It Never Rains, But It Pours (945 hits)
Category: RomanceLabels: fiction
Rating: 1.82 on 49 reviews (Rate this item) (V)
Submitted by Flash Harry (View user info) at 2008-04-07 07:53:57 EDT
The bus stop I waited at had been vandalised and torn down, and so offered little shelter to the howling wind, nor the biting rain. With my hood pulled tight around my head, and my fists plunged deep into my pockets, I waited for a bus that was already twenty minutes late.
I shifted my weight impatiently from foot to foot, and buried my chin into my chest. Across the road glowed the lights from the shopping centre, illuminating the miserable weather around it. Behind me stood Wetherspoons, full of afternoon drunks, and surrounded by determined, soggy smokers who braved the conditions for a few moments with their beloved nicotine.
I already knew that the bus wasn't going to appear. I had stood there for too long now, however, to simply walk away. Experience of public transport has taught me that the second I left my lonely vigil would be the one when the bus finally arrived.
It was that time of the evening when the shops close. From the automatic doors across the road a dribble of last-minute consumers were being ushered into the wet gloom, while shop-workers poured out gratefully. They plunged into the night, some making immediate arrangements on their mobile phones, others sharing cigarettes and laughing. I remained at the unsheltered bus-stop; wet (getting wetter), and pissed off (more so by the second).
A few huddled souls from the shopping centre crossed the road towards me, walking past the bus stop on their way home. A tall, pierced guy listening to his iPod: must work in HMV. A middle-aged lady in a white smock, her face made up with an inch of paint: probably Boots.
As they passed, I strained my eyes towards the road, to where this damn bus should appear from. It was nearly half an hour late. I knew it wouldn't come.
I turned back to the shopping centre, and watched a small, heavily-wrapped figure waiting to cross the road towards me. My heart skipped a beat, and a cold sweat flushed across my brow as I recognised the logo on her carrier bag: Schuh.
She darted out onto the road, skipping at the last to avoid a keen motorist. She stepped up the kerb, and walked past me with an innocent glance.
She walked on for a few steps, then stopped.
It was definitely her. Even with her hood up and her face obscured. In the sickly-orange glow of the streetlight I recognised my ex.
She turned around to face me, and pulled her hood down. Her face was more beautiful than I'd remembered, and her eyes glistened as she looked at me, trying to see through the hood and the shadows.
'Alan?' she asked uncertainly.
Bugger. She's recognised me. I reached up with two hands and pulled my hood down. The rain lashed at my cold cheeks and ears, and everything sounded much clearer all of a sudden.
'Yeah,' I replied. 'Hey Michelle.'
I thought she was going to shout, but her lips just tightened. I thought she might hit me, but she just stepped a little closer. There was a time when this girl was my world. She would run through my mind constantly, and being parted from her was like torture. This had all now been replaced with...uncertainty. Apathy. Shame.
'What happened to you?' she asked quietly. 'Where did you go?'
I rubbed my nose and looked around, possibly for an escape route. 'I moved away,' I mumbled. 'I moved back to Glasgow.'
'I tried to phone you,' she said as she looked at the ground.
'Yeah, I...um...changed my number.'
'And didn't tell me?' She looked hurt.
'I guess I didn't think there was anything left to talk about.'
There was a time when I would've given anything to just speak to this girl, just for a minute.
Her face was a portrait of sadness. Her eyes, which I'd seen so vibrant and cheerful, seemed dull and defeated. Her mouth, whose lips I'd kissed countless times for countless hours, hung in a miserable pout.
'I tried to phone you because I had to tell you,' she said, looking away.
'What? Tell me what, Michelle?'
She sucked in a deep breath, and looked into my eyes. 'I'm pregnant, Alan.'
Like a blow from behind, I'd almost sensed it coming, just before it did. She'd always been so careful with contraception when we were together. What had happened?
A thousand questions tickled my tongue, but I was unable to say anything.
'I'm seven months in,' she said. Once she'd told me, it was obvious. The layers of clothes I assumed she'd wrapped up in to combat the weather was, in face, a very pregnant belly. The face was made so much more beautiful by her glowing cheeks.
Simple maths: she was seven months pregnant, and we'd split up six months ago. The sprog was mine.
I felt myself go dizzy, my knees weaken. I tried to speak, though my throat was dry.
'So...its...mine...?' I managed.
She stepped closer to me, head turned upwards to the single tear that forced its way down my cheek. There was a time when I'd adored her petite height, and treasured her scent. There was a time when a moment in my arms was all she needed for comfort, when a quick hug was worth more than a thousand from another.
I wasn't ready to be a father, but then she wasn't ready for motherhood either. Too young, too daft. She couldn't do this alone. I wiped the tear with my sleeve, and opened my arms to her, inviting her in. Together we could manage it, of that I had no doubts.
'Its not yours, Alan,' she said in a steady tone.
Well, she must've made a mistake. It was certainly mine, if she was as pregnant as she said.
