Endless Rain

By: Destiny's Call

A loud crash woke Adam up but he desperately wanted to go back to the fields of corn that had filled his vision just a moment ago. Yep. How gay. Note the sarcasm. Sighing, Adam rubbed his eyes willing the sleep away since the ever elusive cornfields has now decided to stay elusive.

Yawning, Adam pulled himself off of the bed and wondered dazedly what woke him up in the first place. As if to answer him, another loud crash came followed by a torrent of cursing that would even put a sailor to shame.

Frowning at the noises so early in the morning and partly amused by the colorful language, he walked through the hallway towards the apartment door to investigate. Opening the door he found CD cases littering the hallway making a trail all the way to a door one apartment down on the opposite side, where a cardboard box with both ends open lay innocently on the ground and a fuming redhead on the floor nursing her foot, muttering almost with a vengeance; which to Adam sounded distinctly like "mumble wumble".

Walking over to the woman he squatted down near her but kept enough space away from her in case she decided to breathe fire. "Hey, you ok there?" he asked good naturedly but cautiously.

The pre-fire breathing woman looked at him and narrowed her eyes. "Does this look ok to you" she said gesturing with her hand first at the numerous CDs, then at herself and then at the apartment in front of her and he realized that Mrs. Hart, an elderly woman nearing prehistoric stood there with her door open, an arm on her waist and looking at the redhead with extreme distaste and for some reason, at him too.

"Like what you see?" the redhead said with saccharine smile.

Mrs. Hart gasped, widening her eyes and putting a hand over her heart as if she had been just told to shove it you-know-where and promptly slammed her door shut.

Adam chuckled and turned to look back at the woman on the ground growing more amused by the second. "Well no, obviously you don't look ok so how about I give you a hand with all this?" he said offering her his hand to help her up.

"Thanks" she said, her eyes still shrewd but softening just a touch. Looks like no fire would scorch this hallway today.

Grinning, Adam helped her up and she stood there dusting her jeans. She looked at him and stuck out her hand. "My name's Avonlea by the way."

Adam raised an eyebrow and shook her hand. "Like 'Anne of Green Gables' Avonlea?"

Avonlea rolled her eyes and got down to picking up the CDs. "If I could get a penny every time someone said that. Call me Lea."

"Sure. Oh and I'm Adam."

Adam bent down and folded one end of the box and started to put the CDs in there. After all the CDs had been cleared off the floor, Adam pushed the box through the door and into the apartment rather than lifting it up and carrying it in, not wanting a repeat of the earlier event.

Standing up, he glanced around the room. He remembered that the friendly couple who used to live here was supposed to move last weekend. Adam shook his head. Was he so wrapped up in his own world that he failed to notice the movers when they left or when the new tenant moved in? The furniture was already here and sealed boxes were everywhere.

Looking around more, he noticed a painting (or he supposed there was a painting) on the far side of the room facing the wall so Adam only saw the back of the stretched canvas. He dodged the numerous objects littering the ground and maneuvered around the room towards the canvas. For some reason, the curious canvas was making his brain itch, if that was even possible.

"Hey, thanks for helping. You want some coffee?"

He was only two steps away but he turned around and saw Lea who had now pulled her glorious red hair up in a bun. "Coffee sounds great."

Lea's lips suddenly twitched…and kept twitching. Adam's eyes narrowed and he quirked a brow putting one hand on his hip. For some reason this caused the twitching to stop and her lips went up in a full out grin, flashing him her pearly whites.

"Well" she started, "I don't mind giving you your coffee now…but I'm pretty sure you won't appreciate my drooling."

Adam stared at her bewildered, his already cocked brow straining to rise even higher. As if to answer him, Lea dragged her eyes from his face slowly down to the rest of his body, her smirk growing as she lazily dragged them back up to the starting point.

Then it hit him. He was sleeping before. He's a guy. Therefore he naturally shed his clothing before hitting the sack. Glancing down, he mentally groaned. There he was, standing in the middle of what should be the living room, posing with his hand on his hip in nothing but his boxer briefs.

He slowly looked up, the horror he felt practically leaking out of every pore in his body. Off course this further dissolved Lea's face as she erupted in laughter.

Well, shit…bloody redheaded females!

Fifteen minutes later they were standing around the kitchen counter sipping the newly brewed coffee. He had brought Milk over and she was currently exploring her new surroundings which Adam had fondly dubbed the 'hazard zone' after tripping four times over unnamed objects in the five minutes he had been back in the apartment.

He looked at Lea and noticed her eyeing Milk as the cat padded back towards Adam, seeming satisfied with her exploration. "So you must love music huh? There must have been over a hundred CDs there."

Lea laughed and shook her head "I do like music but not that much! Those are my cousin's."

Adam looked at her funny. "So you lugged you cousin's zillion CDs with you when you moved?"

Lea looked like she had an epiphany. "Ooooh! No, no I didn't move here, my cousin did. I was just helping with a few things. He should be here sometime tonight."

