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It’s late, close to midnight, when Langa finally skates up to Reki’s house.
They’d talked about heading to the skate park tonight and working on some new tricks, but all the lights are out. Reki must have forgotten.
Langa debates not waking him up for a second, but one, he skated all the way here and it was kind of a lot of work to just turn around, and two, it’s a Friday. Staying up late is totally fine, they can sleep in tomorrow.
He’s about to pull out his phone and text Reki when he remembers something Reki had said the other day to Joe. Something about Langa being even more unromantic than Cherry.
It was just a passing comment, but it’s been itching at Langa since then. Reki deserves someone who can be romantic. Reki deserves everything.
Langa’s lips purse. He remembers all the romcoms his Mom made him watch, all the Canadian and American Hallmark movies alike, filled with maple syrup and Mcdonalds and cheesy 80s pop songs. They threw pebbles right? To wake up the main character? That’s definitely a thing.
He’ll just throw a few pebbles, Reki’ll look out the window, and there Langa will be, posed like the dashing bad boy from a John Hughes film, skateboard in hand. It’s a perfect plan.
Crouching, he scans the ground. It’s dark out, the moon mostly covered by clouds, so the only illumination comes from Reki’s porch light.
There’s not many rocks around. Reki has an actual lawn, so the ground is grassy and soft, devoid of rocks. Brushing his hand across the surface, Langa feels a few small lumps. Pulling out his phone again, he shines his flashlight at the lawn. One of the lumps is a piece of bark, one is an acorn, but the other two are small rocks.
He picks them up, drops his phone back in his bag, and stands. Squinting at the house, he tries to remember which window is Reki’s.
He’s been over countless times. Spent long hours in the basement, inhaling paint fumes and watching as Reki works on one of his latest boards. Sprawled out at the kitchen table slowly making his way through the pile of onigiri Reki’s mom placed in front of him, chiding him about how he was ‘too skinny, and how if he was going to go skateboarding, he’s have to get some more meat on those bones so it didn’t all rip off after taking another one of those terrible spills they’re always bragging about.’ Claimed the beanbag in Reki’s bedroom and talked about everything from the newest anime to the worst teachers at their school while music blasts from the speakers.
So really, he should know where Reki’s room is.
It’s just that it’s dark, and late, and he can’t think straight when he’s tired. Plus, he used up all his scant few brain cells finishing up his history essay earlier.
Langa circles the house, trying to remember the layout. He ends up right back in front of the porch.
Frowning, he tries to visualize it in his head. In the door, up the stairs, and then you turn, so that should be… there.
He peers up at the upper left window. It looks just as dark as the rest, but hopefully with the pebble, Reki’ll wake up.
He drops his bag and board on the grass and takes aim with the first pebble.
Winding up, he throws it and plink. It falls embarrassingly short of the window.
Great, he’ll never find that again. Better throw this one harder.
He aims and tosses again, and this time, hits the window, but it’s way too quiet.
He waits a second, just in case that pitiful hit woke Reki.
After two minutes, he’s forced to admit it didn’t, and, even better, he’s lost both of his rocks.
He rummages through his bag and pulls out his phone again, searching for a new rock.
Eventually he finds one, near the hydrangea bush. It’s definitely much larger than the other ones, but considering what a small noise the other one made, that’s probably good, Langa thinks.
He moves back to his position in front of Reki’s window. This rock is heavier, so to make it all the way up to the window he’ll have to throw it harder.
Winding up, he aims.
As soon as the rock leaves his hand, he knows he’s made a mistake. It’s way too fast and way too heavy.
The rock hits the window with a crash and the tinkling sound of falling glass, and a scream pierces through the air.
Well, he thinks, as the calm of the night dissolves into chaos, at least he knows he got the bedroom window right, because that was most definitely Reki’s scream.
A light turns on, and the sounds of slamming doors and rushing feet float out of the window. A head- Reki’s mom - pokes out of the broken glass.
“We will not be robbed!” she screams. “We've got a security system! I’m calling the police!” She looks down and does a double take when she locks eyes with Langa. “Oh! Langa darling, what are you doing here?”
Langa waves sheepishly. “Hi Reki-san.”
“Are- are you the one who broke the window?”
“Sorry?” He offers up apologetically. “I really didn’t mean to, I swear!”
“Oh, honey, it’s fine.” She ducks her head back inside for a second, and he hears her call to Reki's sister to cancel the 110 call, it’s really all fine. “Why don’t you come inside and we can figure this mess out?” she says, sticking her head back outside and smiling at him, albeit a bit frazzled.
When they eventually sit down for a late night cup of tea after ducktaping some paper over the window, she luckily finds Langa’s misguided attempt at seduction very amusing. She laughs until she can’t laugh anymore, before excusing herself back to the bed she was resting peacefully in before he managed to smash open a window and wake up the whole house.
Before she leaves, she offers for Langa to sleep over. It’s late, and Langa’s mom knew he was heading to Reki’s to skate, so he accepts, figuring he can apologize again for the window in the morning. They’re almost asleep - Reki in his bed, Langa next to him on the futon - when Langa’s shaken from his drowsiness by a pillow to the face.
“Hey,” Reki whispers. “I appreciate the attempt at romance, I do.”
“But…”
“But maybe next time we keep the rocks to the wearable ones.”
Langa smacks his face. “That was terrible.”
“You’re terrible,” Reki yawns. “Goodnight dumbass.”
“Goodnight,” Langa whispers back, and drifts off to sleep.