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Chapter 1
As Rain approached the part's store, she took a deep breath to prepare herself for what was coming...the stares. She had endured the stares of people for over 16 years because when people saw Rain, they didn't see the woman, they saw the scars...scars that covered her face and most of her body. After sixteen years, she would have thought that the comments and looks she endured every day wouldn't bother her, but Rain was only human and could only take so much.
~Here goes nothing.~ she mumbled under her breath and opened the door. As Rain expected, those who didn't know her gawked at her with pity and horror in their eyes. Rain kept her eyes glued to the floor and headed to the parts counter.
"Good afternoon, Rain." John said as she walked towards him. John had been working at the store for as long as she could remember, and he was one of only a few people who could bring a smile to Rain's face. "How are you today?"
"Doing the same, John." Rain answered, with a small smile. John noticed the strained expression on her face which caused him to frown on the inside. Rain was such a nice person and didn't deserve half of the treatment she received. He looked behind her and saw how people were still whispering and looking in her direction, and it still never ceased to upset John.
"What can I do for you today?" he asked.
"I need a few things for a car I'm working on." she answered while pulling out her list. "I thought we had these but it turned out we didn't."
John gave the list a once over and started towards the back. Ten minutes later, he returned with what she wanted. Rain and John spent a few minutes talking about his family and what was happening at work before she said good bye and headed back to the shop.
Rain hurried over to where she had been working and set the stuff down. The owner of the car would be there in an hour which meant that she needed to get it into gear if she hoped to be finish in time. Rain had just stepped underneath the car when she caught a glimpse of Micheal, the owner of the shop. Micheal gave her a wink and Rain just shook her head...he was always trying to get her to smile or laugh. Micheal had helped her out by giving her a job after what was the darkest period of her life. He was Rain's best friend...actually her only friend. At six o'clock, Rain watched her last costumer drive away, after which she locked the door and walked to Micheal's office to say good bye.
"I'm getting ready to leave. Need anything?"
"No, I'm about to leave myself." Micheal replied as he looked up. "What are you doing tonight?"
"Going home and watching a little TV." Rain answered. She knew what he was getting ready to ask her...it was the same thing Micheal asked every night.
"Why don't you come home with me and I'll cook us dinner." Micheal suggested.
"Not tonight, but thanks for the invitation." Rain replied as she headed towards the door. "See ya tomorrow, Micheal."
Micheal watched her disappear around the corner and let out a long sigh. No matter how many times he asked Rain to join him for dinner or a night out, she always turned him down 99% of the time. The only time she readily said yes was on the week-end, and sometimes she still said no. Micheal knew that Rain's life basically consisted of going to work, going home, and going back to work again. He knew and understood first hand why she didn't go out that much, but he still wished she wouldn't lock herself up in her house...shutting out the world and everybody in it.
"Lucy, I'm home!" Rain called out in the dark when she opened the door. She flipped on the lights and heard the sound of padded feet rushing towards her. She bent down and was instantly covered with kisses from her two dogs...Ginger was a three year old Golden Retriever and Sasha was a four year old Siberian Huskey. Rain laughed at how excited they were to see her and hooked them to their leashes to walk them. Thirty minutes later, Rain was stretched out on the couch with a salad in hand as Ginger and Sasha layed on the floor beside her. Her third 'child', Gus, a black and white cat, was happily napping at her feet. She had just found a movie on TV that interested her when the phone rang. Rain muttered under her breath and grabbed the phone.
"Yes, Micheal?" Rain said into the phone.
"Uh..hey." Micheal replied. It always amazed him when she knew it was him. "Are you sure I can't convince you to come over...I'm grilling steaks."
Rain had to give him one thing, Micheal never gave up even though she basically always said no. "And I'm sure they'll taste great, but I think I'm going to stick to my salad."
"Even if I beg and whine?"
Rain chuckled softly. "I just feel like staying home tonight, Micheal...not that you wouldn't be great company."
"Well, how about Saturday? I'll boil some lobster tails, maybe some crab legs, have some salad, some dessert..."
"If I say yes, will you let me get back to my movie?"
"Yeah."
"Okay, okay...I'll come over. What do you want to do besides dinner?"
"We'll decide that after you're here." Micheal said. "You know, I bug you about this all the time, but if you don't want to come, that'll be fine."
"Nah, I don't mind. I know you're doing this because you care...even though you bug me to no end."
"Hey, it's my mission to get you out of that house at least once a week to do something that isn't related to work."
"I'll be bringing two of the kids with me."
"The more the merrier."
"I'm gonna go now so I can watch my movie. Should I be expecting another call tonight?"
