara looked like a typical, out-of-a-magazine teenage girl. The thought made her smirk which took away the effect of the frap so Cara took a sip to hide it. Once again, she joined the outflow of people walking to and for from place to place but this time it seemed different. More... rushed. Cara stopped in the middle of the sidewalk to look up, much to the displeasure of the people behind her. Now she knew why. A parade of dark clouds had marched in, and, in a matter of seconds, overtook the sun. Cara glanced down to where her shadow used to be and then around her where people used to be. Now the streets were deserted, everyone taken shelted in a nearby building. 'Hm,' Cara mused. 'I guess I have to get out of this, now.' The sudden drizzle affirmed her thought.

Cara started walking again, but before she could get a decent distance, the drizzle turned into a downright downpour. Cara stopped, shocked for a moment and then resumed moving, this time at a faster pace. The rain fell at such a rate that Cara couldn't even see in front of her! She took a few blind turns, crossed a few streets and ended up in front of a bookstore. Not seeing any other place to go, Cara rushed in.

The bell on the door jingled as Cara opened it, and even though she wanted so badly to get out of the rain, Cara peeked her head in. "Hello?" she called. When no one answered, Cara entered. This place wasn't a chain bookstore like Barnes and Nobles or anything like that but one of those small humble places that smelled like dust. Cara walked (more like squished) through the store. No one manned the cahshier's chair... in fact, the whole place looked deserted. Kind of odd considering the sign on the door said 'open' and all. Cara started to shift through the aisles, running her fingers along the spines of books. Some of them didn't have titles and looked old enough to be worth a lot of money. She edged from the aisles back to the window of the bookstore. She stared out at the rain. "Dammit." She was screwed when she got home.

Emilio didn't like Cara going off in the city by herself. Sure the majority of it was nice and all, but, like any other city, Chicago had its dodgy places complete with its dodgy characters. And now Cara was in a part of town she didn't recognize. She bit her lip. "Dammit," she cursed again.

Cara jerked away from the window when she heard the new voice. She backed up a bit and almost bumped into a table behind her. She muttered more curses as she righted herself, rubbing her side where she knew a bruise would be. Cara stood in the way-back of the book store, suddenly tense at the other presence. She heard footsteps walking around the bookstore, fading and then reutrning, perhaps going through each aisle looking for her. Her hands clenched into fists. It was out of instinct: part of her fight or flight reaction. But no one here wanted to fight. The odd voice merely asked if other people were in the store. She was just overreacting... being in such a foreign place and all. Cara uncurled her fists and rubbed her hands on her shorts. Her jaw unhinged. "Not exactly," she said, confirming the stranger's words.

Cara stepped out from behind her table and moved away from way-back, moving to the main aisle of the bookstore. Being in the cool building had started to dry Cara off, but it also gave Cara an itch in the back of her throat. Oh god. Even if she got out of this, Emilio would know something was wrong when Cara got really sick. But should couldn't worry about that right now. Cara moved slowly, looking between books to catch a glimpse of the second person. "You... uh. You don't happen to work here, do you?" Cara started with the next aisle, working her way from the back and moving slowly to the front. It felt a bit ominous, following an unknown voice while the sky broke apart outside. Something from a movie. Cara looked around a corner. She couldn't see anything yet and started down here.

"I... uh. I had to come in because of the rain. This was the first place I saw. I hope I didn't ruin your floor or anything. Didn't mean to... honest." Cara didn't know what she was blabbering on about. Cara barely shuffled through this aisle, listening for any hint that the second person lurked nearby. Cara still felt cautious in this situation. Her tense body posture never relaxed. Cara finally reached the end and rounded that aisle. There she saw the person. Her intial assumption about him being an employee was wrong. He was as soaking wet with rain as she, maybe even more so since he just came inside. Everything, even his hoodie, dripped with the rainwater. Cara stopped dead in her tracks and looked at the newcomer. Brown hair that fell over his forehead because of the rain (but still seemed kind of...'up'), brown eyes that looked searching. He didn't come off as a threat...

Cara smirked at his state. "Guess I was wrong. You came in to escape the rain too, huh?" She wrung out the hem of her shirt to show him. But he would have known either way. She only looked a little less drenched than he. Cara ran her right hand up and down her left arm, the cold getting to her again. She regarded the stranger carefully. Even though he didn't look dangerous that could change in a second. Everything could change in a second. Cara, after staring for a few seconds more, realized it and tured toward the bookshelf. She picked up a random book and began flipping through its pages, waiting for him to speak once more.

