[NowStop]

I finally gave in and did it.

I stood up, I awkwardly pulled the hood of my jacket down over my face, and then I walked over to her and tapped her on the shoulder.

"Is that...Is that "Xpander" by Sasha?"

She turned around, somewhat startled and pulled a bud out of her ear.

"What did you say?" she said to me. "I had my earphones in."

"Is that "Xpander" you're listening to? I can hear it all the way over there on the bench." I jerked my thumb back towards where I was sitting, the rain already running down and dripping off of my nose.

She stared at me for a moment beneath her umbrella. Her rich green eyes bored into me, and it was obvious that she was weary of me.

"Yeah, it is. Though I am more of a fan of B.B.E."

"Isn't that an offshoot of Age Of Love?"

She then cracked the faintest of smiles, the corners of her pale red lipsticked mouth barely turning upwards.

"Something like that."

She held her hand out awkwardly to me upside down, and I took it.

"I'm Autumn."

"Alex.", I stumbled out in reply.

"Come, get beneath my umbrella and listen with me. You're waiting for the bus as well?" She offered me an earbud, and I took it gratefully as she then shifted the umbrella over the two of us. She tried to cover us both up, but was only partially successful because the umbrella was quite clearly not meant to hide two people beneath it.

"Yeah, I am."

We then started to make small talk about our tastes in music and about ourselves, the trance beats drawing us together.

And all throughout...the rain continued to fall.

Pitter

patter

plip

splash

***

"Truth." Autumn said.

I grinned evilly, my mind expanding against the possibilities that I could inflict on her. Finally, I said three simple words.

"Top or Bottom?"

Her face flushed almost as red as her hair, and she threw a decoration pillow at me from the floor that was in her arm's reach. It hit me in the face and I then knocked it aside.

"Nunya. As in nunya fuckin' business. And top."

The movie was halfway over at this point, and it was pretty clear who Hayek was going to end up with when the credits rolled. As it always is with these types of movies.

"My turn again.", Autumn said. "Truth or Dare?"

"Truth. Last time I said 'Dare', I ended up having ice dumped down my shirt while hopping on my right foot. Not something I am exactly eager to go through again tonight."

She paused for a moment.

She then looked over at me, and simply said:

"Alright. Why did you talk to me on that day when we first met?"

"Duh, your music." I looked away towards the TV and suddenly feigned quite a bit more interest in the movie than I have ever had up to this point tonight.

"Bullshit." she replied.

I took a quick peek over at her, and I could tell she wasn't going to let this go until I told her the truth (or something like it).

"...It was because you looked really cute standing there with your umbrella, okay?" I half mumbled the words, seriously wishing that she hadn't asked that. "I think I'm done playing for now. Can we just watch the rest of the movie?"

For once, she didn't have anything else to say. We both then watched the rest of the movie in silence.

~fin Chapter Two: Conversation