"I'll leave alone...for tonight."
Rain laughed out loud at the comment. "Goodnight, Micheal."
"Goodnight."
The next couple of days passed uneventfully for Rain. Work was pretty slow for the remainder of the week. so Rain was glad to see 6:00 on the clock that Friday. She didn't have to work that weekend and Rain was looking forward to sleeping in the next day. After Micheal took care of some business, he and Rain went to a dinner and caught a late movie at the theater. She ended up having a wonderful time...as she always did with Micheal. Micheal always had that way with her...he always knew when she needed a night out, always knew when Rain needed him. Micheal was the kind of person Rain had desperately needed after the accident and everything that went with it. He had taken all that Rain had thrown at him...pushing him away, trying to give him reasons to leave her, testing his friendship and trust every day. She had given him a thousand reasons to walk away and give up on her, but he had stayed by her side. That's when Rain knew she needed to hang on to Micheal...she needed to do everything to keep his friendship, and that's exactly what she did and the result was a friendship that had lasted for over 10 years. Before Micheal dropped Rain off at her house, they stopped for an ice cream cone. The only sour note of the evening came when some people started pointing and making rude comments about Rain. She could see how upset Micheal was getting, so Rain quickly ordered their ice cream and pulled Micheal to the car.
"Breathe, Micheal." Rain said as they sat in the car. "I'm afraid your head's gonna explode because it's turning so red." Micheal continued to stare straight ahead at the people, fuming with anger at their treatment of Rain.
Rain placed her hand over Micheal's which was gripping the steering wheel. "It's okay, Micheal."
"No it's not!" he snapped. Micheal instantly regretted his tone when he felt Rain tense. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have yelled at you...but" Micheal turned to Rain. "How do you take it? How do you stand what people say and do to you and don't let it affect you?"
"Years of practice." Rain whispered. "It still hurts, but I learned to hide my emotions. They only want to...to break you down, to have some kind of control, to make you cry so they look superior. If you don't give them control, if you don't let them see how much they hurt you, then they'll leave you alone. Micheal, you can't give them the satisfaction of seeing you angry...it's all they want."
"I'll try to keep that in mind...it's just hard to sit back and watch what they do. If they took a minute to get to know you, they'd see how great a person you are."
"I don't need anymore friends...I have you and that's all I need."
Micheal gave a small smile but that statement saddened him on the inside. He often wondered if, heaven forbid, something were to happen to him what Rain would do. Micheal had pictures of her staying at home every night alone, lost in her own world, just waiting to move on to the next world because she refused to give anybody a chance at friendship. Micheal leaned over and kissed Rain softly on the cheek. "Let's salvage this evening, finish our ice cream, and head home. Sound good to you?"
Rain nodded her head and smiled. "Sure does!"
Twenty minutes later, Micheal and Rain were in the driveway of her house. As he did every time they went out, Micheal walked Rain to the door and followed her into the house. He properly greeted Ginger and Sasha and fell down on the the couch. Rain went to her bedroom and when she came back, Micheal was fast asleep. Rain smiled and picked up a nearby blanket, placing it over his body. She kissed his forehead, turned out the lights, and headed to her room to fall asleep herself.
Rain was in the middle of a wonderful dream where she was laying out in the sun, looking out at the ocean, and drinking a Pina Coloda. She had a smile on her face as a gentle breeze flowed over her, but soon Rain started to hear a ringing in her ears. It took her a couple of seconds to realize that it was the phone ringing. Rain sat straight up and reached for the phone which she promptly knocked off the table. This elicited a long string of four letter words from her mouth as she fumbled around for the phone and when she found it, Rain was so tempted to pull the damn thing out of the wall.
"Hello." she said with a definite edge to her voice.
"Wow...sounds like someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed." Micheal said. "You were still asleep, weren't you?"
"Yeah...and you interrupted a great dream." Rain answered. She looked over at the clock and saw that it was 11:00 am. ~I can't believe I slept this late~. Rain rubbed her eyes and swung her legs over the side of the bed. "What do you need?"
"Well, I was out with a friend having lunch and when we got into his car to leave, it wouldn't start. His engine locked up on us." Micheal explained. "Can you come and pick us up?"
"Sure, just give me the directions." Rain grabbed a pen and a piece of paper and wrote down the directions. "I'll be there as soon I finish my shower."
"Thanks, Rain"
Rain hung up the phone, hurried into the bathroom, and jumped into the shower. Twenty minutes later, Rain was dressed and heading to the front door. She was about to walk out the door when she decided to bring Ginger and Sasha with her. ~Might as well since I'm going to his house~. Rain loaded then up in her Cherokee and was on her way.
