The fresh rain trickled innocently along the glass pane and settled on the wooden sill. Cassie followed the droplets of water with her long manicured fingernail as she idly stared through the window at the bustling hive of activity.
Everywhere she looked, people hurried out of the atrocious weather, seeking shelter in nearby shop doorways and under the arch of the Grand Theatre that loomed in the darkened street.
She had waited for hours. She was always waiting.
Cassie raised her glass to her full red lips and swallowed the last of her drink. It wasn't the first time she had waited in the wine bar like a fool.
She began to wonder what she did it for, hanging around just so she could be humiliated and made to linger like an impatient teenager. As a teenager, she may have tolerated it, but she was in her prime, a thirty-something sassy sexy woman with smooth freckled skin and legs to die for. She wasn't short of male attention and she wasn't prepared to wait for another single moment.
Long fiery locks were tossed in splendour over her slender shoulders as she rose from her seat and headed for the door, blood red heels clacked on the hard wooden floor as Cassie pulled her skirt a little lower over her soft silky thighs. She confidently pushed her way through the glass doors of the wine bar and stepped outside onto the saturated pavement.
"Shit!" she exclaimed as the rain fell on her unprotected hair and dampened her fringe to her forehead as she attempted in vain to dry it off with the sleeve of her jacket. Her trademark mane of burgundy curls was wet through, giving her the appearance of a drowned ginger cat.
"Hey there sexy!" a familiar deep voice called from a passing car, "jump in and I'll give you a ride."
Cassie ignored the voice and continued to walk, her head held a little higher and an expression in her eyes that burned with anger.
"I know, I know" the voice continued "I'm late again, Cass, I'm sorry, just get in the damn car, you're soaked!"
The voice was right, she was soaked, but Cassie would rather walk for a thousand miles than get in the car with him.
"Really, you're being bloody ridiculous!" the voice yelled from the open car window, "Cass, you'll catch your death out there, please, just get in the car, we'll talk about this back at your place, once I've dried you off a bit."
The voice was determined and Cassie could tell that it was more than a little pissed off at her indignant attitude. Her heels continued to clack over the concrete pavement and Cassie pulled her jacket a little tighter around her, unable to completely zip it up over her ample breasts.
She shivered and yet her long legs strode with purpose in the direction of her small city apartment, it was only a walk of half a mile and Cassie was a fit and agile woman, she would make it easily, even with the rain that poured heavily from the sky. Thoughts of a long hot soak in the bath, wrapped up with a hot steaming cup of chocolate entered her brain as she tried to drown out the voice that followed her.
The rain continued its assault and a loud crash, followed by a bright flash of light filled the air above her.
"Cassie, get in the damn car now!" the voice angrily insisted. "It's starting to thunder and there's a storm coming, don't make me ask again or I'll get out and drag you in here!"
Cassie took a deep breath and stopped.
"Leave me alone Ed" she said in an exasperated tone, "you've embarrassed me for the last time, do you know how long I sat and waited for you today? Like a fucking idiot..." she shook her head and turned back to continue walking with accelerated pace.
Water streamed over her face as she tried in vain to wipe it away, unsure if it was still the rain that dampened her skin or the feel of her own salty tears as they caught in the back of her throat.
She heard the car behind her come to an abrupt stop, the door slammed shut and footsteps approached rapidly. She pricked her ears and stepped up her speed when a hand grabbed her arm from behind.
"Now, you've made me wet!" Ed hissed at her.
The notion was ridiculous.
