[ WP ] A man falls in love with Lady Luck .

Once wet, there's little point in trying to run through the rain. At least that's what Marcus told himself as he walked down the streets of Seattle to his studio apartment. There's peace in that acceptance. The feelings of frantic urgency to preserve cloth suddenly gets replaced by acute mindfulness. Marcus unfocused his eyes as he walked and felt the cool pattering on his skin go warm as droplets navigated downwards. 
 
 `` Oh, no.'' whispered a gentle voice. 
 
 Marcus looked over to see a purse on the ground with loose change scattered across the pavement. Marcus bent down and grabbed the closest glints of copper that he could see in the downpour. 
 `` Oh, do n't!'' she said. `` No, no, no. Do n't worry about them.'' 
 
 Marcus stood up and stretched out his hand to give what he had to the woman: a purse and five pennies with Abe Lincoln staring back at him. Marcus lifted his head to see her looking at him from head to toe. 
 
 `` *What a weird time to be checking someone out. *'' Marcus thought. 
 
 `` You look wet!'' She said with a slight smile. 
 
 `` Oh!'' Marcus started, hoping the sound of ego deflation is silent. `` Is that wha -- uh, yeah. Yeah, it's raining.'' 
 
 `` Yes, it is raining.'' She said slowly, raising her eyebrows and nodding. `` There's an invention to prevent the rain from hitting your clothes, you know.'' She said, pointing from her umbrella to her body. 
 
 `` Yeah, I know. I ran out of my house pretty quic --'' 
 
 `` It's called an umbrella.'' She paused. `` Yep. *Umbrella*.'' 
 
 Marcus' mouth slowly formed into smile and focused on her eyes as their bodies and the space between them seemingly became an entity of its own; a'strange connection' they would later call it. Their hands touched as she grabbed for the purse, sending a sensation from his brain to the hairs on his neck. His eyes widened. She looked back at him and let out a breathy laugh. 
 
 `` Well, at least you wo n't need one now!'' she said. 
 
 `` What do you mean?'' 
 
 `` It's... it's not raining anymore.'' she said, frowning. 
 
 Marcus looked up to see the clouds moving away at an unnaturally fast speed and manner. 
 `` Wow. I do n't think I've ever seen this before'' Marcus said. 
 `` I guess I'm your lucky charm.'' She said, smiling. `` You probably should get an umbrella though. What if I'm not there next time?'' 
 `` I guess we'll just have to stay close together! My name is Marcus.'' 

