A walk in the rain

In my place we find one happy dog inside the house. Rufus greets us with watery pecks all over our cheeks. We laugh with him and grab a leash for him and hit the road. We walk around the whole island, following the seaside wherever we can, otherwise walking along the pavement, letting Rufus to walk in the grass beside. He sniffs and puffs and looks happy as a dog can be.

“Look at him.” Raven says. “He is so happy! Have you ever been that happy?”

“Not that I can remember. I am a serious guy. I can hardly manage a smile that wide, it would probably break my jaw bones if that ever happened. I used to be happy when I was a child, but when I grew up, I got serious. Life does that to you.”

“I know the feeling. Maybe I try to find the happiness from all the books I read. There are happy stories in many of those, much happier than my life. I wonder if it is pathetic to read about happiness from books instead of never trying to pursue for it in real life.” She looks suddenly way too serious and my heart sinks for her.

“It’s not pathetic, you silly woman.” I take her under my arm, holding Rufus with the other hand. “Dreams need to be dreamed, otherwise they would never come true. It’s the law of attraction and all that shit. Have you ever heard of it?”

“Yes, I have. I am a librarian. I have heard everything. But the fact that I am a librarian does not mean that I live by the book. I might know what is wise, but hardly ever I act like wise, if I can avoid it. Life is too short to be wiseass all the time.” Now she laughs.

“But thanks for the gesture. You are sweet. And I am a little pathetic.”

“You said so, not me.” I take my hand from her shoulder, trying not to push it too much. She fits my arm perfectly and I regret my gentleman move immediately. But we have no time to wallow in our self-pity, because a little, persistent cloud hovers above us and it begins to rain. Hard. We run a little, trying to get away from the rain but we are in the middle of a forest now, there is nothing but trees and we soon give up. We walk back in the rain and when we reach my house we are completely soaked. Rufus is still smiling, shaking his fur furiously and sending more water our way. We laugh, even when we should probably cry instead.

I send Raven to a warm shower, giving her my T-shirt and jogging pants to wear, so that her own clothes can dry. I feed Rufus and he soon sleeps all over the kitchen floor, so that I have to hop over his dog body when I make coffee, tea and sandwiches. The rain has gone and the sun is shining when Raven comes back from the shower and I leave her to kitchen to enjoy her chosen beverage and head for a shower. I feel much better when I get back in dry, warm clothes.

“Let’s go out, to the balcony. Sun is shining now.” She follows me upstairs with her coffee cup when I grab the tray. The summer night is perfect now, as we lean against the wall.

“Beautiful. You are a lucky man to be able to live in a place like this.” She sighs between her sips.

“I am.” I admit. “Where do you live?”

“In a crappy little flat downtown where neighbors and traffic and drunken people shouting on the street keep you up all night.” She smiles a little. “I kind of hate it, but as long as I live in the city, I just have to put up with it. Suburban bliss is pure hell for me. So, I stick with the downtown for now. My work is there.”

“I know what you mean. I am very lucky man. I get all the fun parts of downtown life at work, and in the evenings I get this.” I wave towards the sea that is glistening in the evening sun, behind the trees. The sun is shining through the leaves from the other side, still warming our cheeks, but I see that she is shivering. I go inside, get a soft blanket for her and wrap her in it.

“You want a beer or a drink?”

“A beer, please.”

So that’s what we will have. When I return with the beers Rufus is on the balcony, keeping an eye on the birds in the ground, sitting beside Raven, leaning against her, so that I have not a chance in hell to get closer to her. Rufus looks at me like he knows what is going on in my head. Clever fucking dog.

“Tell me more about your mobile app ideas.” I suggest Raven and she does. By the time she has finished, my head is exactly like hers: filled with ideas for an app that creates a network that helps people to find homeless pets and offer them home, to contact animal rescues and people who can offer transportation for the animals to get to their new homes, if the distance is long. It would be a win-win situation for all involved and it would make thing happen faster, so that the stay in the shelter might be shorter for the animals.

“Bloody hell that could work.” I admit. “We should work this idea together.”

“You think?” She suddenly smiles at me. “You would do that? For the animals?”

“I don’t see why not. If I am a lucky bastard, with a good home, they should be as well. Everybody needs a home.”

“You know, Jouni. I am crazy about men who are as soft as you are.”

“Do you think that I am soft?” I ask, suddenly feeling how I get harder in my pants when her eyes look at me in awe and joy and shine their blue magical rays of color all over my face. I feel her eyes touching me, spreading all over my skin, making me shiver and it is not from cold that I shiver from. She notices the pun I intended, blushes, but never turns her eyes from mine.

“Funny. One thing, Jouni. I am a woman and it takes much more than that to turn me on.”

“So what does turn you on?” I ask, feeling brave with the beer in my belly.

“Wouldn’t you like to know…”

“Sure. Why not. I would like to know more about you.”

“Uh-huh…” She laughs, sips her beer. Making me wait for her reply I watch her like a hawk, but there are butterflies in my chest.

“What would you get out if, if I tell you what turns me on as a woman?”

“I could use that information in a very creative way.” I wiggle my eyebrows and she knows that my thoughts have gone between the sheets by now.

“Fuck you, Jouni.”

“So you like dirty talk…”

“Men are all the same,” she tells me, then she locks her fabulous eyes with mine as she licks the beer bottle’s neck, then she laughs at the expression on my face.

“I used to think like that about women,” I tell her, continuing, “but tonight has changed that, and because of that only, I am a changed man, too.”

She has no words for me after that and she suddenly avoids my eyes. We remain silent, sipping beer and Rufus is warm and fuzzy dog, sleeping between us. We both scratch him at the same time and our fingers touch. We both withdraw our hands quickly, feeling the electricity.

“Ouch!” She says and we get a welcomed chance to laugh the tension between us away.

Thanks, Rufus. You are a life savior.