Under One Umbrella

It was cold. The kind of cold that doesn’t seem so bad at first, but slowly seeps through you clothes and freezes you to death. And it was raining. Because, why not? It was that annoying rain that wasn’t pouring, wasn’t misting, just a steady irritating drizzle that refused to stop or change in any way. At least, that’s how it was where we were. I couldn’t be sure of anywhere else.

We were in London, the older downtown of London to be specific. There was seven of us, Braiden, shorter-than-average and the cracker of bad British jokes, Lily, a distant cousin of mine, and currently sharing an umbrella with Braiden, Leah, (Ya I know, Leah and Lily, deal with it) Braidens’ sister and a bit of a computer whiz, Skyler, a bit bossy and my sadly not-so-distant cousin, Hannah, soft spoken, and probably the kindest person in our group, and Kyla. Tall, smart, funny, and the most beautiful person I have ever met. I might have a teeny tiny crush on her. Okay fine, a big crush. I really like her. A lot. And then there is me. My name is Blake K. Ryker, (the K stands for Keefe, blame my parents for that) I am the leader of our group, and am afraid of only two things. Spice cake, I had a nightmare once, don’t ask, and telling Kyla my feelings for her, because I am certain she does not return my feelings.

Anyway.

Most of us had worn warm clothes; I had on my warmest hoodie and a coat, but Kyla had forgotten her coat when we left the motel that morning, therefor she was only wearing a light hoodie and was currently trying to shelter under the same umbrella as Skyler, Hannah, and Leah. I muttered a few choice words under my breath about the weather, and awkwardly struggled out of my coat, (i was holding an umbrella) and then stepped up beside Kyla and tapped her on the shoulder. She turned an slowed to match my pace.

She blew into her hands before speaking. “Yes?”

“Here.” I held my coat up. “You seem pretty cold.”

She shook her head. “I’m fine, thanks though.”

I rolled my eyes. “Yeah right you’re fine. I could see you shivering from back here. Take it.”

She hesitated and I pressed it into her hands. “Really, I’ll be fine. I have my warm hoodie on.” And I would freeze to death for you, I thought.

Finally, she accepted it and pulled it on, giving me a smile that made every nerve in me tingle. “Thank you. I was little cold.”

“Really? I hadn’t noticed.” I teased, before switching my umbrella to my right hand. “Here, this thing is big enough for two.”

We shared an umbrella for the rest of the day, following the rest of our group all over downtown London. Around 1:00 o’clock, we huddled under a tree in a massive park while Braiden fiddled with his phone, trying to find somewhere to get out of the rain. As it turned out, there was a book/coffee shop on the other side of the park we were in. The others were scattered around the shop, and while Kyla was engrossed in the fantasy section, I walked over to the counter and purchased two small hot chocolates. Her face lit up and she beamed at me when I handed one to her. She was sitting cross legged on the floor, a color illustrated Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire open on her lap. I squatted down beside her, and looked over her shoulder as she flipped though the thick, colorful pages, pausing here and there to inspect a image for closely.

After a while I stood up and noticed that the others were no longer in the shop, and that Braiden was peering owlishly through the glass window watching me with a stupid grin on his face. I grinned at him and turned back to Kyla.

“We should probably go. The others are outside and Braiden is spying on us through the window.”

She made a face, and stood up reluctantly, smoothing out her skirt and blushing slightly when she saw Braiden. “Yeah, probably.”

I took the book from her and motioned to the door. “You go, I’ll put this back.”

After returning the book to the shelf, I followed Kyla outside where the rest of the group was standing out of the rain on the cover porch of the shop. Kyla was conversing with Skyler and the others, who gave me a dirty look over Kyla’s shoulder. I rolled my eyes at her and mouthed mind your own business.

Braiden raised his eyebrows as I dropped into a chair beside him. He knew I had, feelings, for Kyla, so I braced for what he was about to say. “So, you and Kyla a ‘thing’ now?”

I gave him a mock annoyed look before responding. “No, we’re not. I just gave her my coat because she was cold.”

Braiden sighed. “Well, this might be your chance to tell her how you feel.”

“Dude, I already told her she doesn’t feel the same towards me. Last time I asked her about it she didn’t talk to me for a week. And besides, Skyler would stick her nose in before you could blink.”

“True.”

We sat in silence for a while before I stood up. “Alright, you all ready to go? Braiden, where to next?”

He stood up and pulled out his phone. “Um, I think we were gonna go to Big Ben next. That good with everyone?” When everyone else nodded he turned to me. “You want to take the lead?”

I shook my head. “You’re doing good and besides, you’ve been here before.”

He nodded and led the way off the deck into the rain. I unfurled my umbrella and waited for Kyla to drop her cup into the trash can. She hurried up, and smiled at me, her cheeks red from the cold.

“Thanks.” She pulled the hood of her hoodie up over her head, and fell in beside me

I smiled back. “No problem.”

We caught up with the group at the gardens exit, and Braiden turned right, towards the dim outline of the famous clock tower.

“You still have that pop-out Harry Potter book I gave you for your sixteenth birthday, right?” I asked after walking in silence for a bit.

She smiled again. “Of course! That was my favorite present I got that year. I have read it a dozen times at least.”

I grinned. “Glad you liked it. It was between that and a really cool Harry Potter quill and ink, but I figured you use the book more.”

“Well, I guess you figured right.” She laughed softly and I smiled to myself. Her laugh was beautiful, like water over rocks.

