Under a Raincloud- Part 11

It didn’t take long for people to start commenting about us on the vlog. Only twenty minutes passed by when I was curious enough to check what his fans were saying about us.
I sat at my desktop and clicked on the lazyvlog. The top comments almost made me shit my pants.
“Two things: 1. Toby scored 2. They’re totally banging” was the first. “Anyone else notice the lip gloss on Toby’s lips at 3:15? It’s the same as hers.” Was the second.
I gulped as I scrolled down to read more.
“Did you hear what she said at 1:00? She not only called him cute but said she was gonna ‘kill’ him. They’re a thing.”
“Who is this bitch dating my boyfriend?”
“Did you see Toby’s reaction after she said she was gonna kill him? IT WAS HILARIOUS. He was like, bitch shut up you might as well tell them we’re fucking.”
“Rain? What kind of name is that? Toby could do better…”
“I can’t see him with anybody but Justine..sorry Rain.” That comment made me perk up. Who’s Justine?
“Whatcha doin’?!” Toby said in my ear and made me jump three feet in the air.
“Jesus, Toby, don’t scare me like that!” I turned around and saw his beautiful face next to mine. He was eating something and tried not to spit it out as he laughed,
“Why you so jumpy?” he swallowed his food and gave me a peck on the cheek.
“No reason…” I said quickly scrolling up to the top of the page.
“What’s that?” he stopped me and read the top comments, “Uh oh….” Was all he said.
“They hate me…” I said quietly.
“No. No, they don’t hate you they’re just…just…they need to get to know you is all.” I could hear the uncertainty in his voice.
“Are you going to say anything about it?” I asked.
“No, I think we should just let them chill out and deal with it. I have a life too and I don’t need people criticizing who I’m with and telling me what I should do.” My eyes got wide at his tone of voice. He never talked about his Audience like this before.
“Calm down babe, they’re just being protective over you.” I was shocked at my own words; defending the people who were saying nasty things about me.
“Yeah…I guess. The same thing happened with other girls I’ve been with and it just annoys me. But don’t worry; I’m sure everyone will love you the more videos you’re in. Just don’t make any more subtle hints on us being a thing. It’ll just provoke them, ok?” he smiled at me.
“Okay.” I kissed him again.
He turned to leave when I grabbed his hand and looked at him, “One thing Toby…who’s Justine?”
Toby looked at me, and I could hear the gears working in his head.
“Just a friend. My best friend to be exact.”
I nodded, “Oh, ‘cause someone said that they liked Justine better.”
“Yeah, she used to be in a lot of my vlogs and people really liked her. She has her own Youtube channel, iJustine, if you wanna check her out. Now I gotta go babe, I’m workin’ on a video I made a couple days ago, I need to get it done or my fans are gonna eat me alive.”
I chuckled, “Okay have fun with that.”
I escorted him to the door and kissed him before he left. When I heard his car start up and back out of my driveway, I searched up iJustine. I clicked on her channel and almost had an aneurism. She was gorgeous, absolutely stunning. Just looking at her made me wanna jump off a bridge—how could Toby trade her for me? I shook my head, getting the thought of them actually dating out of my mind. He told me they were best friends and that they were in vlogs together; he didn’t say anything about them ever being a thing. Yet I was still disgusted by her beauty and somehow jealous of her.
I clicked on one of her videos titled “Dancing at the Apple Store” and saw her dancing like a crazy person in a phone store. I giggled and saw in the suggestion bar another dancing video that had Toby in the thumbnail. I clicked it and watched Toby set down his phone and start dancing next to Justine. No wonder they were best friends, they looked like they had a lot of fun being weird with each other.
That’s when the suggestion bar caught my attention again and I saw exactly how many vlogs she had been in. The whole bar was full of Toby and Justine videos. I read the titles which kind of bothered me. “Moving in with iJustine” “In Bed with iJustine” “Hot Aftermath” showing a thumbnail of them almost kissing; I gulped and looked at the dates, almost a year ago.
It made me feel better but I was afraid to read the comments from the vlog I was on, so I saved myself from complete destruction and exited out of Youtube.
I stood up and paced around the living room. So he had an ex-girlfriend, so what? I had ex-boyfriends that I was still friends with, so…so could he. Besides, he had asked me to be his current girlfriend and hadn't seemed hesitant to ask.
Yet somehow I was still bothered by her.
I was about to go into the kitchen and eat my feelings away when my phone rang.
“Hey hottie.” I greeted Toby, “What’s up?”
“It’s so weird, I just got a call from Justine and she said she wanted to hang out. I thought maybe it’d be cool if you gotta meet her.”
My stomach almost fell out my butt. “Oh…okay! You guys are friends so it’d only be polite to meet her.” I gulped, hoping he wouldn’t hear my pounding heart through the phone.
“Okay cool, tomorrow I’ll pick you up around noon and we can go have lunch.”
“Sounds okay to me!” I tried my best not to lie.
“Sweet, talk to you soon, love you.”
“Okay, can’t wait!” I failed. “Love you too, bye.”
We hung up and I almost smashed my phone against a wall. Why did she have to be perfect? I couldn’t get the thought of them together out of my mind, and that scared me.

