She was already late for her shift. As it did every time, her heart rose to her throat. She clutched the umbrella in her bag. As if on cue, it started drizzling. Little raindrops kissed her nose and sprinkled across the top of her head. As she continued to make her way across the empty parking lot to the library where she volunteered, she could hear rumbling from the sky.

The rain started to come in harder, and each drop began to get bigger and bigger. One raindrop hit her in the eye, momentarily blurring her vision. As more and more water soaked through her blue volunteer shirt, her pace picked up until she was running. It was no use. She was barely half-way there.

Stopping in the middle of the empty lot, she grabbed her rain-sprinkled bag, withdrawing the black umbrella. How did Drew ever get the thing open? To think it would just get wet after she’d dried it for him—whatever.
Sonia fumbled with Drew’s umbrella in her hands, searching for a way to open it. Her cold, numb fingers encountered a bulge on the handle. Of course. A button. No such thing as a traditional, drawn up umbrella anymore. She didn’t know why she refused to return the thing to him earlier. Well, she did know. She mercilessly stifled the twinge in her chest.
She pushed the button, and the umbrella sprang open. Drawing up the umbrella over her head, she could hear the heavy patter of rain all around her as it hit the black waterproof material stretched taunt over its metal frame. Water was also starting to soak through her shoes.
She could hear some distant splashes somewhere in front of her. When she looked up, she saw a pair of shoes drenched in water running towards her, someone whose silhouette remained dotted from the rain. She only barely managed to raise the umbrella higher as he came towards her and got under the umbrella with her. He was wearing a penguin sweater over his blue volunteer uniform, which was completely drenched. He was wetter than she was.
“I borrowed your umbrella. I hope you don’t mind,” she said to a rain-soaked Drew. “But…I’m returning it…finally.” So many memories passed through her eyes in overwhelming currents of emotion. She shook her head, as though to dispel them all away. But the old longing—and pain, she admitted—she’d been determined to dispel started to rise up in her chest again. But she smiled it away.
“I saw you didn’t know how to open it, and you were getting wet. Are you alright?” he asked. If she didn’t know better, she would have thought she heard concern in his voice. But he had made it clear enough that it wasn’t like that when he had rejected her about a month ago. He’d only really started acknowledging her again when he needed her to get his umbrella after he’d forgotten it at the library.

“Yeah. I figured it out in the end, though. There was a button,” she said. She’d delayed giving him back the umbrella, with a series of inexhaustible excuses in a scrambled attempt to patch together some dignity. To show she didn’t need him. Which had sort of worked…more or less. He had been messaging her a lot more now, trying to talk to her. No doubt about his precious umbrella. But she had brought it this time.
“You didn’t have to come out,” she said, “It’s…raining…”

“I didn’t want you to get wet,” he said.

“Oh,” she said. “Urm….uh…you’re kind of wet…too…though…”

He laughed. “Not completely.” Beneath his penguin sweater was another sweater. He took that one off and handed it to her. “Here. You’re not even wearing a jacket. This isn’t completely drenched…I don’t think….?”

“Thanks,” she said smiling. It was still warm. The rain fell around them as they were enclosed in the space beneath the umbrella, and the sound of falling water splashed around them. For a moment, neither of them spoke and simply looked at each other. She noticed there were rain drops on his eyelashes, as well as on hers.

“Your shoes are getting soaked,” Sonia said, finally breaking the gentle silence.

“Yeah…I guess they are. It’s okay.” He shrugged. They were quiet, and Sonia could hear her heart beating above the rain. He took the umbrella for her and held it above their heads, his fingers brushing against hers on the handle. They walked toward the library doors, braving the flooding sidewalks and the sheer curtains of rain, alone in a parking lot that was momentarily transformed into a strange gray world with only a boy, a girl, and a black umbrella passing through.

Much later, when they got back to the front desk, they were still soaking wet and trailing water into the front desk carpet. When puddles of water began to collect underneath them in sad little puddles, they started laughing.

“Sorry…I mean, I dried out the umbrella, but it got wet again…” Sonia said, smiling apologetically, handing him back his sweater. It also had penguins on it. Holiday spirit, indeed.

“It’s okay, I—” Drew’s grin froze. His phone was ringing. He paused. “I’m sorry,” he finally said. “I gotta go. I’ll…see you next week.”

“Actually,” Sonia said, turning away, “Today’s my last Saturday here. I’m changing shifts.” She had already wished her friends at volunteer goodbye since most of them had parties that day. Just Drew was left. She hadn’t intended on telling him anything because she had had the suspicion he wouldn’t have cared. But something had changed…somehow. But that was how it was turning out, in the end.

“You’re changing shifts?” he repeated slowly, slightly disbelieving.

“Yeah,” Sonia smiled up at him. “I kind of want a change. Saturdays are nice. I always looked forward to them. But maybe time to switch it up.”

She didn’t try to gauge his reaction, but she noticed he was quiet. But then again, he was always quiet around her, just like every other day had been when everything had slid downhill between them. He looked at her and held out his arms. “Saturdays won’t be the same now, will they?” his crooked smile seemed slightly sad.

“No,” she kept smiling even when something in her gave a sharp twist. They hugged for the first and last time. For a moment, she felt like he didn’t seem to want to let go. But a moment before the hug would have been too long, his arms fell to his sides.

“Well…” Drew said slowly. “I guess I’ll see you around, then.” He slowly hoisted his dark red backpack up on his right shoulder. “Hm…guess it’s still raining outside,” he said. A certain disappointment ran through her. Some people walked in the rain. But others, like him, just got wet. He paused, as though waiting for her to speak, to stop him from leaving so soon. From the way he was looking into her eyes, it was like he was trying to search for something there. But something had changed in her in that moment. Finally, his eyes dropped. He couldn’t seem to find it. She said nothing. She thought for a moment that she saw a twinge of sadness in his eyes. But it was a trick of the light as he turned around. He walked out with his black umbrella over his head.

“Yeah, see you,” Sonia said to his back.
She watched his receding figure leave the building amid the rain. As the rain fell, all the memories flowed out, good and bad. She thought of the umbrella she held hostage for two weeks, and she thought of how long she had wanted him. All the longing this time, didn’t hurt anymore, though. It only rained harder, and each raindrop washed another hurting memory away. As he walked away, the rain erased his footage completely.