"You really take some pains to help out your cousin" Adam chuckled at the double meaning.

"You have no idea" the redhead grinned. "Are you doing anything tonight?"

"Nothing in particular, why?"

"Come clubbing with us. I'm going with a couple of friends and dragging my cousin with me."

Adam shook his head hurriedly. "I don't think so. I've never really gone to any clubs except a couple times in my senior year of high school." With him, he added silently. "I can't even handle alcohol!"

"All the more reason you should go! And you don't have to drink you know. Just socialize and have fun!"

Adam was about to protest but the redhead put up her hand. "You already said you have nothing to do so it's rude to decline now you know" she said glaring at him, daring him to say otherwise.

Adam gave up with a sigh. "I don't even know where it is! I'll just end up lost" he put in as his last attempt at shying away from the idea.

Lea smirked. "Don't worry, I'll tell my cousin dearest to take you with him. You're neighbors, can't be that hard for him to pick you up."

Damn it! Do I suck or do I suck? How pathetic am I that I can't even come up with a descent excuse without having to sound rude? He thought sighing and hung his head. "Fine" he grumbled, missing Lea's victorious smile.

Lea left a while later and Adam went back to his room. In the past hour he spent with the redhead, he learned that she owned a bookstore (a quite popular one too) that she inherited from her deceased uncle who had no children. Her cousin, whom she was then tenderly referring to as 'the dick' (he called a while ago asking if his CDs got there OK but after what they did to her foot, she wasn't feeling too loving, '…is tape too fucking expensive?!'), his new neighbor was actually an upcoming architect but he failed to get his name.

Stretching, he decided it was as good a time as any to finish his mural. Going to the room next to his bedroom which he had turned into his personal studio, he walked over to the six feet tall stretched canvas with the beginnings of the mural. Getting his equipment all set up, Adam got to work.

Over the years after finishing high school, Adam had gone off to a local art university dedicated to visual and performing arts to get his degree in fine arts and started to steadily develop a name for himself as an artist and was now acknowledged enough to hold very productive exhibits. The mural he was currently working on was going to be part of his exhibition that was scheduled for next month.

Despite his career as an acclaimed artist, Adam taught an art class as an instructor at the same university he graduated from, Monday to Wednesday for three hours. He didn't do this for money (the pay was mediocre anyway). He was already earning a quite a living from his paintings. No, he taught because he believed helping aspiring artists would preserve a future generation of talents. This was actually a belief of one of his professors in university whom he looked up to and had somehow ended up taking this belief to heart.

The scratching on the studio door took him out of the self induced trance he put himself in while painting. Blinking, he recognized Milk's disgruntled 'meow'. Looking at the clock, he guiltily got up and opened the door. It was already six p.m., somehow the entire Saturday morning had passed and he forgot to feed his cat as well as himself.

He led the cat out to the kitchen and got out the bowl he usually fed Milk with and poured out a bowl full of kibbles. Looking at the cat he decided she had probably taken a long nap since she didn't remind him about food till now.

He made a sandwich for himself and after eating took a shower and then started to get ready for the night ahead. Opening his closet he frowned. What the hell should I wear? I should have let Lea pick out some clothes for me before she left…crap. Prowling through his clothes he started to panic. I'm gonna stick out like a sore thumb, I just know it! What the hell do people wear to clubs?! Should I wear stuff like what I wore there during high school? But I don't HAVE TIGHT or LEATHER clothes! Or maybe the fashion changed since then? Ughhhhh! I don't even know what kind of club this is…thanks a lot Lea.

Rolling his eyes heavenward he let out a sigh full of self pity and then went back to raiding his closet. In the end he decided to play safe with a pair of comfy black jeans that was snug around his hips and bottom and a plain black dress shirt, keeping the top two buttons open and the sleeves rolled up to the elbows. Looking at the mirror he supposed this was good enough. It wasn't too casual nor was it too dressy. It was just Adam winters. Satisfied he smiled. Looking at his watch it was already seven o'clock and his neighbor would be here soon.

As he put on his shoes there was a knock on his door. Looks like 'the dick' is here, Adam thought with a smirk.

"Be good" he said to Milk who was standing by his left leg. In response, the cat seemed to roll her eyes up in seeming exasperation as she turned around and went back to the living room. "Brat" Adam muttered fondly.

Taking out his keys, he opened his front door to greet his new neighbor but came face to face with a broad chest. So he looked up…and up…and up…then suddenly he really wished to look down again.

Wide piercing blue eyes stared at him. A shaking hand rose and long golden fingers ran through short cropped black hair and red lips parted as…oh no…oh nononono…not again…not HIM again…

What. The. FUCK?!

A/N: Hi everyone! Yes yes I know…I'm retarded when dealing with updates :P Also please review! Tell me what you do/don't like about the story since it will really help! Thanks to zombicorn and theearthisdoomed for reviewing.

p.s. Lea is to be pronounced Lee-ah