'But you said seven months,' I reasoned. 'It was six months that we...'
'Its not yours,' she said again, firmly. 'Its James. He's the father.'
Bewilderment.
'James? But...you said seven months?'
'I was sleeping with him. When we were together. But hey, its not like you would've come back for this, is it? Its not like I could've found you if it had been yours. You move away and change your number and block any effort I make to get in touch - you wouldn't have come back for this. Its James' baby.'
With that, she turned and walked off. In complete shock, I took a few steps after her, but stopped.
'Michelle!' I called. 'I want to talk to you. Michelle!'
There was a time when she would've hung on my every word, laughed at every joke, joined in with every song. There was a time when her walking away meant only that she was showing off a new pair of jeans, or shoes. There was a time when we loved one another so damn much...
I called her name one more time, but she ignored me. I pulled my hood up around my face again, and called a taxi.
User Reviews
Submitted by loveinbrevity (user info) at 2008-07-21 11:03:01 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment
Submitted by Konerak (user info) at 2008-06-26 08:38:48 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Something tells me this is no fiction. Take care man... this is the best outcome anyway if she was cheating. In the end, you'll realise.
Submitted by EmissionImpossible (user info) at 2008-04-08 07:09:56 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
No Comment
Submitted by F.J.Bell (user info) at 2008-04-08 06:53:03 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
FJ, not exactly fussy are we??
=========================
I'm fussy about other things, but height isn't much of an issue. As long as a girl's not taller than me, its all good.
Are you one of those cute little things that has to stand on tip-toes to get served? That's adorable ;o)
Submitted by orphelia (user info) at 2008-04-08 06:50:29 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
I have seen short lapdancers.
No, I want to walk to a bar and not feel like I am peering over the top.
I am sure short people statistically get better jobs, more promotions etc.
And you can put loads of weight on when you are tall and you don't really notice it. I put a few pounds on and I look like a barrel.
Plus, short men have that 'angry 'cos I am short' syndrome.
FJ, not exactly fussy are we??
Submitted by F.J.Bell (user info) at 2008-04-08 06:40:16 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Short, tall, skinny, curvy...it doesn't matter that much.
What counts is a beautiful mind, a pretty face, and some nice boobs.
Submitted by LittleMonster (user info) at 2008-04-08 06:34:31 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Ahhhhhh but if you are my kind of tall, you either get shooed down a runway, into a lap dancing club or straight to the circus.
Short is good!
Submitted by orphelia (user info) at 2008-04-08 05:43:20 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
I always wondered how it feels to be tall. I'd like to be tall and lithe, graceful.
Not short and clumsy and mistaken for a child.
Submitted by LittleMonster (user info) at 2008-04-08 05:38:17 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
I didn't mean you were a titch Orphy.
Just that I'm the BFG
Submitted by F.J.Bell (user info) at 2008-04-08 05:34:30 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Its okay dear. We'll get you a pair of killer heels to make up the difference.
Submitted by orphelia (user info) at 2008-04-08 05:30:40 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
I am not a midget :(
Submitted by F.J.Bell (user info) at 2008-04-08 05:27:23 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
I think Orphy would come up to my belly button.
==================================
Sounds like a wager.
I would spray your boobs at least, possibly as high up as your neck.
Submitted by LittleMonster (user info) at 2008-04-08 05:25:26 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
I think Orphy would come up to my belly button.
Submitted by F.J.Bell (user info) at 2008-04-08 04:28:29 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Submitted by orphelia (user info) at 2008-04-07 17:30:20 BST (#)
Ranking: 1
Would you like an Orphy/LittleMonster bosom hug?
================================================
Please. I think there's a bit of a height difference between you two tho, so for best effect we'd have to lie down. Probably on a bed.
Submitted by no1hasdis (user info) at 2008-04-07 17:31:54 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment
Submitted by sideshow (user info) at 2008-04-07 15:21:40 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Another one because I wish I could rank it higher.
Submitted by sideshow (user info) at 2008-04-07 15:21:24 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Wholly Fuck! Wow. What a story. I thoroughly enjoyed this piece of work. Thank you.
Submitted by rob_berg (user info) at 2008-04-07 15:02:38 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Very well told.
Bullet dodged, huh? ... although if this is autobiographical - you could still be the father.
A paternity test would sort that out - best to know sooner instead of finding out down the road that she was just hormonal, bitter and a liar. Just think... then you not only would have back child support to pay... but will have missed the first few years of your child's life.
Submitted by firefly (user info) at 2008-04-07 14:48:23 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment
Submitted by beer-turtle (user info) at 2008-04-07 14:37:58 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Cheating coont
cant stand that shit...
Submitted by apollo88 (user info) at 2008-04-07 14:34:42 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
http://www.ubersite.com/m/59854
Similar.
Stupid womens.
Submitted by LittleMonster (user info) at 2008-04-07 12:33:54 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
FJ Dude. Sorry love. I couldn't fathom for a second that this would have happend recently!
