Lights Off ×[english version]×

Lights Off

"C'mooon, move your ass!"

Reki had seized my hand and was now dashing forward, pulling me along like a kid flying a kite ; I let him guide me and let out a small laugh, to which the redhead answered with a radiant grin. It was pretty cool and humid for a summer Saturday, but considering how little resistance I put against heat, it suited me just fine. Reki stopped running once we reached the top of the stairs we were climbing, and was nudging me to hurry up and join him. I snorted with amusement and hurriedly jumped the few steps between us, while my friend turned around hopping up and down (what a phenomenal amount of energy he could have, sometimes!) to lean over a fence. Reki had taken us to a high cliff, the edge of which was flanked by this barrier ; I came to rest against the warm wood, a step or two away from him, then asked :

"And now, whatcha' waiting for ?"
"You'll see soon enough, be patient!"

I stared at the other youngster with dismay; but the boy didn't consider me, too busy observing the sky taking little by little tints of red and purple. Oooh, so that was it...

"Hey, isn't it the kinda thing you come to see with your girlfriend ?" I questioned him, trying to take the most natural tone possible.

Reki turned dumbfounded eyes in my direction.

"Can't ya just enjoy ?" he laughed. "Beside, it's not like if I was in a relationship at the very moment. But hell yeah, I quite plan on coming here with some chick one of these days!"

My heart clenched briefly, and the chorus of Wish You Were Gay from Billie Eilish started playing in my head, even though it had been months since I lastly listened to this song. What a strange coincidence.
I tried to follow my buddy's advice and was concentrating on the beautiful landscape in front of us, when a drop of water crashed softly against my left hand. Screw it, it had to start raining. Reki must have made the same observation because he started to grumble while getting up from the barrier (against which he had nonchalantly leaned) to turn to me, dejected.

"We gotta move, bro, he whined with a face of burial. Goin' to your place?"
"Sounds good," I nodded while heading toward the stairs we had just left.
"We better hurry up if we don't wanna end up lookin' like mops!"

As I was dashing down the stairs, Reki following me closely, the rain suddenly started to increase; both of us were already completely soaked, but laughing for no particular reason like the two idiots we're. My pal got rid of his yellow sweatshirt (which had turned mustard from the water) and draped it over him like a tarp. With a gesture, he invited me to take refuge under this improvised shelter, which I did, cracking up at our rather ridiculous situation.

"I opt to go to the warehouse", I suggested.
"Good idea," Reki agreed while starting to run towards the place I had just mentioned. "We're too far from our both houses, anyway!"

We were now both heading through the narrow streets of the city, with the splash of our Van's in the thin puddles that were already forming on the ground.
After two fair minutes, we finally reached the warehouse: it was a disused shed that the gang had appropriated a year earlier, in which we'd store our skates, and everyone could leave a change of clothes, shoes, wax blocks, first-aid equipment... The practical side was that this place was only a few meters away from the skatepark, and that we were the only ones to have access to it. What a shock it was to see the whole gang hiding as well in the warehouse!
Joe seemed to be in deep conversation with Cherry (who was half-listening to him, slumped on the cheap plastic table in the center of the room), and whose cheerful words were almost inaudible, covered by the voices spitting out from the miniature radio set placed between them. At the other end of the hangar, Miya was lying on the old couch we'd picked up a few months ago, his eyes glued to the blue screen of his Switch, the brightness turned up to the max. He's going to end up blindfolded, this kid... Shadow, for his part, occupied the little space left on the sofa, scrolling on his device. Our four friends turned around at the sound of the door, their faces lighting up at the sight of us.