Under a Raincloud- Part 10

We’d been together for about a month when he first asked me to be in one of his lazyvlogs.
“Are you serious?” I asked, a grin slowly growing on my face.
“Hell yeah girl.” He said in the voice that made me laugh every time.
We were at my house when he pulled out his iPhone and pointed it at me.
“Now, I’m just gonna introduce you, but I’m not gonna say anything about you being my girlfriend yet. Some of my fans get really jealous and I just wanna ease them into the idea of…well, you.”
I laughed, “You have fangirls?”
“Believe it or not, but I do.” He chuckled, looking around my living room.
“So you mean like teenage girls freak out if you talk to them?”
He nodded, “It’s crazy, I know.”
“Why you?” I teased him, “You’re a dork!”
“Yes I am, maybe that’s why they like me so much.” He found a flower pot with daisies I was growing on my windowsill.
“Well I know that’s why I like you so much. Not to mention you’re super hot.” I walked over to him and twirled one of his curls.
He smiled and leaned in to kiss me.
He turned back to my flowers and pressed the record button.
“Audience? Wha-? What are you doing staring at these flowers?” He started laughing very…feminine-like, “They’re floweth, oh my God flowerth, there tho pretty.” He coughed. “I mean, uhhh…that’s precarious? Intro of darkness, then redness, then whiteness!” I laughed. “And who’s this?” He turned the phone to face me. I smiled and waved.
“AHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!! Oh… oh it’s just my friend Rain.” He smiled at me from behind the camera.
“Sup Audience?” I tried to say as casual as possible.
“She’s a pretty awesome girl to say the least.” He walked over to me and stood in the shot.
“Thanks!” I put my hands in my front pockets and shrugged.
I stared at the camera and bit my lip, expecting him to say something else until I noticed that he was still looking at me. I turned to him and smiled, “Toby, is this all you do in your vlogs? Stare at people?” I laughed at the camera, trying to take away any tension that the Audience might have.
“Oh right, sorry!” he laughed and looked back at his phone. He started walking down my hallway.
“Anyway, today I’m just hangin’ out workin’ on some stuff that needs to get done. I’ll post a Cute, Win, Fail tomorrow although I still gotta edit it! Ahhhhh work…I hate work! It’s too hard GAH! I’ll just have Steven do it; STEVEN! DO MY WORK FOR ME!!!!”
I looked around my house, confused. It’d been a while since he’d mentioned Steven but now he was talking to him and he wasn’t even here.
“What’s that Steven? You—you quit? HA HA HA no you don’t. Now go edit my videos!!!” He looked back at his phone and laughed his adorable laugh. “Nah, I’m just kiddin’. Steven is dead—ha ha no he’s not, but seriously it was a sad day. No, I’m just kiddin’. About his death, not that it wasn’t sad!” he laughed again.
“Wow,” I said, “You are crazy.” I giggled as he came back into the room.
He stopped next to me again. “Girrrrl whatchu talkin’ ‘bout girrrrl?” he got up in my face and I smiled.
“Better get that cute face outta my personal bubble before I ki—” my eyes grew wide but I finished the word, “ill…you.”
Toby was quiet. He turned his gaze to his phone without turning his head and gave his “what-the-fuck” face.
“This girl is a psycho.” He whispered and I playfully punched him.
He turned and walked into my kitchen this time, blabbering on about nothing to his fans. I, however, sat on my couch and held back a vicious shout. I punched a pillow that was next to me and violently crossed my arms over my chest. I can’t believe I almost blew our cover; I was such an idiot!
I heard him walking back to the living room so I quickly got up and stood where we were before.
“Well thanks for listening to me talk about nothing like I do every day. You guys are amazing. Bless your face, if you sneezed during this video bless you. Peace off! Ba-do-do-do-do-do-do-do Subscribe.” He treaded towards me, “Hey Rain, care to do the honors?”
I forced a smile and looked at him, “Sure!” I put my first finger on the lens, “Outro of darkness then redness then whiteness, then—”
“B00P!” we both said and Toby turned off the recording.
“I’m so sorry.” I said immediately after he stopped it.
“It’s okay; it was just your habit comin’ out. Nice save though.” We exchanged a quick kiss. What was left of my lip gloss rubbed off onto him.
“Sorry.” I said giggling as I wiped off his lips for him.
“Naw it’s okay, I like the taste of strawberries.” He grinned at me and we kissed again.
“Now it’s time to upload this bad boy.” Toby went to my desktop and started to upload his video from his phone onto the computer.
I snorted at his weird comment, “You go do that and I’ll be over here lighting myself on fire.” I joked.
I was still pissed at what I had said. I hoped no one would suspect anything, but who was I kidding? People on the Internet suspect everything. I was in deep shit.

