My Infinity 》Renga

8

Chapter 8- Reki's POV:

"Okay, you aren't all as crap at cooking as I thought you'd be!" Joe exclaims, surprised.

"Can we eat now?" Langa begs.

"Fine! I was about to praise you all but fine!"

This statement doesn't seem to affect how hungry we all are apparently, because we immediately start trading food.

"So, what are you going to poison me with?" My cooking partner jokes.

I narrow my eyes, pretending to be offended.

"I would never poison you! Intentionally, that is..."

"Reassuring," he laughs, "here's some risotto."

I take the warm bowl of rice from his hands, trading it for the caeser salad I have prepared. The salad looks like rubbish in my opinion but Langa seems happy with it. His cooking, on the other hand, looks like it has been taken out of a magazine. How can he be so good at everything?

Looking around the table, my group of friends are enjoying the food. I'm quite proud of the fact that there were no major issues in the kitchen, like one would expect there to be when a bunch of skaters are told to follow a recipe.

"This is great! Thanks!" Langa exclaims through a mouth full of lettuce and caeser dressing.

"Me? You should be a damn chef! Work at this restaurant, already. " I rave, trying to savour every bite of rice and mushroom and whatever other delicious mystery things Langa put in the risotto.

"Maybe I'll add this to my very consistent diet..." I laugh.

"You've got sauce on your face," Langa says when we've finished eating, and he wipes it off as he smiles at me, "you're so graceful, aren't you?"

"Shut up!" I blush, "I am graceful. On a skateboard. Not with much else."

He laughs at the joke, before opening the fridge.

"So, I made this for you for dessert," he says.

"Oh, right," I pick up my dish, which is a red velvet cake, "I apologize for how bad this looks..."

I trail off as I see the bowl of ice cream in Langa's hands and the flustered expression on his face.

"I know how much you love honeycomb ice cream," he says, "so I thought I'd feed your addiction."

"How the- what-"

I'm completely lost for words, it's like my brain just exploded and my ability to speak disappeared into thin air.

"It's not a big deal, I like making ice cream." Langa says, still slightly pink.

"It is a big deal!" I reply, completely muddled, "That's way too sweet of you!"

"But, that was the challenge? Dinner and dessert, you did the same thing?"

"Yeah, but, it just means a lot to me that you made my favourite thing ever." I stutter.

Langa looks really disconcerted by these compliments, and it's too cute. We sit back down at the table after exchanging more thanks. I have absolutely no idea how Langa can eat my cooking and enjoy it. His homemade ice cream is never endingly better than the ice cream at the milk bar, it's perfectly sweet and tastes like heaven...

"Hey lovebirds, I have another challenge for you." Joe says as we are getting ready to leave.

"Oh. What is it?" I ask.

He smirks mischievously, leaning against the bench as I've noticed he does when he's plotting something.

"One of you go and stay at the others' house tonight..." He begins.

"If you encourage these two literal minors into participating in sexual intercourse, I'll kick you out of your own house, you idiotic, dim-witted child." Cherry interrupts, looking at Joe as if he's something disgusting he pulled out of a drain.

"I would never do that, stupid!" Joe snaps, flustered, "All I was going to ask them to do was cuddle, what's your problem? Why is that the first thing you think of!? Dirty minded little shit!"

The pair proceed to get into a heated argument, completely forgetting that Langa and me are still standing there.

"So, can I come over, then?" I ask quietly.

"Yep. Let's go before they start throwing stuff."

Unnoticed by the bickering house mates, we slip outside and start skating.

Immediately, I take Langa's hand and he holds onto mine also. It's natural to us now, we don't even ask. I love it.

"Er... just so you're aware, my mum might be a bit crazy..." He warns me.

"Excuse me? Do you remember the way my mother acted when you came over for the first time?" I scoff, remembering Mum's excited state when Langa was over at my house for the first time.

We go past the skate park, and Langa stops unexpectedly, pulling me off my board and catching me.

"What? What's wrong?" I ask, standing up.

"Sorry! I just was wondering... will you show me that trick again, please?"

"Oh."

I didn't know that Langa was still trying to master it. He's so stubborn. But in a good way.

I nod, and we head into the familiar skate park. It looks different at night, more mysterious.

"So, what I think you've been doing wrong is the amount of weight you're balancing on the deck, you want to put less on the front..."

I do a few spins on back of my board, showing him how to position his feet properly.

"Okay, that makes sense, I think."

We spent a while there, me helping Langa as best I can, but he still can't quite complete the trick perfectly.

"You're tired, c'mon." I sigh, pulling him up off the concrete.

"Sure. Our parents are probably freaking out right now." He smiles.

I can tell he's disappointed.

"I know you'll be able to do this." I reassure him.

"Thanks."

We stop at my house so I can get some clothes ask Mum if I can stay at Langa's. It's awkward, because I walk into my living room to find my family staring at us like we're aliens.

"Guys, you know Langa..." I mutter.

"Hi, sweetie! Great to see you again!" Mum cries excitedly, hugging him and then me. How humiliating.

"Hi Masae, great to see you again too." Langa laughs.

"Mum?" I sigh, trying to get her attention, but she's too busy talking to Langa at a million miles an hour.

"Mum!" I repeat, more loudly. Koyomi is laughing at me from her seat on the couch. I ignore her.

"What, Reki?"

"Can I stay at Langa's tonight, please?"

"Oh, sure, of course. Go and get some things for tomorrow, then, would you?"

I sigh irritably, dragging Langa away from my mother, muttering apologies to him.

"Your mum is cool," he tells me, sitting on my bed while I pull clothes out of my drawers, "she's so friendly."

"Friendly is an understatement."

"It's nice, though."

"You know, people who have been over before said they found my family weird." I sigh, remembering with slight pain some of my past friends who refused to come over.

"Everyone's family is weird, sometimes." He says.

Koyomi is spying on us. I can see her shadow under the door frame.

"Yep."