One
The rain starts pouring in earnest on your way back to your dorm room. You groan because you aren't even wearing rain boots and suddenly this monsoon decides now is the time to create the next apocalypse. It had rained all night previously, and there is now at least eight inches of water flooding the streets. The rain is slanting in sideways and your hood does little to protect your face from the onslaught. You are wet. You are cold. Your dorm is too far away.
You grumble to yourself about how you seem to be the only living human outside today as you continue to trudge through the tide of muddy sky water pooling around your ankles. When you look up to see how much further you have to walk, you notice two people about a block ahead of you. One of them is an old woman, you can tell by the slope of her back and the cane at her side. She's struggling against the wind, and the hood of her poncho keeps getting whipped back off of her head. The other person is holding a big black umbrella and reaches out a hand to stop the elderly woman. They talk for maybe a minute before the person with the umbrella pushes it into the woman's hands and walks away.
The mystery figure happens to be walking the same way you are, so you continue to follow them. You're touched by the kind gesture and it restores your faith in humanity a little bit, especially when the old woman with her new umbrella walks by you with a smile spread wide over her face. You smile at her and gesture toward the retreating person, "Kind of them!" you say and the woman nods enthusiastically, "Almost like a knight-in-shining-rain-gear!" she pipes back at you as she passes.
You stifle a giggle at the little old lady and continue on your way. The would be knight-in-shining-rain-gear is wearing a pair of combat boots and a black rain jacket and you can't tell whether you know them because you can't see their face, but something about them seems familiar. You shake the thought out of your head, though, because the figure honest to god starts leap frogging between puddles that might as well be lakes.
You watch in disbelief as the person sticks their arms out like they're standing on the bow of the titanic and begins to twirl around, face turned up to the sky. You can't help but smile because you remember when you were a kid how much you used to love puddle jumping on rainy days. It's heartwarming to see someone who hasn't lost the child in them.
You're getting pretty close to your dorm when you realize that you have absolutely zero idea where your ID card is. You begin to rummage around in your bag looking for it and it takes you several minutes before you locate it. When you look back up, the stranger is gone. You swipe into your dorm and begin to make your way up to your room when you run into LaF.
"Hey L, do you think I can borrow your canoe to get to the library?" They joke when they see the rain drops falling off the visor of your rain jacket as you shake off the wetness.
"Sure LaF, it's tethered to the bike rack right outside the door." You laugh as you walk with them down the hall. The two of you part ways when you get to your room and you walk through the door.
Carmilla is sprawled out across your bed and she looks up at the sound of your entrance. "Hey cutie, you're looking pretty wet." She says and you don't miss the innuendo in her words or the husk in her voice but you just roll your eyes at her.
You and Carmilla have been doing this weird half-flirting thing for a few weeks now, and you're still not sure what to think of it. You like the idea of Carmilla being interested in you, but you don't want to make things weird with your roommate, so you do your best not to give into temptation.
Carmilla sits up a little and scoots over so you can sit down on your own bed and you roll your eyes again, because really? Her bed is literally three feet away. You sit down next to her and say, "Really Carmilla, don't you have any regard for anyone other than yourself? Why don't you sit in your own bed?" You actually really like having her this close to you, but you know she won't actually move, no matter how much you complain.
"Nah, cupcake, I'm a vampire. I don't look out for anyone but myself." She already has her nose back in her book and she says it even as her eyes glide across the page. There isn't a hint of sarcasm in her voice and you know that she truly believes that. You let out a big sigh and try to make yourself comfortable.
It isn't until you've curled up with your back pressed to Carmilla's leg and you're half asleep that you notice the soaking wet black rain jacket hung up on the post of Carmilla's bed and the muddy combat boots. It dawns on you why the knight-in-shinging-rain-gear seemed so familiar. You roll over to look at Carmilla and she grumbles about having to shift to accommodate your movements.
You're watching her read and thinking about the way she gave up her umbrella for a complete stranger. Your snarky, apathetic, creature of the night roommate is a gigantic sap and she doesn't think anyone knows it. The more you remember her jumping around in puddles and kicking up water into the air, the more happy you get. You think that for a grumpy cat, she sure breaks stereotypes about them playing in water. You break out into a wide smile and she glances at you from the corner of her eye.
"What?" she questions suspiciously as you reach out and tuck a strand of her hair behind her ear to keep yourself from leaning in and kissing her.
"Nothing" is what you say, but you're sure your heartbeat has picked up because it's swelling with fondness for the girl sitting next to you.
(Carmilla can hear it, but she doesn't say anything)