Rain pulled into the parking lot of the restaurant and slowly drove around looking for Micheal. She spotted him rather easily, standing at the side of the building beside a beat up truck with another man. Rain knew most of Micheal's friends, though she rarely talked to them, but this man didn't look familiar. She noted how tall he was, making Micheal seem like a little person which was saying something since Micheal was over six foot tall himself. He had long, dark hair that turned red when the sun caught it at the right angle and a neatly trimmed goatee. She couldn't tell the color of his eyes because he was wearing sunglasses. He was dressed all in black and it made him look rather demonic to her...like the bad guys or vampires you see in movies. This caused Rain to laugh slightly...demonic? ~What made me think that?~ Rain unlocked the doors for the men and they both climbed inside.
"Thanks for doing this." Micheal said and kissed her cheek. "It was starting to get cold out there."
"Then why didn't you wait inside the restaurant instead of out side?" Rain asked with a smirk.
"Didn't want you to miss us." Micheal answered. "By the way, this is Mark. Mark, this is Rain."
Mark held out his hand. "Nice to meet you."
Rain just nodded her head and began to drive. Mark pulled his hand back, wondering why she didn't shake it. Oh well, he thought, and began to play with Sasha who was begging for his attention.
"Do I need to drop him off at his house?" Rain asked as she pulled out of the parking lot.
"No, Mark lives about an hour away." Micheal answered. "Just go to my house and I'll take him home."
"Okay." The rest of the ride was spent in silence. Rain had never been comfortable around people she didn't know,and even though Micheal was in the car and she could have talked to him, she kept her mouth shut. Everybody was relieved when Rain parked in the driveway of Micheal's house, just happy to get out of the car. Once they were in the house, Mark went into the kitchen to call a friend about picking his truck up while Micheal and Rain sat down in the living room with the dogs. A couple of minutes later, Rain walked into the kitchen to get something to drink. Mark saw her out of the corner of his eye and watched her for a little while. He immediately noticed the scars on her face. Some of them weren't that bad, but there were a couple that ran across her right cheek that looked painful to Mark. Most of the left side of her face was covered with small scars and another scar ran across her forehead and chin. He couldn't help but to wonder what had happened to her...had she been in a fight, a car accident, had someone beaten her? As Rain turned, she caught Mark staring at her. Mark moved his eyes to hers and immediately became lost in their beauty. Her eyes were a light gray and they contrasted sharply with her black, curly hair. Mark could read many emotions in those eyes...he could see how guarded and protective she was of herself, that she had been through a lot on her life, and she was ready for him to pass judgement on her. Her eyes told him that she had suffered through many experiences that had left tormenting scars not only on her face, but on her soul. Mark couldn't tear himself from those eyes and only after she cleared her throat did his mind come out of its trance.
"If you take a picture, it'll last longer." Rain replied, looking him straight in the eye.
"Excuse me?" Mark asked, confused by her statement.
"I may look like a monster, but that gives you no right to just stand there and stare at me. It's very rude and very inconsiderate."
"I...I didn't mean to upset you. I...I..don't think you're a monster. It was just..." Mark was flabbergasted.
"Save it. I've heard it all before." Rain interrupted him.
"Look, like I said, I didn't mean to upset you. I'm..." Mark stopped when Rain walked passed him, shaking her head. "sorry."
Micheal saw the look on Rain's face and immediately knew something had happened in the kitchen. "Everything okay?" Micheal asked.
"Same ol', same ol'." Rain answered. "Some things never change."
Just then, Mark walked into the room and he didn't miss the look Micheal gave him. ~Oh great,~ he thought, ~I'm about to get an earfull.~
"Are you ready to leave?" Micheal asked in an irritated voice.
"Yeah, ready when you are." Mark answered. Micheal took Rain's keys and walked outside with Mark close behind him. He had barely closed the car door before Micheal turned an icy stare his way.
"What did you say to her?" Micheal demanded.
"I didn't say anything. I was just looking at her and then she got upset with me. I don't know what I did." Mark said in defense of himself.
Micheal ran his hand through his hair. "You were just looking at her, huh? What do you think that woman faces everyday of her life? The stares and judgements of people she doesn't know, that's what she faces. I thought that you of all people would be able to look past what's on the outside."
"Hey, I wasn't judging her or staring at her because of her appearance. You know me better than that. I was...it was..." Mark looked down in embarrassment. "He eyes were very beautiful and I was captivated by them, that's all. But she wouldn't give me a chance to apologize."
Micheal couldn't help but to smile. "She does have beautiful eyes."
"Is there something going on between you two?"
"No, why do you ask?"