This is true then?!
Damn. Like I said OUCH
I would toss you a beer, but your on the internets and I can't reach you
It is rapidly approaching pub time
Submitted by orphelia (user info) at 2008-04-07 12:30:20 EDT (#)
Ranking: 1
Would you like an Orphy/LittleMonster bosom hug?
Submitted by orphelia (user info) at 2008-04-07 12:29:33 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
I sold out with my whistling kettle for a colour changing one. Realising how chavvy this is, I am puchasing a very retro pink one, with matching toaster. I like pink.
Submitted by F.J.Bell (user info) at 2008-04-07 12:27:24 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
While its great that you two are flirting, I would appreciate some sympathy. Can't you tell I'm upset about the above? :(
Submitted by LittleMonster (user info) at 2008-04-07 12:25:25 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Done!
Nothing better than a cream tea. My kettle even has a whistle on it!
I'm so sad.
Submitted by orphelia (user info) at 2008-04-07 12:22:31 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
All LM ever does is go to the pub, drink beer and eat cream teas. Marry me LM?!
Submitted by LittleMonster (user info) at 2008-04-07 12:19:08 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
oooooooooooooh Trouble in paradise you two?
*sits, cracks open a beer*
Submitted by orphelia (user info) at 2008-04-07 12:16:56 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Will you stop emailing me! I told you, I am not interested in your tinted double glazing!
Submitted by LittleMonster (user info) at 2008-04-07 12:15:21 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Agree to go fetch me a cream slice!
Submitted by haikumikoo (user info) at 2008-04-07 12:14:40 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
I'm pretty much inclined to agree with whatever anyone says right now, so, okay!
Submitted by F.J.Bell (user info) at 2008-04-07 12:10:54 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Haikumikoo, thanks for the pep talk. Please put these errors down to typos.
Nevertheless, sloppy grammar should never be tolerated.
Submitted by haikumikoo (user info) at 2008-04-07 12:07:33 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
For whatever reason I'm about to do this, blame the marijuana:
"and so offered little shelter to the howling wind, nor the biting rain."
'to the howling wind' bothered me, seemed like "to" should have been "from." However, now I enjoy the idea of howling wind searching for shelter.
Also, "it's" is a contraction for "it is", and "its" is possessive.
I'm sorry I don't usually do this.
P.S. I enjoyed the use of parenthesis, and anytime public transportation is mentioned, my balls tingle a little bit.
Submitted by corn_nugget (user info) at 2008-04-07 12:03:19 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
It's weird that she'd be so eager to let you know she cheated.
Submitted by monkeyswithguns (user info) at 2008-04-07 11:43:39 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment
Submitted by shadow (user info) at 2008-04-07 10:47:40 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
She's lying because she thought you'd be a lousy father. Maybe.
Pretty good story.
Submitted by experima (user info) at 2008-04-07 10:39:47 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment
Submitted by sexualchocolate1984 (user info) at 2008-04-07 09:51:22 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Haha, a chick once told me she was pregnant, first thing I asked is "So, is it mine?" to which I got a slap and an "of fucking course it's yours for fuck sake, who the fuck do you think I am?" lol
Thank fuck for mis-carriages hey!
Submitted by LittleMonster (user info) at 2008-04-07 09:35:26 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Submitted by Charlton_H (user info) at 2008-04-07 09:12:44 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
LM I included your tits on my post.
I had no use for your face but I'll work it in next time.
_____
Waaaaaaiiiitttt a second
I missed that
Submitted by F.J.Bell (user info) at 2008-04-07 09:13:41 EDT (#)
Ranking: -2
At least it's not yours!
===================
My thoughts exactly!
If it HAD been mine though, I moved across the country and left the girl with no way of contacting me. I could've been a daddy and not even known it.
Submitted by Charlton_H (user info) at 2008-04-07 09:12:44 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
LM I included your tits on my post.
I had no use for your face but I'll work it in next time.
Submitted by LittleMonster (user info) at 2008-04-07 09:09:55 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Ouch
Submitted by Nellypaal (user info) at 2008-04-07 09:05:14 EDT (#)
Ranking: 1
At least it's not yours!
Submitted by guitarcries (user info) at 2008-04-07 08:55:35 EDT (#)
Ranking: 1
No Comment
Submitted by F.J.Bell (user info) at 2008-04-07 08:34:25 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Win some, lose some.
Submitted by orph (user info) at 2008-04-07 08:29:27 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Flash Harry diddled? I expected more from the accidental escort.
Is there anything worth believing in anymore. The dream is over...
Submitted by SgtHartman (user info) at 2008-04-07 08:29:23 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
bummer
Submitted by HurtByTheSun (user info) at 2008-04-07 08:20:17 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Needs more rape.
Submitted by orphelia (user info) at 2008-04-07 08:12:07 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
I bet James could drive. Pfft.. The bus.
This is sad.