Under a Raincloud- Part 9

I woke up right where I had fallen asleep yet somehow my head managed to find Toby’s chest. His arm had found its way around my stomach. I hesitated on whether or not to cuddle up some more. I figured it wouldn’t hurt to do so if he was still asleep. I carefully lifted my left arm and put it over his so it lay on top. I then put my hand on top of his. His hand was soft and cold. I carefully laced my fingers in between his and slightly squeezed it.
I lay there for what seemed like ages, listening to Toby’s heartbeat and feeling his warm breath on the back of my neck. I closed my eyes and smiled; this wasn’t happening. Not to me; it couldn’t have been. A girl falling in love with a random guy she slept with when she was drunk just didn’t happen in real life. It should’ve been a nightmare, but it wasn’t. Instead here I was, lying in his arms like we’d known each other for months.
I was deep in thought when I heard Toby snort. His body twitched a bit so that I was now on his shoulder.
“Why hello there, beautiful.” I heard him say in a groggy voice.
“Good morning.” I said, slowly sitting up.
He grabbed my arm and pulled me back down to him. He laid my head back on his chest so that I was facing him and sighed,
“It hurts less when you’re close.”
My eyes glazed over at how amazing he was. My heart beat faster when he took a hold of my right hand and intertwined his fingers in mine. We lay there staring at the white ceiling, his chest made my head lift and fall with each breath he took. We ended up synchronizing our breathing together; in and out…in and out…in….and out….
Suddenly, his phone rang; but he didn’t bother to get it.
“Well…?” I asked, lifting my head up to meet his eyes. One of them was purple.
“Well, what?”
“Aren’t you gonna answer that?”
“What—get up from you? No way. Plus, my stomach still hurts. I don’t want to work out these amazing abs right now.”
I laughed, “Amazing abs? Really now? And when will I get to see these abs of yours?”
“When I heal up and we can get back into my bedroom.”
I gasped and gently hit his chest, “Bad Toby!” I giggled.
I laid my head back down onto him and closed my eyes just as the buzzing stopped. I felt his chin cradle the top of my head and I untangled our hands so that I could put my right arm around him.
“Hey Rain…” Toby addressed me.
“Yeah?”
“I was thinking about it last night and I wanted to ask you something.”
My heart skipped a beat, “Okay, what is it?”
“I know it might be a bit soon, but I really, really like you. And considering we’ve already made it all the way, I was wondering if…”
He trailed off so I nudged him.
“Oh sorry, I thought I heard a plane outside. Anyway, um…Rain, would you care to be my girlfriend?”
This time my heart stopped completely. I was speechless, which was something that didn’t happen to me very often. I just lay there in his arms with my mouth open, trying to say something—anything.
“You’re silence is worrying me.” he let out a breath of laughter.
“Oh.” Was the only thing I got out.
“Oh?”
“And when I say oh, I mean yes.” I finally answered and felt his chest fall down as he let his breath out.
“Oh thank God.” He laughed. I joined him.