"The way you look at her, how protective you are of her..."
"I'm protective of her because she is a person I care tremendously for and I don't like to see her hurt or upset."
"Do you think she'll let me apologize?" Mark asked as Micheal started the car and drove.
"She doesn't like to talk to people she doesn't know. Rain is a very private person. You could try, but I doubt she'll talk to you."
"Wouldn't hurt to try." Mark said. He waited several minutes before asking Micheal a question that had been burning inside him. "Micheal, what happened to her?"
"Something very painful and something that isn't any of your business." Micheal answered. Mark knew that the subject was closed and he turned his attention to the scenery that was passing them by.
"So who was that? I've never seen him with you before." Rain asked Micheal as they ate lobster.
"Mark's a friend of mine from high school. He moved to Texas out freshman year and lived a couple of houses down from me and we became good friends." Micheal explained. "We kept in touch when I moved here to Tennessee and he just moved here two months ago."
"I know just about everything about you. I'm surprised I've never heard you talk about him before."
"Never came up. You never seem to want to talk about any of my friends anyways."
"Is he going to be here often?"
"Probably...he is a friend you know."Micheal answered and saw the look on her face. "And you can't use that as an excuse to spend more time, sitting alone in your house. He's not a bad person, though I suspect your first impression of him was not a good one."
"He's just everybody else...only focusing on how ugly I look."
"Actually there was a reason why he was staring at you, and it's not what you think." Micheal said with a grin.
"It's always exactly what I think."
"Well not this time...it was you eyes. He was mesmorized by your eyes. You actually made the man blush when he talked about you."
This statement was followed by several seconds of Rain's coughing because she had just taken a sip of wine at that point. When she recovered, Rain looked at Micheal, very unamused by his tale. "Very funny, Micheal. You don't have to make up stories to cover for what he really thought of me. He probably said that to spare himself from your wrath."
"That's what he said. Why is it so hard for you to believe that anybody would find any part of you beautiful? You are a beautiful person."
"I was beautiful a long time ago, but it's hardly a term I'm worthy of anymore. Now would you please change the subject or I'm going to leave. You know I don't like to talk about my face."
"Okay, I'm sorry for bringing the subject up." Micheal sighed. Rain kept her eyes glued to her plate for the rest of the meal. After all these years, it still hurt Rain to think about what she looked like before and how she looked now. Rain allowed herself to reflect on her freshman year during high school when everything was perfect and the only thing she had to worry about was homework and what to do for the weekend. ~If I had only gone home just one hour later~ she thought to herself.
Rain suddenly felt two arms wrap around her body. "You sure are quiet. Are you still mad at me?" Micheal asked.
"I was just thinking, that's all." Rain answered and looked up at him. "I wasn't mad at you...it's just a sensitive subject, as you know."
"Yeah, I know, and once again, I apologize."
"Apology excepted." Micheal pulled her chair out and helped Rain to her feet. "Come on...let's watch a movie."
"Okay." Micheal and Rain ended up watching a couple of movies and before she knew it, it was 1:30 am. Rain was too tired to even think about driving home, so she and Micheal climbed into bed...a move that wasn't uncommon for them...and fell asleep with Sasha and Ginger at their feet.
Rain turned out the lights in the shop and locked the front door, checking everything twice to make sure that everything was secure. Micheal had left early that day, so it was custumary for her to lock up the store when he wasn't around. Rain turned around and started walking towards her car, but stopped dead in her tracks when she noticed an unfamilar truck parked next to it. She slowly looked around the lot, trying to find the owner of the vehicle. Seeing nothing, Rain cautiously began towards her car again, her hurt beating nervously. She was not more than ten feet from her Cherokee when the driver door of the truck opened. Because the windows of the truck were tinted black, Rain couldn't see who was inside, so she waited for her mystery person to make their appearance...knowing she probably should have been running or something like that instead of just standing there. It only took a few seconds for Rain to see that the person in the truck was Micheal's friend, Mark. Rain let out a breath she didn't know she was holding and threw a very unhappy glare at Mark. "Geez! What are you trying to do, give me a heart attack or something? You shouldn't wait in your car like that and sneak up on a person."
"Sorry." Mark said as he watched Rain open her door and throw her stuff inside. "I've only seen you twice and I've managed to piss you off both times. Hope this isn't a sign of how things will always be."
"What do you want...Mark, right?" Rain asked, still rather upset at how Mark had scared her.