((Hooray for nightly muse spikes!))

The girl emerged from behind some bookshelves giving Avery his first look at her; she had an almost exotic look to her that gave him a slight interest in her right away. As she spoke, he ran his hand down the length of a bookcase, not generally paying attention to the books but just listening to the girl without letting her in on him not being an employee just yet. He’d let her freak out for a second longer before he would let her off the hook. She eventually figured it out for herself, though. Commenting on getting out of the rain, ”Yeah, I couldn’t even find my way back to my car it’s coming down so hard. Not that I would have enjoyed being out there any longer to get to my car anyway,” he said in response as he rubbed his hair, sending droplets of water flying onto the books and floor.

”Let’s just hope that this blows over pretty fast. . . Avery started again, shrugging, ”At least I don’t have anywhere else to be today. I don’t even remember why I came downtown in the first place. It’s going to be a terrible drive back home through this muck now.” He was definitely regretting his decision to come downtown now. It wasn’t going to be worth the time that he would have to spend getting back home through the traffic and the storm. At least he had what seemed like decent company for the time being.

Avery ran his hand along the dusty spine of a book, reading the title, The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway, he remembered one of his old teachers trying to get him to read it back in Germany telling him how it was a great book by a great writer but he had refused. Avery wasn’t much of a reader anymore, he had even when he was younger but he had seemingly grown out of it as he got older and turned into this version of himself. He could be caught with a book every so often, but it would be one that he had just fallen in love with before and was rereading, like a John Green book.

”I am curious as to where the owners of this establishment are at, though. Was the door unlocked when you got here, or what?” He questioned the girl, wondering if he had just walked into a broken into store even if the girl looked too innocent to have done that. ”Nevermind, don’t really care. But what do you propose we do to pass the time here? Hmm?” He asked because he definitely didn’t see him picking up a book anymore.

'So he's not from here,' Cara observed silently when he mentioned something about his car. Ouch. That did not sound good. By the angry slamming of raindrops and the low rumble of thunder (which unnerved her a bit) Cara could only imagine how deep the water on the street would be once the sky had finished its temper tantrum. This stranger would have a heck of a time trying to get out of this mess. "Oh no," Cara whispered fiercely. If the stranger would have a challenge driving... Cara would have HELL walking home. Oh god. Even if her clothes dried off in time, she'd just get them soaking again on the way back!... If she could find a way back. The problems just kept stacking up. She scoffed angrily. "You think you got problems," She murmured, crossing her arms, suddenly irritated.

What the stranger said then gave her a little whisper of hope. Yes, maybe the rain would clear up soon, and the water would drain away in time. Maybe. Maybe. Hopefully. But Cara wasn't one to hope. She glanced from between the shelves to the window in the front of the shop to outside. She could barely see across the street, the rain was coming down that hard. A streetlight, now dim and watery stood as the only hint that something lay under the layers of rain. If Cara didn't know better, she'd think herself in the Twilight Zone: in a world of perpetual rain where the only shelter was in a strange bookstore with a strange boy. And she'd spend the rest of her life reading books, watching the rain in hopes it will end and...

Cara turned to the stranger with a surprised look, like she forgot his presence for a second. He asked her a question? Oh yes, about the bookstore. "Well..." Cara started, and then the stranger changed his mind, deciding that he didn't 'really care'. Cara scowled. He should at least think through his questions before asking them! Cara was ready to leave this guy and return to the way-back of the store until his second question reached her. Cara, who had turned about a quarter of the way around, slowly resumed her old position, regarding him carefully. This question was even stupider than the first. Slowly, Cara began to see something in the stranger's eyes. Something that slightly worried her but, at the same time, made her heart pound. Oh, so he was going to play THAT game huh?

Cara's scowl melted into a smirk. She raised an eyebrow in a suggestive manner, her hand coming up to drum against a bookshelf. "What the hell do YOU think?" She asked coolly. "This IS a bookstore after all. What else is there TO do?" She turned away from looking at him head-on, turning her body so she faced the bookshelf but could still see him out of the corner of her left eye. Without really looking, she pulled out a book from the shelf and turned to the right once more, back facing him. Humming, she walked away, rounding the corner and headed to the way-back.