“Sorry, it’s just…it’s been a while since I’ve had a boyfriend.” I admitted.
“Well I’ll make sure to be the best boyfriend you’ve ever had.”
I looked up at him and he looked down at me. That’s when he gave me that look. The look that makes your stomach flip. The look that makes you feel like you could fly. He just stared at me. He wasn’t smiling but rather studying me, as if he was trying to read my mind. It was the look before the kiss. Sure enough, his eyes slipped to glance at my lips and indicated it was the time. Our lips met once again and I put my right hand up to his neck to bring him to my level. His left hand found its way to my hip again and he slowly wrapped it all the way around my waist to scoot our bodies closer.
We lay on his couch; lips intertwined together, eyes closed in the most peaceful way possible. I could feel the cut on his lip and brushed it with my tongue. I felt his lips tense up and separate our kiss as he smiled.
“That felt good.” He whispered.
We went back to kissing and I did it again. He tried to hold back another smile. We both sat up, lips still connected. He wrapped his fingers in my hair and smushed our faces closer. I was afraid I’d hurt his lip even more, but he didn’t seem to mind. His tongue collided with mine. It tasted…sweet.
I got to my knees, pulling Toby’s chin up to keep our lips attached, and breathed deeply through my nose. Our heart beats rose at the same time as our mouths opened wider. Toby’s hand went underneath my dress and grabbed my upper thigh. He gently pulled it towards him so that I was straddling him.
We made out some more; I put my left hand up into his hair and took a hold of his loose curls. I put my right hand on top of the hand Toby had on my leg and moved it up further so it was more near the lining of my panties. He put his fingers in the brim of them but didn’t pull them down. I was glad he respected my boundaries and what I wanted him to do.
Unfortunately, that was when Toby’s phone started buzzing again.
“You…should…get…that…” Our lips smacked in between each word.
“Fuck…that…” he replied.
I laughed, separating our lips. I leaned back from him and he reached behind him to grab his phone. I went to get off his lap but he grabbed my thigh and winked.
“Hello?” he answered, “Wha-? Are you kidding me? You called me for that?!” He looked at me and scrunched his eyebrows, biting his lip in angst, “Well, I was kind of in the middle of something but yeah I can come. Just give me like an hour and I’ll be over.” He hung up.
“Who was that?”
“Just a friend. He needs me to help him with a gaming video problem.”
I shrugged, “Oh well, guess you’ll just have to leave me…” I teased him.
“Next time.” He patted my leg to get off. I did and he sat up, “My stomach still hurts.” He groaned.
“I’m sorry.” I put my hand on his stomach and rubbed it.
We leaned in and kissed again.
“I’ll take you home.” He said and we stood up together.
“Sounds good.” I grabbed my purse and heels and we treaded out the door and to his car.
Even though last night really sucked, this morning totally made up for everything. Being Toby’s girlfriend? I couldn’t have asked for any less.