"Well, I wanted to apologize for my behaviour at Micheal's. I didn't think about what I was doing...you probably get gawks and stares all the time and I did what everybody always does, didn't I?" Mark answered. "I didn't mean to do that. The reason I was looking at you...well, the reason is actually sort of embarrassing and I'd rather not say, but it wasn't because I thought you were ugly, or disgusting, or revolting. I just wanted you to know that...and to give you these." Mark opened the door to his truck and pulled out a dozen, dark burgundy tulips. Rain stared at the flowers, her mouth opened in shock because flowers like these were hard to come by and weren't exactly cheap. Mark handed the flowers over to Rain, praying she liked them.
"I..uh,I...wow, these are beautiful. You really know how to say you're sorry." Rain replied as she breathed in the aroma of the flowers.
"I didn't know if you'd like them. I thought about roses, but everybody always gets roses, so I wanted to try something different."
"Well, thank you for these." Rain carefully placed the flowers in the passenger's seat.
"Would you be interested in getting sonething to eat with me?"
"I don't think so. I don't know you that well, so I wouldn't be comfortable with that."
"You could get to know me over dinner."
"I think I'm just gonna go home...but I do appreciate the offer." Rain settled in her car and reached for the door. "And thanks again for the flowers." Rain closed the door, started the car, and drove away as Mark watched her...disappointed that she had said no.
It only took a minute for Rain to find the vase she wanted to put the flowers in. Taking the vase and flowers into the living room, Rain sat down on the couch and began to place the tulips in the vase. After this was done, Rain could only sit there and look at the gift Mark had given her. She could have counted the times people had ever apologize to her for their words and looks on one hand...it just never happened, and she never expected them to anyways. Even if they tried, Rain never gave them a chance because she didn't want to hear their excuses or their lies, and this made the fact that she stood there, listening to Mark's apology and actually taking the flowers all the more surprising...even to her. His words were so sincere, Rain had no choice but to believe them...but there was another reason. When Mark was talking to her, her looked her straight in the eye with a warm and friendly expression on his face. He didn't look at her scars or look around her or at the the ground, he kept his eyes on hers as he apologized...and that meant a lot to Rain. ~I wish there were more people like him.~ Rain thought. ~Maybe I would have been able to trust more if I had met people like him earlier in my life...people who actually seemed interested in getting to know me.~ Rain leaned back on the couch and thought of Mark's invitation to dinner. For the first time, there was a part of Rain that had wanted to go with Mark, wanted to throw caution to the wind and just take a chance. It had been so long since a man had asked her to dinner, and she would have been lying to herself if she didn't admit that it felt nice...as a matter of fact it had put Rain on cloud nine. Don't get her wrong, Rain had no intention of ever having anything to do with Mark...it was the last thing she needed or wanted. Maybe Mark would have been a good friend, maybe he could have been something more, but Rain wasn't willing to find out. She wasn't going to allow herself to be put in a position to be hurt again. Rain was still lost in her thoughts when the phonerang. She glanced at her watch and knew it was Micheal on the other end...he always called at the same time.
"Anything exciting happen after I left?" Micheal asked after they exchanged hellos.
"No, but I got quite a surprise earlier this evening." Rain answered as she looked at the flowers.
"Oh, what kind of surprise?"
"You're friend paid me a little visit."
"Who?"
"Mark. He was waiting for me when I got off."
"He was?" Micheal said, very confused. "He didn't bother you, did he?"
"No...but he did scare the hell out of me." Rain chuckled. "He was sitting in his truck and I couldn't see him because of his tinted windows. I about jumped out of my skin when I saw him."
"What did he want?"
"To say he was sorry about the other night and, this is gonna blow you away, I believed him. He actually LOOKED me in the eye while he apologized instead of looking at my face or not looking at me at all."
"I told you he wasn't a bad person." Micheal said. "Anything else happen?"
"He...he gave me flowers." Rain replied as a smile made its way to her lips.
"He did, did he." Micheal said, taking note of Rain's happy mood.
"They are absolutely beautiful, Micheal. It's been too long since I've received flowers."
"Hey, I get you flowers every now and again." Micheal said with a pout.
"But that's different...you're a friend. It's, I don't know, very nice to get flowers from a guy you don't know....especially when he didn't have to."
"Seems like you've taken a liking to Mark." Micheal teased.
"Don't read too much into this. I have no intention of letting anybody else in. That's why I said no when he asked me to dinner."
"Too bad." Micheal remarked. "He would have been good company. I'm not going to push it, but maybe you'll change your mind and give him a chance."
"What did you do for the rest of the day?" Rain asked, changing the subject before Micheal could say anymore.
"I'm just about ready to give up on you, Rain." Micheal sighed. "One of these days you're going to meet somebody who's like me and won't allow you to push them away and you're gonna have no other choice but to let them in."
"Not if I can help it."