Embracing Rain

15 - Chance

1 5 - C H A N C E

"Something's wrong," I tell Noah as I get in his car. He's stopped by my house to pick me up on the way to some cultural festival. The only thing he's told me is that there will be a lot of different languages, but he's made up for the lack of information with an abundance of enthusiasm.

"What happened?" he asks, concerned.

"I'm liking that book way more than I thought I would," I admit. "You were right about it being way better than it looks or sounds."

"Yay!" He pumps his fist. "I've converted another one!"

"Who else?"

"Emma. She loves anything related to romance, even though she used to hate it." Then he frowns. "Maybe that's why she was meddling so much," he mutters. "Maybe I shouldn't have introduced her to that book in the first place."

"Maybe," I agree. "But I think she genuinely cares about you too. And speaking of Emma, is she coming today?"

"Nope. But this'll be a great opportunity for you to learn some Japanese! Or Spanish! Or pretty much anything you want!"

"But I really don't know that much. I want to see you talk to people, though. I'm still having a hard time believing you can speak so many languages."

"Okay!" He's practically beaming at this point, obviously excited. And seeing him excited makes me happy, too, even though I have no idea how I'm going to manage in such a big crowd of people. Especially if most of them are speaking in other languages. People are terrifying. But as long as I'm with Noah, I'll still have fun, even if it's only because it'll be amusing to watch him.

When we reach the convention center, we manage to grab one of the last parking spaces in the main parking lot, which only encourages Noah further. I'm surprised both by how energetic he is and by how it's making me energetic as well. I hadn't expected to be this excited for something completely out of my comfort zone, but I guess his energy is contagious.

"Have you been sleeping better?" I ask him curiously as we both get out of the car. "You seem a lot more energetic than you usually do."

"I actually have!" he says with a beam. "I already told you about how my first meeting with the therapist person didn't go very well, but you've helped me more than you know, as cheesy at that sounds. I've been able to sleep most of the way through the night lately."

"Well, you actually have the energy to be cheesy, so I can't care that much," I tease. "But seriously, I am really glad that I've been able to help."

"Yeah."

On an impulse, I reach out and grab his hand, interlocking his fingers with my own as we walk. "Is this okay?"

He stares down at our hands in disbelief, and I can see him swallow nervously. "You realize what this means to me, right?"

"Yeah. I know. Does it make you uncomfortable? I can stop. I just wanted to see what it would be like, I'm sorry—"

Shaking his head, he says, "No! I mean yeah, it makes me uncomfortable, but in a good way. It's fine."

I can feel a broad smile make its way onto my face. "Good. Let's go."

We walk towards the entrance, joining a small but steady stream of people. Some are dressed in simply jeans and t-shirts like Noah and I, but others have a more cultural dress.

"Wow," I comment when we walk in the doors. "This is way bigger than it looks from the outside."

"Yeah," Noah agrees. He's trying to sound casual, but I can hear the nervousness in his voice. "It's grown from last year, too. There weren't this many booths and displays. And there are more people around, too."