Under a Raincloud- Part 8

It was around eight when we decided to leave the restaurant. Toby and I walked outside into the dull night air; Los Angeles was a little more groggy than usual.
“I’ll walk you to your car.” Toby offered but I stopped him.
“I didn’t bring it. My sister took me.” I smiled slyly.
“Oh did you now?” he showed his pearly whites in a wide grin that made me sigh.
“Yeah…I guess you’ll have to take me home then.” I kicked a pebble and shrugged my shoulders, making sure to put on my cutest smile.
“Oh alright, if I have to.” He joked, “But I didn’t bring my car. I live right around the block, so we’ll have to walk if that’s okay.”
“Sure, that’s sounds fine.” I was a little excited to hear we had to walk. It meant we also had more time to be together.
We started walking down the street in silence. I crossed my arms as wind started to pick up. Toby noticed and put his arm around me, drawing me close. I smiled, which made my teeth chatter.
“Damn girl, you must be freezing!” He said, taking off his jacket. He put it around my shoulders and put his arm back around me.
I clutched my little black purse in my hand tight, feeling goosebumps rise from my arms. They weren’t from the cold; they were from the warmth his body shared with me.
We continued down the sidewalk, talking about a wedding he had recently been at, when we came across a group of four drunken-looking men. I began to get nervous, praying they would leave us alone. Unfortunately, I was wrong.
“Ooooo baby, look at the rack on that chick!” One of them said.
I heard two cat-calls and another man say, “Damn, you sexy girl!”
“Just ignore them.” Toby muttered to me and I nodded.
We passed them on the block they were at, but that didn’t stop them. They ran behind us and one of them cut us off.
“Common baby, show us what’s under that pretty dress of yours.” He reached to touch me but I backed up into his friend.
I felt his breath on the back of my head and jumped forward.
“Guys, just leave the lady alone, common.” Toby spoke up.
“And who might you be, fuckin’ cunt?” the man in front of me slurred his insult.
“It doesn’t matter, just move out of the way and no one will get hurt.”
The men laughed, “Get hurt? You mean to say your bitch ass is gonna hurt one of us? I’d like to see you try, fag.”
Toby stepped to the side to try and pass him but the man followed his move. Toby suddenly took my hand; it was shaking.
Suddenly, I felt a hand reaching up my dress and I whipped around.
“Don’t fucking touch me!” I yelled.
The man got pissed and slapped me across the face, “Quiet you whore!” he spat out.
That infuriated Toby. He turned to the man and punched him in the face, “You touch her again, you fucking die!” he said punching him in the face again.
Two of the drunken men took Toby by the arms and dragged him away from their friend. The guy that was blocking our path before walked up to him. He was struggling to get out of their grasp but surprisingly they were strong enough to hold him back.
“You think you can just take down my friend like that?!” he screamed at him.
“No, no I’m sorry, I just—”
His sentence was cut short as his breath flew out of his lungs. The man punched him again in the stomach.
“Stop it!!!” I screamed, “Fucking stop it now!!!”
I was grabbed from behind by the guy who had reached under my dress.
“Ooooo baby, you smell nice.” He grumbled in my ear and sniffed. I felt the blood from his nose wet part of my hair. I kicked and hollered as he dragged me away from the horrible scene.
I heard Toby grunt again and saw the man punch him in the jaw.
“Help us, someone fucking help us!!!!” I let out an ear piercing scream until the man holding me shut my mouth.
Finally I heard a sound that was music to my ears. A police siren from down the road caught everyone’s attention. Red and blue lights lit up the night as the sound got louder. The man that had a hold of me dropped me and I fell to my knees. I looked up at the guys who were holding Toby back and saw they had dropped him too. The men ran off and the police car chased them to the end of the block.
I crawled to where Toby was. He was lying on his back, coughing. I sat next to him and looked at his poor face. His lip was bleeding and his eye was already a purpleish color. He looked at me and tried to crack a smile.
“Perfect ending to a perfect night.” He muttered through his fat lip.
I laughed, tears forming in my eyes at how helpless he looked, “You know it. I’m so sorry this happened.”
“Don’t be sorry. It’s nothing close to your fault at all.” He carefully sat up, holding his stomach in pain.
“Are you okay to walk?” I stood up and took his hand.
“Yeah.” He got to his feet, “good thing my place is just around the corner here.”
I put his arm around my shoulder and helped him to his house. We stumbled in and he went straight to the couch. I found the kitchen and grabbed a bag of frozen peas and corn. I gave him both bags and he set them on his lip and stomach.
“Thanks.” I barely heard him through the bag.
He reached his hand to my face. The palm of it cupped my jaw and his thumb brushed against my cheek. I winced in pain; it was the cheek the man had slapped.
“Sorry.” Toby took the bag off of his lip and sat up. His hand still attached to my face, he carefully pulled me towards him.
Our lips intertwined and even though his bottom one was two times bigger than it should’ve been, fireworks burst above our heads. We didn’t stay connected for long however. The pain in his lip caused him to separate sharply and lay back down.
“What a romantic first kiss.” I laughed.
“It was worth it. All of this was worth getting that kiss.” He made my heart warm once again. “You wanna stay over? We don’t have to do anything, I just think I need company now.”
“Yeah of course.” I said and took off my heels.
He scooted over and patted next to him, indicating for me to lie down. I did, and we both lay on the couch, his hand on my hip, not saying a word. We were happy to be together even though we both had our asses handed to ourselves. And our happiness was all that mattered.

