“You don’t really need to see me properly”, Shane replied quietly, “It doesn’t really matter. You can feel me”.

“I know…”, Carmen beamed softly, “…But I wish I could see you. You know, every single thing of you”.

Shane felt an invisible hand squeezing her heart. Instinctively, her shoulders slumped and her breath itched a little.

Another thunder, and they both jolted. Then, Carmen chuckled and stood up, wrapping the sheets around her curvaceous body and walking over to the window.

“God, I like walking in the rain…”, she said.

In a second, Shane was right behind her. Her arms circled Carmen’s waist and pulled her closer. Closer.

“Do you wanna go out?”, she proposed, her voice huskier and so much lower than usual. She rested her chin on Carmen’s naked shoulder and waited for her to reply.

“Yeah”.

Carmen beamed. She smiled like a little girl, breaking the contact with Shane just to open the closet and grab some clothes.

”It’s a fire
These dreams they pass me by
This salvation I desire
Keeps getting me down
‘Cause we need to
Recognize mistakes
For time and again…”

***

Shane observed Carmen as she spread her arms, open wide, and tossed her head back. Eyes closed, raindrops falling over her tanned face. Carmen smiled, serenely, her gym shoes firmly rooted into the lawn, into the mud. Right above her, the sky had turned grey, almost black. Dark clouds moved by a furious wind hovered over them, and the rain was falling thick and cold. Carmen was practically in the storm centre and didn’t seem to mind at all.

Shane, her lower back rested against the hood of her Jeep, squinted and tried uselessly to take a drag from her cigarette. It was soaking wet and, obviously, completely extinguished. She flinched it away carelessly.

“Carmen!”, she called out, her smoky voice overtopping the rhythmical noise of the rain, “Come back here, come on!”.

In the middle of the lawn, in the small town park a few blocks away from their building, Carmen just laughed heartily.

“Carmen!”, Shane called her out again. She walked over, grimacing when she realized that her jeans were going to get all dirty and muddy.

“You’re fucking crazy…”, she mumbled shaking her head when she finally reached Carmen. Carmen opened her eyes and tried to focus on her, then smirked mischievously.