Ada stood beneath the brown and white awning and locked the coffee shop doors behind her as the spring breeze nipped at her skin. It was an unpredictable time of year. The weather was pleasant enough during the day to wear short sleeves. That night was a different story and felt more like a wintry February rather than May.
The evening was so quiet, Ada could hear her own heart beating. Going to his home was inappropriate. Although she trusted him, that trust did not change the situation. She should not be going to his apartment. It didn't matter that she would only be his student for another month. It also didn't matter that she was two months away from nineteen.
The fact was that she shouldn't be going there and doing what she wasn't supposed to was not Ada's style. Yet there she was, standing under a crescent moon and a black sky pin pricked with white stars, her feet tempting her across an empty street. The only thing that was making her question whether or not to walk across the street were those damn rules she always followed.
He wasn't going to let those rules stop him, the one with everything to lose in all this, so Ada decided not to let it stop her either. Filled with guilt ridden excitement for breaking those rules, she crossed her arms for warmth and rushed across the street by the light of the old street lamps.
"Hey you!" Mr. B yelled from above as he stood on a balcony holding a cup of coffee between both hands. He wore the same black tee shirt as before, the frigid night not seeming to bother him.
"How are you not cold?" she asked through chattering teeth.
He shrugged before taking a drink. "It's all the hot coffee. You call it an addiction, I call it survival."
"You are addicted."
"And you're my dealer," he fired back with amusement. "So my coffee intake is as much your fault as it is mine."
She succumbed to her smile as she curled and uncurled her toes to get her blood moving. "Then I guess you should thank me for helping you survive the last four years."
He gave her a long look of amusement before relenting. "You gonna get your ass up here or are we just going to yell at each other for the rest of the night?"
It was tempting to pursue this. Ada couldn't help but enjoy seeing his personality in full swing. But her desire to continue their banter was minuscule compared to her desire for warmth. She cupped her hands and filled them with her warm breath as she finished her journey.
Ada made her way down the alley and into the door in the back, going up the steps to Mr. B's apartment. There was little heat in the hallway, but it still brought warmth to her freezing skin. Noticing the door was wide open, Ada stepped inside. She took off her shoes when she stepped in and dropped her purse next to them. As she already texted her dad to let him know she would be late, Ada didn't bother grabbing her phone.
"You're shaking," Mr. B pointed out. "Where's your coat?"
Ada watched as he grabbed a black zip up sweatshirt from a chair and put it around her, then rubbed her arms for friction "It wasn't cold when I left for work. It hasn't been cold like this for over a week. Guess I kinda figured winter was over." Her breath was shaky as she spoke the words, and she tucked herself into the oversized sweatshirt.
The aroma on the shirt hit her with the familiar scent of peppermint and chocolate. There didn't appear to be a fresh coffee stain on the sweatshirt, causing Ada to wonder if he consumed enough of his signature drink that it was now just radiating from his body like a useless, not-so-super power.
Ada looked past him at the spacious living room with virtually nothing in it. There was a bookshelf half full with a slight lean to it and had three boxes filled with books next to it. The shelf was clearly too small to house the books he had.
![Hug Me When It Rains [18+] by Sunshine02Snow04](https://img.wattpad.com/cover/375833939-80-k992673.jpg)
There was an ugly tan knitted fabric couch and a gray leather chair with a giant rip in it. An acoustic guitar propped against the bookshelf that was a foot away from the freshly painted wall. No end tables or lamps. No living room table. The television sat on top of two unpacked boxes.
"No wonder you've been spending so much time at the coffee shop. This place is depressing as hell." The chill left her bones, her slow, shallow breaths finding a more normal rhythm.
Mr. B looked around, taking in what she was seeing. "It is, isn't it? I told you I was a shitty decorator."
It was clear he hadn't even tried. It was as if he chose the rejects from the nearest thrift shop. Like Charlie Brown picking out that poor sad sap of a tree. They were pathetic furnishings for an otherwise incredible apartment.
Ada put her arms in the sleeves of the sweatshirt and zipped it up before she glanced around, trying to imagine all the potential this place had.
There was a dining area with nothing in it, a small balcony with no outdoor furniture, and a desk in front of the balcony doors with nothing on it.
"I feel your judgement," he said from somewhere behind her.
"You should. I'm making it obvious enough," Ada quipped back.
Ada couldn't bear to stop in the kitchen as she walked through it to get to the rest of the apartment. Minus a tower of to-go boxes and empty beer bottles, there was no sign that he used it for its actual purpose.
His bedroom appeared just as sparse as the rest of it.
Ada shook her head and walked back through the kitchen and into the living room. She didn't need to look through the rest of the rooms to know what they looked like. The apartment was filled with large, beautiful rooms that had nothing in them. "No wonder you haven't shaved your divorce beard. This place is miserable, and all it wants is to make you happy."
She spun around to face him just in time to watch him rub at his facial hair.
"My divorce beard?"
"It seems too early to call it your mid-life crisis beard."
He let out a melodramatic sigh of relief. "Well, thank God for that."
"Not that you can tell by the grays," she added in for a little extra burn. There were few grays in his otherwise sandy brown beard and hair, with only a small patch by each of his temples. "What are you, around forty-five?"
Mr. B glared at her. "I'm thirty-four." Ada's face broke out into a grin. "You're evil."
She sat on the hideous sofa, feeling a broken spring dig at her thigh. "If I was evil, I would have called it a 'hipster beard', which is exactly what you look like these days."
Any amusement in Mr. B's face disappeared. "Did you just call me a hipster?"
Ada looked over at him and it was as if she was watching the color drain from his face. "Go look in the mirror real quick."
He appeared skeptical as he stared at her for what felt like a full minute. Finally, he rubbed at his beard and walked through the kitchen toward his bathroom. "Son-of-a-bitch," she heard him say out of sight.
Ada laughed and let down her hair, running her fingers through the blonde strands to rid them of the ponytail bump.
He walked back in, arms crossed as he stood in the kitchen's archway. "You've been letting me walk around like this for two months."
The comment flabbergasted Ada. Sure, they were friends, but he was hardly in the right mind frame to take any criticism. This was the first opportunity she'd had to bring it up where she felt he wouldn't have given her the silent treatment for it.