Under a Raincloud- Part 7

When we arrived at La Boheme, I thanked Sunny and carefully made my way up the steps and into the restaurant. It was gorgeous inside. The walls were a deep shade of red and chandeliers hung from the ceiling in groups. Black booths lined the ulterior and the marble stairs that led up the second floor all made me gasp in shock about how beautiful it was.
I treaded to the front and spoke to the waiter at the podium.
“Hello, I have a reservation at five, someone should already be here by now, I think.” I smiled.
“Let me see…Toby Turner and Rainbow Pemeska?”
I cringed at the sound of my full name, “Yes.”
“Right this way.” He took two menus and led me into the dining room. My stomach flipped when I saw Toby sitting at a table in the middle of the room. He stood up as soon as he saw me and straightened his tie. He smiled nervously as he pulled out my chair for me and kissed me on the cheek.
“Here are your menus. Would you like anything to drink?” The waiter asked as soon as we sat down.
“A glass of wine would be great.” I said.
“Ice water for me.” Toby nodded at the waiter as he left.
“Well hello there gorgeous,” he turned my face red, “how are you still alive without seeing me for a day?” he grinned.
“Same way I’ve been alive for 22 years without you.” I joked back, “But it really is nice to see you. You look great yourself.”
“Thanks!”
I eyed him with lust. He was wearing a forest green button-down shirt with a black tie and a matching black coat. His hair was kind of a mess, but it was cute in a way.
“Kinda crazy we match without even knowing.” I giggled.
“Well would you look at that!” He laughed, looking at his own shirt then back at my dress.
I glanced at the menu and saw my favorite dish: Mushroom Stuffed Ravioli. I set down my menu, already ready with my order. I laid my elbows on the table, crossed my fingers together and set my chin on top, watching Toby study his menu.
“So, how was your day today?” I asked.
“Pretty good. Recorded my videos for today so I didn’t have to interrupt anything tonight. I love my fans, you know that, and I make lazyvlogs every day. So just letting you know, if I ever forget to record one earlier in the day and we’re hangin’ out, I’ll have to record when you’re around. That’s okay right?”
“Of course! I’ve never been on YouTube before.” I said.
He looked up from his menu and straight into my eyes, “Are you serious?”
“Ha ha, yeah I am!”
“That is unacceptable, woman! You must show your pretty face on YouTube!” he thumped his menu onto the table, causing the centerpiece to shake.
“Calm down mister.” I laughed as his serious gaze turned into an adorable smile.
He picked the menu back up and started reading it, “Do you know what you’re getting?” he asked me.
“Yeah, the mushroom ravioli. It’s bomber, I’ve had it before, I hope their version is just as good.” I bit my lip in embarrassment. Bomber? What was I, a 15 year old skater boy?
“Hm, that sounds delicious!” he set his menu back down and looked at me.
He was about to speak again when the waiter came back to our table with our drinks.
“Are you two ready to order yet?” he asked.
“Yeah, we’d both like the Mushroom Stuffed Ravioli please.” Toby looked at me and winked. My stomach flipped twice and made my elbows so weak they flopped onto the table. I quickly propped them back up in embarrassment as the waiter left to process our order.
“So, what do you like to do around here?” I asked him.
“I walk around town with my iPhone and talk to it.” He said with a smirk on his face.
“Oh that sounds like fun.” I flirted back.
“I also play video games and record them for my fans.”
“You really love those guys don’t you?”
“Yeah, I really do.” My heart grew warm to his statement; he was such a sweet guy.
“And you? What do you like to do?” he asked me.
“Well, I don’t have much free time next to work and school. But occasionally at night I go clubbing with my sister and our friends. I’m tryin’ to get out of the habit though. Drinking every other night has gotten…regretful.” I shifted in my seat.
“You’re talking about that morning aren’t you?” he read my mind.
“Um, yeah. I am.”
“Why? Both of us wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for our drunken mistake. Unless…you’re not pregnant are you?” his eyes grew wide.
“Oh holy God, no, no I am not pregnant.” I stifled an awkward laugh.
“Oh thank God.” He let out a breath of relief.
“But, I guess you’re right. I’m thankful to be here.”
He smiled and reached over to take my hand. We both sat staring at each other. The calming classical music slowly faded away the longer I looked into his eyes. His hand was warm, clammy in fact. I could tell he was nervous when he hiccupped a laugh and looked behind me.
The food we had ordered had come, faster than I had expected. We let go of each others hand as the waiter set our plates down in front of us. The smell of the mushrooms engulfed my lungs and I instinctively closed my eyes. This night was exactly how I expected it. He was falling for me, and I was definitely falling for him.