By the time we reached our destination, the rain had mostly stopped and I stowed my umbrella in my backpack. Kyla continued to walk with me until we stopped at a crosswalk across the street from Big Ben. Skyler, Hannah, Leah, and Lily had already crossed and I was taking to Braiden, so I didn’t notice the light change and Kyla start across. When I did notice, she was already halfway across the street. I started after her, and disaster struck. There was a blaring of a horn, and a red double-Decker bus came careening out of control down the street, straight towards Kyla.

“Kyla!” I lunged into the street and dashed towards her. Time seemed to slow as I committed to a race of life or death, Kyla’s life. I dodged a retreating passerby, spinning around the man, and continued as fast as I could. Now, it takes me a while to tell about this, but in reality, it spanned only a few seconds. As the bus closed in, Kyla saw it and screamed, freezing in place. At the last moment, I dove forward, crashing into Kyla and knocking her out of the way. I twisted midair, bringing my own body beneath her to cushion her fall and wrapped my arms around her, holding her close as I braced for the landing.

I slammed into the ground, the rough pavement grating on my back as I slid towards the curb. I was dimly aware of people leaping out of our way; the pain of the fall blurring everything. I sensed the curb was close, and not wanting to add to my pain by smacking my head on it, I preformed a move that to this day I do not know how I did. I half turned, kicking both feet against the pavement, and using the momentum of my fall, and the muscles of my back and legs, I flipped up and over, landing crouched on one knee cradling Kyla in my arms. I set her gently down on the street and gingerly straightened my back, the pavement having scraped it despite my clothes.

I looked down at Kyla, more concerned for her then my own injuries. “Are you alright?”

She looked up at me, her eyes wide with shock and fear. “Yeah. Yeah, I’m alright. You, saved me.”

I grinned weakly. “I guess so.”

There was a distant crash as the bus hit something, and Braiden and the others came pelting up around us.

“Are you guys alright?!” Braiden was ecstatic. “Dude you totally saved her life!”

I reached down and grabbed Kyla’s hand. “Can you stand up?”

She nodded and I pulled her gently to her feet. She leaned heavily on my arm and I helped her off the street and towards a bench. She sank onto it and exhaled shakily.

I watched her apprehensively. “You gonna be alright?”

“Yes, I just need a few minutes to rest. You guys don’t have to wait for me you can go explore the tower.”

I stood up and walked to where the others were standing a few feet away. “She said we should go look around without her and come back later. So you guys go, I’ll stay with her ‘cause she is in a bit of shock.”

Braiden nodded. “Okay. We won’t go to far.”

They started towards the tower, and I made my way back to Kyla, dropping onto the bench beside her, wincing as my back brush the back of the bench. She looked at me in surprise. “Aren’t you going with the others?”

I smiled. “Someone has to keep an eye on you.”

She nodded wearily and leaned back, her eyes drifting shut. Her eyes would occasionally snap open, and then drift back shut. After a while, I sat up and nudged her. She looked over at me blearily.

“I think you should go back to the hotel and lie down, okay? I’ll walk you back.”

“No, I’ll be fi…”

“No, you won’t. Come on.” I sent a quick message to Braiden updating him and he responded with an ‘okay’ and a heart emoji. I rolled my eyes and slipped my phone into my pocket and stood back up, helping Kyla up as well. She leaned on me for a moment, and then stood up straight, swaying a bit. We started down the sidewalk towards our motel, which was a thirty minute walk away. Before long it began to get dark, and I looked in surprise at the time. It was already 5:00 o’clock. Kyla walked a little closer to me as we passes several dark alleys, occasionally brushing against my shoulder.

“You can hold my hand if you’re scared.” I teased softy. She didn’t reply, but to my surprise I felt her fingers intertwine with mine and she clung tightly to my hand. The crash must have really shook her up I thought, but a small part of my brain couldn’t help but wonder if… NOPE. I shut that thought down. There was no way she liked me. As anyone more then a friend anyway.

We walked in silence for quite sometime, passing shops, old houses overgrown with ivy, and the occasional lookout over the harbor. As we passed on such place, Kyla looked at me.

“Could we go out there for a little?”

“Sure.” We turned onto the wide stone path that went under an ornate archway decorated with symbols I couldn’t read. We emerged on a semicircular platform built partly on the ground with the tip of it supported by posts driven into the ground below. We walked to the railing, and Kyla let go of my hand to rest her elbows on the railing and look out over the harbor. It was beautiful.

It was now completely dark, and a nearly full moon was rising, bathing the city in its white glow. We stood in silence, watching as the first stars began to appear in the night sky. Then Kyla turned and looked up at me.

“Blake, there is, something I need to tell you. I, ever since we were little, I um, oh, there is no way to say this with out it sounding dumb.”

I looked down at her. “Kyla, nothing you could ever say would sound dumb to me.”

She bit her lip. “I…“ She paused. “I like you. Not just as a friend, as something more. And when you saved my life back there, I knew I had to tell you. Please don’t hate me.”

My heart was racing, and my brain flying a thousand miles a minute, screaming for me to confess to her. A thin path of moonlight raced across the water, reflecting up and lighting up Kyla’s upturned face, and in that moment I fell more in love than I ever thought I could. “Kyla, do you know why I always called you Star as a nickname?” She shook her head. “It’s because every time I look at the sky, and see the stars, I see your face. I don’t just like you, Kyla, I love you. And there is nothing in my life that can keep my from feeling that.”

She was silent, her eyes shining with joy, hope, and moonlight, and something more. I leaned forward, and for the first time in my life, I kissed a girl, the girl I had worshiped since fifth grade. I had faced my fear, and overcome it, and now I knew something I thought wasn’t possible. Nothing in the world could bring me greater joy than seeing the person I loved there with me that night.

D. J. Ryker