Rayne

The sight of Blue and Alliyah hugging sent wasps into her stomach and put a scrunch on her face. She held the warm cup of tea in her hands and against her belly, in an attempt to pretend that nothing was going on and turned away from the balcony. The herbaceous scent of the beverage did nothing to calm down her imagination, so she hurried Ocean to leave.

”Ugh, everybody wants me.” He muttered as she dragged him out the door.

“Do you only come to this bookstore because of the cats?”

“Maybe so.” Rayne dead-panned, while petting a sphynx cat that was lying on a shelf, purring at her.

She soon started to look for books to boost her collection. The first one she added to her bag was ‘Haunted: Tales of Grotesque’, by Joyce Carol Oates, it was - strangely, Rayne thought - suggested to her by Colson.

“Oh, she’s one of the best.” Ocean noted. “I’ve read ‘Where are you going, where have you been’ it’s so good.”

“I’ve been intending to buy this book for ages!” Rayne said, more excited than she planned, as she grabbed ‘White is for Witching’, by Helen Oyeyemi; whatever Ocean had said was already out of her mind.

Since he had 'too many books unread' at his house, he only purchased ‘Familiar Spirit’ and that was one too many books since he said he wouldn’t be buying anything. It was Rayne who said it was too wonderful to miss out on, so he caved in.

While on her way to check out, she spotted a book about someone’s experiences while volunteering in different countries.

“Have you ever done it?” She asked Ocean while pointing at said book.

“Well, in San Francisco, Alliyah and I used to deliver stuff at hospitals to families whose kids had critical illnesses, you know?”

“You and Alliyah? I can’t quite imagine you or her being like that.” She chuckled.

“Yeah, well, she convinced me… You know, there’s more to her than meets the eye.” He replied smugly, then became more serious. “She’s pretty unique… I know we all are, but there’s something about her. How she goes on about life.”

“Well, yeah, she is… The personification of sunshine.” Rayne rolled her eyes, gripping her books against herself.

“But she’s had reasons to stop being it, yet she doesn’t. Blue is a sunshine guy, but he slept in a crib made of gold. He doesn’t need job interviews. Alliyah? Both her parents died when she was a kid. She was even in a gang at some point.”

“A gang?!”

“She lost friends.” Ocean ignored her interruption and continued listing events. “She moved from Detroit to San Fran to get her degree in Designing and moved here. And made a name for herself in a super difficult field.”

“I guess she may be… Interesting whatsoever.“

“Not your ordinary happy-go-lucky, carefree, sunshine girl.” He was back to his smug self.

She looked out the window, lost in thoughts of Alliyah. But soon her mind was flooded with thoughts of Blue, so she shook them off.

“So, when is your next vacation? Want to try going abroad?”

He blinked in surprise.

“We can’t just make that decision in one second, at a bookstore.”

“I was just inquiring, don’t be so dramatic.”

“But you’ve made that decision, in a second, at a bookstore.”

“Sure.” She shrugged, before realizing a cat was at her feet and set down her books to pick it up instead. “My vacation days are soon, so why not?”

“‘Why not volunteer at another country’?”

“I genuinely do not see why you are making such a great deal out of this.”

“You’re weird.”

“You’re weird.” She gently bounced with the cat in her arms as if he was a baby.