Under a Raincloud- Part 6

I couldn’t focus throughout class and driving home was a chore. My head spun with ideas about how the night would go and how much I wanted time to speed up yet slow down once I got to see him again.
I couldn’t even get to sleep that night. Voices started to conjure up in my mind, all saying different things with different tones,
“He’s not going to like the real you.”
“Don’t worry, he’ll fall in love the moment he sees you.”
“Maybe you shouldn’t go, don’t get your heart broken again.”
“He’s a great guy, you’ll be perfect for each other.”
“This is a bad idea.”
“This is a good idea.”
I tossed and turned, trying to make the voices stop. Eventually they did, but something replaced it.
Toby and I entered his apartment lip-to-lip. We scrambled to the bedroom and frantically started taking each other’s clothes off. The bed was already unmade, the sheets were soft. His warm breath tickled my neck as he kissed it and we lay down on the bed. He was on top of me when—
Beep beep beep!!! The sound of my alarm snapped me awake from my dream. I flew straight up and looked to my left to see the empty space that always accompanied me. I sighed, secretly wishing he was there to occupy it. This was stupid, the last time I fell for a guy this fast, he used me for what he needed and dumped me like I was nothing. I hoped Toby wouldn’t be like him.
I had to go to work, so I slumped out of bed and into the bathroom. I heard singing from the next room; my sister hollering out of tune to the Backstreet Boys. I rolled my eyes and pounded on the wall that separated our bathrooms.
“Shut up in there!” I shouted.
“Make me!” her voice rose.
I groaned, too tired to do anything about my bitchy sister. I hopped in the shower and when I was finished went to the kitchen for breakfast. I checked my phone, oddly enough for the time, as if to check if it was already five. It was only noon, and I had to go to work.
Bru Coffee Bar wasn’t as bad as Toby had exclaimed, but it wasn’t as good as Starbucks. The people I worked with were nice and the customers that came in were friendly and polite. I didn’t mind working there, it paid nice too.
I arrived there on time, dressed in the apron and hat I was given for my uniform. I saw my friend Lindi at the register and joined her behind the counter.
“Hey there.” She greeted me.
“Hi, how’s today been so far?” I asked her.
“Boring. You excited for your date?” she noticed my surprised expression, “Sunny told me.”
“Of course she did. But yeah, I’m very excited.” A customer came to the counter forcing Lindi to cut our conversation short.

I left the coffee shop at four, just in time to get ready to see Toby. As soon as I got home I rushed to my closet and searched for the perfect dress. I came across a green and black dress; the dress I wore to my senior prom in high school. I studied it more carefully, and took it off the hanger. I held it up to my body to measure it. It looked like it would fit; I hadn’t grown an inch since high school.
I slipped into it and smiled as I twirled in the mirror. I grabbed a glittery black headband and put it on, then added some bracelets and a necklace. Looking at myself in the mirror I felt beautiful. I smiled and added some pink lipgloss before gathering things into my small black handbag and grabbing some black heels.
I made my way to the living room and saw Sunny sitting on the couch watching TV.
“I need you to take me to Café La Boheme please.” I said as calm as I could.
“Why can’t you take yourself?” she asked without looking up at me.
“Cause I want Toby to take me home.” I said flatly.
“Why, so you can sleep with him again?” she snorted.
“No, we agreed to keep it simple until we get to know each other more. Please, just do this for me?”
She sighed, “God dammit.”
I walked to the door as she got up and took her keys from the kitchen counter. I smiled as we went to her VW Bug.
“Thanks!”
“Yeah.” She mumbled back. The only reason she was acting like this was because she hated giving people rides unless it was to a party. She was a party girl, she’s where I got it from. The drinking, the dancing, the hang-overs, all inspired by the girl I called my older sister.

