sudden storms

We were caught in a sudden storm walking around downtown last night. It's been hot out lately so we didn't even have jackets. The clouds were covering the stars but they're hard enough to see with all the city lights so it doesn't matter anyway--it was still beautiful out.

One of us said something like "oh Jesus" and we started to run for cover. Then, without either of us saying a word, we stopped, and she looked at me and I smiled at her, and she laughed, and kept running--but not for cover this time. She ran into the streets where the mingling glow from the streetlights gave the rain that perfect otherworldly quality as it beat down all around us in the abandoned city.

Then lightning struck and she said something I couldn't hear over the thunder, and I didn't dare ask her repeat it. Instead I joined her in the street and we danced to the rain's impossible rhythm, and I whispered something in her ear that the thunder also swallowed.