Under a Raincloud- Part 5

We talked more about his life and all he had accomplished on YouTube. I was pretty impressed that he was sort of famous; never in my whole life of living in Los Angeles had I met, let alone slept, with a famous guy. In the middle of our conversation, his phone started to buzz in his pocket. He looked at me apologetically as he took it out and looked at it.
“Oh shit, it’s almost ten!” He stood up frantically, “I have a video to shoot at ten thirty, but I’ll text you later and we can hang out, okay?”
I got up and stood in front of him. Standing right next to him made me feel short as hell. He looked down at me and gave a half smile.
“Okay.” I replied as he touched my shoulder before heading out the coffee shop.
I turned around in time to see him wave goodbye and I waved back. Toby Turner…I think I might like this guy; a lot.

I returned home at my apartment and slumped into the couch. I laid my head back on the soft leather and shut my eyes. The emptiness of the room and the silence it endured caused me to drift off into a light sleep. However, my dream was anything but light.
I saw Toby at a bar. I didn’t recognize the interior. He was smiling as I approached him.
“Can I buy you a drink?” his voice echoed.
Suddenly, we were outside of a building. We were standing at the door, Toby attempting to hit the call button to get inside. Finally I heard a buzz and the door opened. We climbed the stairs, holding onto the railing for dear life. When we got to his front door, I leaned up against the wall, waiting for him to open the door. Instead, his body leaned into mine and he kissed me.
That was when I felt something wet on my lips and woke up to my sister laughing as she sprayed me with a water bottle.
“God dammit Sunshine, I was having a good dream!” Or was it a memory?
“Well saw-ree!” she retorted, “But you have school in twenty minutes and I thought I was being nice by waking you.”
“Bitch, that was anything but nice! God, you’re such a pain sometimes!” I got up from the couch and stomped to my room.
“Whatever.” Was all she said.
I dressed into nicer clothing and put my books in my backpack. I only had math that day, it wasn’t too big of a deal, but I wouldn’t have minded sleeping at least a minute longer to remember that night I forgot.
I shrugged it off as best as I could and returned to the living room. Sunny had replaced my seat on the couch so I went to the kitchen instead and grabbed some food. When I came back I saw she had my phone in her hand and was studying it carefully.
“What are you doing?” I asked, my temper rising.
“You got a text from that Toby guy.” She said, still staring at the screen.
“Well, give it to me.” I said in a smartass tone.
“You two are dating now? You really think that’s a good idea?”
“You’re the one who fucking told me to call him two weeks ago, and now you’re telling me that it’s not a good idea? What the hell?” I lunged at her hand to take my phone but she retreated.
“Give me my damn phone!” I yelled, practically clawing at her arm.
“Okay, okay Jesus! Calm the fuck down!” she threw it passed me and down the hall.
I slapped her arm multiple times before running after it.
“Hey girrrrl, let’s go to dinner!” it read.
My stomach jumped as I typed, “Sounds amazing!!!” then deleted it and re-typed, “Okay, sounds cool” but deleted that and typed again, “Sure, let’s do it!”
“GOD DAMMIT!” I screamed, not knowing the right words to text back. It suddenly hit me why I was acting like this. The dream I had, the morning after, meeting him at the bar, then again at Starbucks, all these encounters with him made me realize; this boy is trying to be a part of my life now. But I wasn’t sure if I could handle it or not.
I finally settled with “Alright, where at?” lame, but good enough.
I walked to my bedroom and sat on the bed. I waited impatiently for a reply, tapping my foot to the point of exhaustion. Finally my phone buzzed and I read,
“Let’s go to Hooters.” I scrunched my eyebrows as I read on, “Haha just kiddin let’s go to Café La Boheme, I know people who work there, so I could make a good reservation. See you tomorrow at five?” I jumped in my seat and texted back,
“Sounds great, I’ll see you then!”
My first date with Toby Turner, the Internet star, sounded damn good to me.